Bio: Jessica Blackwell
Nay ho from Hong Kong! Hello!
My name is Jessie Blackwell, and I’m a senior advertising student. However, my passion is fitness. I am a precision cycling instructor and working on a minor in personal training. I am also on the WVU Ultimate Frisbee team and part of the Advertising club. I am currently studying abroad at Lingnan University. I have been here for about a week, and the experience so far has been unreal. The buildings are enormous, but absolutely breathtaking at night. When they say that they have squeezed 7 million people into the city they are not joking.
This experience so far has been incredibly different from my past studies in Ireland. I studied there my sophomore year for the spring semester at Dublin City University. I got to travel to several countries in Europe such as Greece and France just to name a few. I learned to live the way the Europeans did and in no time I was actually getting asked for directions. That is until they heard my “American” accent and would walk away. It was difficult at first to learn the bus system and where things were, but once I got that down then things became very easy for me. I loved living in Ireland. The countryside was beautiful, and their song and dance was always a good craic (fun).
However, after returning home, I found myself wanting more. I wanted to dive into a culture that I knew very little about. Europe was great, but I wanted something more challenging. Therefore, I decided Asia was the next continent I should explore. I couldn’t have been anymore on the money! It is so different from anywhere I have ever lived or traveled. I am definitely getting the culture shock I hoped for. I have recently joined the rugby team and thai boxing club at Lingnan in hopes to learn as much as I can in things I know very little. I can already tell that this experience will help me to help others from the U.S. become more aware of what great things China has to offer!
