Like… actually going.
I’ve never travelled outside of North America.
Never crossed an ocean.
Never landed somewhere my brain can’t immediately read the street signs.
Never navigated a place where I don’t speak the language… unless you count our annual girls’ trip to Quebec, where my besties and I survive on enthusiasm, pointing, and deeply questionable French.
And now?
I’m going to China.
I still feel like I should whisper that.
This whole experience is possible because of the generosity and connections of Dr. Diana Tong Li. The fact that we’re being welcomed into universities, hospitals, and cultural spaces that most tourists will never see feels enormous. I don’t take that lightly.
But also?
I am wildly excited.
Let me tell you why.
First Stop: Guangzhou — and Yoma Space
We land in Guangzhou (skyscrapers, Pearl River lights, full sensory overload) and one of our first stops is Yoma Space, a 24-hour spa with a massive buffet.
After flying halfway around the world and adjusting to a completely different time zone, we get to rest and refuel. Breathe. Eat. Reset our nervous systems before diving into academic intensity.
There is something poetic about starting a medicine immersion with rest.
Guangzhou is also where we’ll be visiting major Traditional Chinese Medicine hospitals. Watching acupuncture and herbal medicine practiced on a scale that’s completely normal there. Not alternative. Not niche. Just integrated, respected, everyday healthcare.
I cannot wait to quietly stand in those hallways and just observe.
And then…
Beijing Road at night. Neon lights. Street food. My classmates. The kind of laughter that only happens when you’re jet lagged and overstimulated and a little giddy from realizing you’re very far from home.
Herbal Markets With My School Besties
I have studied herbs from jars and textbooks.
But Qingping Traditional Chinese Medicine Market? That’s different.
This is where medicinal substances are piled high in open air stalls. Roots. Mushrooms. Bark. Resins. Things I’ve only ever seen dried and sealed in plastic, suddenly alive with scent and texture and context.
And I get to wander it with my school besties.
The same people I’ve stayed up late studying channels with. The same ones who know exactly how stressed we all were before diagnostics exams. The same ones who send voice notes about tongue cracks and dampness like it’s normal conversation.
We get to shop for herbs in China together.
I already know there will be at least one moment where we just stop, look at each other, and say, “Can you believe we’re here?”
Foshan — Bone Setting & Old Streets
Foshan is known for traditional orthopedics and traumatology.
Bone setting. Hands on medicine. Real, tactile skill.
As someone who comes from a rural place where people actually use their bodies (lifting, farming, building) the idea of seeing a long lineage of structural medicine in action feels grounding. Less theoretical. More embodied.
And outside the hospitals?
Lingnan architecture. Historic streets. Courtyards that have seen centuries.
It’s one thing to read about medicine that’s thousands of years old. It’s another to stand inside buildings that have held it.
Zhongshan — Where Herbs Become Medicine
In Zhongshan, we’ll tour a pharmaceutical facility that produces Chinese herbal formulas at scale.
I come from a world where herbal medicine is small batches and niche clinics.
Seeing how a traditional system maintains integrity while serving millions? That’s going to expand my brain.
We’ll also see integrated hospitals where Chinese and Western medicine work side by side, something we talk about academically all the time. Now I get to witness it.
Zhangjiajie National Forest Park — The Mountains
Zhangjiajie looks like something out of a dream.
Stone pillars rising into mist. Forests that feel ancient in a way my body understands even if my mind doesn’t.
We’ll study medicinal plants in their natural habitat. Not dried. Not processed. Growing in soil, shaped by climate, part of ecosystems, just like I do at home in New Brunswick.
I think this might be the part that shifts something deep in me.
Also, cable cars up Tianmen Mountain.
If you had told the younger version of me (the one who barely left her province) that she would be riding a cable car up a mountain in China studying medicinal plants… she would not have believed you. On second thought, I always had lofty dreams, so maybe she would!
Changsha — Ancient Texts & Old Academies
In Changsha, we’ll visit the Hunan Provincial Museum, where medical texts from the Mawangdui Han Tombs are housed, some of the earliest known Chinese medical writings.
Thousands of years old.
I can’t even fully process that.
We’ll also visit Yuelu Academy, one of the oldest academies in China. Scholars studied medicine, philosophy, ethics there long before modern universities existed.
There’s something incredibly humbling about standing in spaces where knowledge has been passed down for centuries.
And Yes… I’ve Heard Rumours
I’ve also heard rumours that there may be the occasional evening where a few of us go out for beers. and even time for shopping!
Jet lagged. Giddy. Slightly overstimulated from absorbing too much brilliance.
Honestly? That might be just as formative as the lectures.
Because this trip isn’t just about medicine.
It’s about shared experience.
About stepping into the unknown together.
About bonding in a place most of us have ever been before.
Walking Into This Wide Eyed
I’m not going as an expert.
I’m going as a student who knows she can’t even comprehend how much she doesn’t know.
I’m going as someone who grew up in Alberta, Canada, who built a life rooted in land and family, and who somehow now gets to stand on the other side of the world studying the roots of the medicine she loves.
I am so deeply grateful to Dr. Li for opening this door.
I know this trip will change me.
I don’t know how yet.
But I have a feeling I’ll come home different, steadier, humbler, and even more devoted to the medicine that brought me here.
A Gentle Note: I’m a student of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and this space reflects my learning as it unfolds. TCM is deep, layered, and complex, and I’m still finding my footing within it. I will refine my understanding over time. I will make mistakes. That’s part of doing this honestly. What I share here is my current perspective, shaped by my teachers, clinical training, lived experience, and my own biases. It’s not absolute, it’s evolving. I welcome thoughtful conversation, shared insight, and respectful correction along the way. I humbly welcome your insight. Let’s learn together. You can always find me over on Instagram to keep the conversation going.