Study Aboard

By Alice Wang, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, winner of the 2017 Stories from Abroad Scholarship and a member of the BC Study Abroad Writer in Residence Team

As I sign off on my time being a Writer-in-Residence for BC Study Abroad, I am thankful for this opportunity to reflect, so profoundly, about my travel abroad. This prolonged self-reflection has allowed for a soul-searching that yielded more meaning-making than I could have ever anticipated. It was Andrew Solomon who once said to overcome adversity, one must “forge meaning and build identity.”

By Alice Wang, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, winner of the 2017 Stories from Abroad Scholarship and a member of the BC Study Abroad Writer in Residence Team

Image credit: Vancouver artist Kenneth Yuan in front of Yves Klein’s IKB (image courtesy of Yuen)

My piece of advice as a Writer-in-Residence is this: wherever you go, visit the local art institutions and expect to be confused by the works. Art is a piece of history crystalized in an object. It is not supposed to be easily understood. And if it is, it’s probably very bad art.

By Alice Wang, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, winner of the 2017 Stories from Abroad Scholarship and a member of the BC Study Abroad Writer in Residence Team

I wish I have more coherent nuggets of ideas to share with you. But alas, I have exhausted the creative well of my journey. For now. Will you indulge me in sharing a few snippets of thoughts leftover from this prolonged journey of self-reflection?

By Alice Wang, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, winner of the 2017 Stories from Abroad Scholarship and a member of the BC Study Abroad Writer in Residence Team

By Alice Wang, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, winner of the 2017 Stories from Abroad Scholarship and a member of the BC Study Abroad Writer in Residence Team

By Alice Wang, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, winner of the 2017 Stories from Abroad Scholarship and member of the BC Study Abroad Writer in Residence Team

My Chinese heritage became very salient to me during my study-abroad. At every city I went, I had someone, often a man, shout out greetings to me in Mandarin on the street. Why they would even think that to be an appropriate behavior is beyond me. And yet these borderline discriminatory remarks enticed me to reflect on what it felt like to wear my ethnicity so visibly around me.

It’s April 30^th, the day before my trip to Costa Rica. In this Natural Resource Field School and Cultural Exchange class I will be experiencing and learning about how Costa Rica manages its natural resources and how this country balances the different land uses. Being that this is my first time leaving Canada, I am extremely excited about this opportunity. Preparing for this trip has been a new experience as well. Little things like applying for a passport, getting travel insurance, and taking a day-long Spanish class have been both interesting and overwhelming.