In my sophomore year of high school, I took a leap of faith and applied to my local school system's exchange program to China. A Chinese girl would stay with me for two months in the spring, and I in turn would stay with her for two months over the summer. Once I found out I was accepted I experienced a range of emotion, from pure excitement to apprehension to sheer terror. At the end of January Hui Chen, also known as Emily, came to Baltimore to stay with my family and me. The culture shock for her in particular was intense, as she was somewhat shy and had never been away from home before. Emily had our ups and downs, since I couldn't identify with her or her culture, but I think her stay in America was (hopefully) enjoyable. In May of 2011 it was my turn to go stay with Emily. We stayed in Xian, China for 7 weeks and then ventured over to Beijing for the last week of our trip. China was an experience like no other. I submersed myself in the culture as much as I could. I went to school with Emily three times a week, ate the local cuisine, traveled everywhere I could, and even tried to learn some Chinese. My host family was incredibly accommodating and the perfect Chinese family to stay with. It wasn’t completely carefree: at first I suffered from the same culture shock Emily did when she came to America. Ultimately China was one of the greatest experiences of my life and I can’t wait to go back and hopefully see Emily and her family again.