Hi there! My name is Shirley and I just became a writer for the SPS blog. I am currently going into my second undergraduate year of History and Politics. I am part of both the School of HCA (History, Classics and Archaeology) and the School of SPS (Social and Political Science), which is very convenient for me having classes when your two schools are connected in one building!
I was born and raised in a small northern city in Mainland China, and moved to Auckland, New Zealand when I was around 11 years old, living there for around 7 years before I made my way to Edinburgh. I had a lot of people ask me why I chose Edinburgh, especially given that New Zealand is a very long flight away from it (and it is definitely not because I am obsessed with everything Harry Potter!). Coming from both New Zealand and China has given me a chance to explore living in very different styles of cities, and I hoped that coming to study and live in a city like Edinburgh would also be a unique experience to study my subject area whilst exploring the rest of Scotland.
From the academic side, I am still exploring a lot of my options in the field of international relations and political theories, as well as the history of specific countries that I am particularly interested in, such as the historical factors that shaped the ideological underpinning of Modern day China and the US. I have paid specific attention to analyzing the role of significant international organizations such as the UN and the trajectory of the UN Sustainable development goals. I have enjoyed interning at individual educational NGOS that focuses on international development and quality education, delivering quality curriculum design to public schools based in Zimbabwe and Rwanda. I look forward to exploring more combinations of both of my degrees in the following years of my time at university.
Outside my degree and professional pursuits, I enjoy picking up languages, including learning new bits of different cultures such as historical backgrounds and modern evolution of certain cultural beliefs when learning languages. I am a native Mandarin speaker and have been speaking English since the age of 5, then studied Spanish for the past 7 years, and I am now actively studying French and a bit of German. I enjoy going to yoga and ballet classes during my time off campus, and I am partially addicted to exploring different bookstores when traveling to a new city. I love a good romcom and a classic horror movie, and I am always on the lookout for new activities to try out during my time at university, whether it is Kpop dancing or trying out making pottery plates with friends, it is always a good thing to make the most of the city and a great way to meet people when you are traveling internationally.
Thank you for reading and keep a lookout for new blog posts from me!
