This is the first time I'm away from my family and the first time to China. At first I didn't know what to expect, especially since I am Chinese.

I realized that even when I hit the Shanghai airport people thought I was Chinese, and when we were separated they almost placed me in the wrong line.

When I finally arrived to Shandong University of Technology people were surprised when fluent English words came out of my mouth.

So to explain it to them, I said in Chinese where my parents were from, and I am what they call an ABC (American Born Chinese).

When we had arrived, we were all invited to a banquet. It was wonderful. It was a way to welcome us to their university, and we had a huge round table with a lazy Susan in the center.

We had expensive food like the fish and other dishes.

They were so kind to us. We had a wonderful time and later on in the day, we went to the market on campus to buy things like shampoo and soap for the upcoming weeks.

It was interesting to see some familiar things in the market.

They had lots of vegetables, as well as fruit to buy in the back. In the front, they had the soaps and hangers for students to hang their damp clothes on.

I realized when I hit the check-out it was going to be an interesting experience.

I knew I was going to learn many things from using the Yuan, to speaking Chinese, and learning their culture, as well as what my parents grew up knowing and the similarities and the differences between the two.

— Michelle Ni, an ACE student and senior at Berwick Area High School