Love hearing your travel stories as always! I’ll be studying abroad in Japan from Sept 2025 - 2026 and will be a similar age to you when you first went to Asia. Hoping I have the chance to visit Korea too since we’ll have February & March off for spring break. After working at an English language summer school a few months ago, I thought about going to China for the first time in my life too. The Chinese students treated me sooo well. I always hoped they’d let me lead one of the Chinese groups on trips & activities since I enjoyed my time with them so much. Meanwhile, I prayed to not have to work with the Italian groups…they were an absolute nightmare and put me off Italy for the rest of my life lmao. Anyway, the Chinese students were lovely. They gave me gifts and were very sweet and respectful. They encouraged me to go to China too. I’m interested in going but it’s like travelling on hard mode while most other countries are relatively easy to navigate coming from the West. The pollution, food, the sheer amount of people, the restricted internet access…so much to think about and plan ahead for before you go! Then there’s having to get a visa too! It feels like a completely different world though and definitely somewhere to visit at least once.
Love hearing your travel stories as always! I’ll be studying abroad in Japan from Sept 2025 - 2026 and will be a similar age to you when you first went to Asia. Hoping I have the chance to visit Korea too since we’ll have February & March off for spring break.
After working at an English language summer school a few months ago, I thought about going to China for the first time in my life too. The Chinese students treated me sooo well. I always hoped they’d let me lead one of the Chinese groups on trips & activities since I enjoyed my time with them so much. Meanwhile, I prayed to not have to work with the Italian groups…they were an absolute nightmare and put me off Italy for the rest of my life lmao. Anyway, the Chinese students were lovely. They gave me gifts and were very sweet and respectful. They encouraged me to go to China too. I’m interested in going but it’s like travelling on hard mode while most other countries are relatively easy to navigate coming from the West. The pollution, food, the sheer amount of people, the restricted internet access…so much to think about and plan ahead for before you go! Then there’s having to get a visa too! It feels like a completely different world though and definitely somewhere to visit at least once.