Once Upon a Time... • 很久以前...

Hello, my name is Halden Levin, and you are listening to Little Dragon’s Journey. 你好！我叫李靜辰，你正在聽小龍的旅程。

Transition Music（音樂）

Two years ago, I wrote this brief introduction to Little Dragon’s Journey:

Once Upon a Time...

“...a little dragon was born.

Hiya! Let me cut to the chase. My name is Halden, and I am Little Dragon. This year I applied to the National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y), a foreign exchange scholarship program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, for the summer program in China. When I initially applied for NSLI-Y, I never expected that I would actually be chosen for this awesome opportunity, but after writing essays, having my first interview, and filling out many forms, I was accepted. This blog, "Little Dragon's Journey," is going to be all about my adventures in China, specifically Chengdu, China in the Sichuan province. You may be wondering, "Why Little Dragon?" I've got answers. I was born January 10, 2002, making my Chinese zodiac sign a snake. Snakes are like smaller versions of dragons and are considered to be symbolic of good luck and honor. As I travel in China, I will be Little Dragon in hopes of honoring those I meet and new cultural aspects I encounter.”

Oh my. A little cheesy.

When I found out about NSLI-Y, I had been learning Mandarin Chinese online for about two years. The application is free, the program is free, so I remember thinking, “Well, I have nothing to lose, so I may as well give it a shot.” This was the first time I had really applied to anything. I wrote my essays, my mom helped me revise, as she's done many times since, and I clicked submit. In my opinion, clicking submit is always quite scary because I always have this feeling I could write something better or maybe I made a mistake. But I did it. At the time, I was also applying for the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics (NCSSM), which is the high school I attended for the past two years.

This was also the first time I wrote a resume. To apply for NSLI-Y, you don’t need to write a resume, but I did it as a means of reflecting on my personal qualities, activities, and accomplishments. The NSLI-Y application process involves filling out some personal information, writing three to four essays, including a letter to your potential host family/host community (the number of essays you have to write depends on the program you are applying for: the summer or the academic year program), getting a teacher recommendation and a parent/guardian recommendation, and if you make it to semi-finals, taking part in an interview.

I don’t remember exactly when I found out that I was a semi-finalist, maybe December of 2017, but I remember my interview was in January at NCSSM. It’s quite a small world, isn’t it? My interview went quite well. Like most things, it was my first interview. Since I lived an hour and a half away from NCSSM at the time, my interview was one of the last of the day, and my interviewer was incredibly personable. Before we even started, he told me that he had applied for NSLI-Y for a few times before being accepted; his candidness helped me feel a bit more relaxed. I was so relaxed we got off topic a bit and started talking about a podcast episode I had recently listened to from the New York Time’s The Daily podcast.

I remember when I received the acceptance email about three months later in March of 2018. I was in AP Computer Science Principles, and class was almost over. As I opened my email inbox, I remember reading the subject line “NSLI-Y 2018-19 Application Status” and immediately feeling my heart race. When I saw the word “pleased” in the first sentence in the body of the email, I knew I was accepted, but I didn’t burst out in excitement. I’m the type of person who tends to be not very expressive with my emotions. When I told my family about the good news, they honestly expressed more excitement than I did. That evening, my parents gave me Endangered Species 88% dark chocolate and a beautiful dark red flower.

However, I didn’t create “Little Dragon’s Journey” until the end of the school year, which was the end of my sophomore year in high school. It was at my sister’s high school graduation party, I was sitting at the piano, and I just decided to start my blog site. This blog was created as a result of inspiration provided by current NSLI-Y participants at that time and many NSLI-Y alumni. When I traveled to China, I tried to write blog posts almost every day. If you ever travel for an extended period of time, I think it’s important to find a means of recording your experiences. You don’t have to start a blog; you can journal, just take pictures, collect little objects, whatever works for you.

Transition Music（音樂）

Please visit haldenlevin.wixsite.com/littledragonjourney to access the transcript of this episode, and know you are always welcome to contact me through my website, email, or social media. Thank you for joining Little Dragon’s Journey. 謝謝你們參加小龍的旅程。拜拜！