Monthly Recap: September

I haven't done one of these posts in a while, but I thought I would start doing them again, because it's nice to reflect every so often. If you want to read the last monthly recap I did, click here.

Places I Went

Raleigh, NC
Hangzhou, China

Best on the Blog

Best on Instagram

Both of these pictures were taken at West Lake, which is the big tourist attraction in Hangzhou. And for good reason! The whole park is so beautiful. I can't wait to keep exploring it.

Books I Read

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed
I'm on a spree of reading travel-related books at the moment, especially ones about thru hiking. I've got about 4 books saved on Goodreads about hiking the Appalachian Trail. I read this one because I saw the film and loved it. It was one of the first things I watched/read about thru hiking and it really lit a fire within me to go on a long thru hike. This book is really emotional and heavy at times, but is really inspirational in the end. I would definitely recommend it.

Inspiration

I've gotten in to podcasts again. I know I've written about Being Boss before. I love it and find it really motivating. I particularly liked their episode about going to/hosting conferences. I listened to it while I was on my way to a summit on North Carolina-China relations and interactions, which I went to at the beginning of the month. The podcast got me pumped to make connections. The summit got me pumped to go to China. Those two things worked together to really inspire me about China, business, education, etc.

Highlights
Moving to China. Obviously this was the most exciting thing that happened last month. I moved out here, started my university course for my year abroad, and am really loving it so far.

Challenges
Moving to China. While this was definitely the highlight, it's also definitely the hardest thing I'll do this year. I'm still getting settled, figuring out my schedule (and realizing how much stuff there is to do), planning trips, etc. I'm excited about everything, but the past two weeks have been particularly overwhelming - not in a bad way.

I feel like I didn't do much this month that was blog worthy. I've been going to class, getting settled in my dorm, exploring Hangzhou (and often forgetting a camera). I'm really excited about things coming up in the next month, though, so things should get a little more exciting around here.