Blog post by Ariana Lee, Amherst College, Hutong Intern Extraordinaire

During my junior year of high school, I decided to step out of my comfort zone and to spend an entire year abroad studying in Italy. I stayed in a little town right outside of Rome called Viterbo, and had the privilege of living with a local host family. Getting the opportunity to immerse myself in Italian culture while learning to overcome challenges that came along with cultural differences made me more aware of the world and myself. This experience helped me develop an insatiable passion towards learning about other cultures and traveling to foreign places.

I attended the International School of Beijing, and my friends in high school often attended cooking classes at The Hutong and spoke very highly of their experiences. I had never taken part in any classes or tours at The Hutong, but I was intrigued by the immersive cultural experiences that The Hutong provided for foreigners and expats in China. I thought that the mission The Hutong strives for, which is to share and educate people on Chinese culture, aligned with my interests of immersing into foreign cultures. This is why I decided to apply for an internship at The Hutong for the summer so I could help foreigners and expats have the opportunity to learn about Chinese culture because I know how meaningful such an experience is; it is an experience that is unattainable in a typical classroom or workplace environment.

I am currently a rising sophomore at Amherst College and am thinking of pursuing a major in history. In the future, I hope to become a travel writer/journalist or to do work in PR and marketing. At The Hutong, I am focusing on social media and marketing work to gain work experience for my future career. I have also helped out on day programs and multi-day programs; I facilitated a Harrow day trip to the Aofan Sailing Center and a Harrow week-long trip to Inner Mongolia.

During my free time, I enjoy working out at the gym (I played rugby in high school), taking part in fun outdoor activities, and painting. I also love traveling to different places; my favorite place that I have been so far is Thailand. You can also find me binge watching a lot of TV shows such as The Bachelor/The Bachelorette and, of course, Friends!