“I’ve lived in China for the last two years. I’m a 5th grade teacher at an international boarding school. I’m in Guangzhou, which is only 2 hours from Hong Kong. Hong Kong is amazing. I go hiking there all the time. Next year, I’m hoping to get into the rock climbing group there. I went through a big break up, which is a part of what led me to this amazing opportunity. I was in a long term relationship and had been engaged for 8 months. When that ended, it wiped out so much of what had been the norm for me for so long and the norm of the image I had of myself. I had no clue who I was anymore. When that break up happened, and those norms were shattered for me, I had to be able to conquer getting over it and getting over people giving me pity looks. It shook my world, but because that didn’t work out, I have become so much of what I always knew I was capable of becoming as a person. It’s one thing to talk about steps you want to take to make a change, it’s another thing to actually do it. For me, getting on the plane to go to China was a life changing moment for me. That’s when I knew I was a different person. This experience has been so amazing. I’ve met so many great people. I’ve done things I would’ve never done before. I went skydiving. I went swimming with sharks. I walked a plank on Mt. Huashan and did a race on the Great Wall. I’m so much more trusting of what I’m capable of doing. When you’re going through bad times, you have to recognize that that time is only that. It’s just a time. It’s just a moment and that moment is going to pass. The next day will come and you have to be able to believe in yourself 100% even if you don’t have that belief in that moment, you have to recognize your inner strength and challenge it. You have to go prove it to yourself. You can’t just say it, you have to do it. I got back last Sunday and I go back in August. I’m already looking forward to another year of adventure and new experiences.”