Hey! I'm Isabella, and I can (most probably) eat spicier food than you.

I grew up in Singapore, a small country in Southeast Asia. My parents live there now. Translation: I grew up on sambal and chili padi (a small, very spicy chili) embedded in everything I ate. Rice, soup, noodles, meat… I'd only ordered anything if it had three chili cartoons next to its name on the menu. On a family trip, I tried the Hell Challenge at Wing King in Las Vegas. It was hard, but it was done (though I was ridiculed for using two forks to eat my wings – I don't like touching my food), and stands to be my greatest achievement to date (okay, maybe not that). Asian food, however, has a different kind of spice, a taste that I persistently crave in my new home of Athens, Georgia.

I jumped around living in Singapore and California from middle school to high school, and, thankfully, similar flavors resided in San Francisco's “asian scene.” I moved a lot when I was young – London, Chicago, Houston, San Francisco, Singapore… Needless to say, my parents get bored often. I think they're moving to Mexico soon.

When I got to Georgia before the first day of school, a state I'd never been to and knew nothing about, I was excited yet disheartened to hear about the lack of “spicy” at my dining halls or downtown Athens. I was also surprised to see people actually wearing cowboy boots and gentlemen holding the doors open for me (culture shock). The food and the people are very different from what I'm used to in Singapore, and, though I miss my sambal and tiny chillis, I've been trying to make the most of my short time in the South. I joined a sorority, something I'd never thought I would do, I bought my own pair of Steve Madden yee-haw boots, and set aside my green smoothie diet in exchange for the DELICIOUS fried Bolton meals. Living in Georgia is very different from what I'm used to, but I hope I'll continue to seek adventure and new experiences in these next four years.