After a whole month of traveling through Shandong and interning at Shanghai Children’s Medical Center and eating juicy dumplings, I am finally back from China! Since I blogged (or rather, my friend published my posts for me) at the the TRA: Overseas Chronicles during my time away, I won’t go into detail about my travels. You can read my final blog post in the When in China series here: One month later. Here is a sneak peek of my contemplations about returning home to the States:

“The feeling of change always creeps up on you when you least expect it. But it’s always such a pleasant surprise. 

Last year when I came back from China, I felt the change when I got my first slice of *real* pizza in a month. The texture of oily, stretchy cheese and the tangy tomato sauce on my tongue was beyond satisfying. Pizza-gasm-worthy. Never had I ever truly appreciated the taste of pizza until then.

This year, the change came on a visit to the ladies’ bathroom in the airport. Soap and toilets and toilet paper, oh my! Not all bathrooms in China are dirty holes dug up underground, but they aren’t the cleanest either. One time while I was traveling through the countryside in Shenyang, I ended up going to the bathroom in an outhouse. I will never forget the smell. Or the flies….”
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