We Are Family -12/1 Beijing, China

Good day to you, families and friends of us Globies! Alexandra here again, struggling to find new ways to open this blogpost! Today we had the chance to sleep in, which is an opportunity none of us squander away. In the afternoon, we went out with our Chinese buddies to the Summer Palace, which at this time of year, is quite cold and the lake was frozen over, but it was gorgeous and we all had a blast making new friends. But the most exciting part of today by far was waiting with Matthew for acceptance emails from dental schools he applied to. Spoiler alert: He got in!!!

Pretty early on in the trip, our group as a whole started to realize the potential for us to turn into an extension of our families. I always laugh a little to think back to Rome when one of our only-child Globies looked around the table at lunch and said something like, "You are all going to be my brothers and sisters at the end of this. I am sorry, but you have no choice!" I have to admit, there have been a few times when I have thought to write home and warn my mom that 3 sisters just wasn't enough, so I adopted 12 more. Yesterday, we were in full force family mode knowing it was decision day for Matthew. Everyone told him we would be there to support him, good news or bad (though we were pretty confident it would be good). When we found out emails would be coming while we were still out with our buddies, our people with international plans immediately offered up their data so he could check the emails on the go. A little after 4 o'clock here in Beijing, standing in a corner of a courtyard at the Summer Palace, emails were checked. And immediately an outpouring of Globie love the likes of which you have never seen descended upon Matthew in the form of one giant group hug! The most genuine joy and pride was bursting from everyone and in that moment we were reminded of how we are a family. Not one to replace all of you lovely people back home, but certainly one that has seen its challenges and moved beyond them together and one that will always celebrate and support each other. Congratulations to our future dentist!