First, a quick glimpse at the Mandarin learning process. Last Monday, I watched a movie in Chinese with English subtitles, and I found myself not even noticing the English. The next day, when ordering Chinese pancakes, I blanked on the names for any type of sauce, so I just mumbled something that sounded like what the previous customer said. Thankfully, it still tasted good. Last weekend, I was walking around the Global Village (international student dorms), and a couple asked me where building #10 was located. Despite living here for almost two months already, I still had no idea. At present, my study abroad is: thinking comfortably in Chinese, muddling through sticky situations, and having no idea about some basic surrounding areas. At least it still tastes good.

Harry Leeds had expected students to be shy about writing poetry in English, the way any student might be nervous about writing and sharing personal work in a second language. When it came to the 20 Kazakh students in his poetry workshop, however, he was wrong: “Some people didn’t want to share with the group,” Leeds says, “but everyone wrote.”

Originally from Hong Kong, Agnes graduated from the University of Iowa International Writing Program in 2008 as an Honorary Fellow in Writing. Since then, she has accomplished a wide range of achievements. She was awarded the Nosside International Poetry Prize (Special Mention) in 2008 and some of her poems have been translated into German, Italian and other languages.