大家好，新年快乐！

I am excited to be writing my first blog post for One World Language School! Given that it’s the beginning of a new year, I thought I would take this opportunity to tell you all a little bit about myself before getting into some other topics.

Last spring, I found myself the happiest I had ever been living 7,000 miles away from where I was born, in a Chinese city called Chengdu. Far west from the tourist-filled coastal cities, Chengdu is well known as the city of spicy food and relaxation. Since Chengdu is far less westernized than cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, most locals only spoke Chinese, which challenged me to be speaking and learning all day, every day. A typical weekday went like this: I would wake up early to attend my morning Chinese classes, followed by a family-style al fresco lunch shared with friends on the crowded food street behind Chengdu University (usually four to five plates for about 60-80 yuan or $8.62-$11.49 split between five or six of us). From there I would take the subway to a random part of the city to explore and people-watch; then I’d pick up some street food for dinner, head back to my dorm to finish some homework, and go to bed.

My name is Jordyn Haime (in Chinese: 韩新慧) and I am a senior journalism and international affairs dual major at the University of New Hampshire (UNH). Within international affairs, I study China, and I’ve been learning Mandarin Chinese for almost a full four years now, my 2019 spring semester spent learning at Chengdu University.

When I was in high school, studying a different language was not something I envisioned as even a possibility for me, not to mention living and traveling almost completely independently for five months in a country with a language and culture as different as China’s. I thought I was terrible at language and not smart enough to learn a new one.

But a degree requirement at UNH set me on the path I intend to pursue for the rest of my life: in the college of liberal arts, I needed a full year of language study. Because I took a class on East Asian history with outstanding teaching in high school, I settled on Chinese. UNH’s Chinese teachers somehow made learning Chinese seem easy and exciting if I only put in the necessary effort and time, and three years later I continue to learn.

Don’t ask me what I’m planning to do after graduation; that’s every senior’s least favorite question. I have applied for a few different grants and scholarships that could get me back to China, but I won’t find out for sure for a while. Fingers crossed!

I can’t wait to start blogging about some deeper China-related topics. Have a question or a suggestion for a future blog post? I’d love to write about it: feel free to send me an email at jordynhaime@gmail.com.

Until next time,

Jordyn Haime （韩新慧）