Good morning everyone, my name is Natalie Meyer and today, I am honored to have been asked to speak on behalf of the international graduates of 2021, from the Tsinghua School of Journalism and Communication.

Our university, our home in Beijing. This is how we feel about Tsinghua.

Home is where people make you feel welcome, included and like you belong.

This is how I felt each day riding my bicycle alongside friends to Taoliyuan – arguably the best cafeteria on campus.

After grabbing a dinner tray, I’d head straight to get a serve of the most delicious Chinese dish I had ever encountered: yuxiang qiezi.

Serving me was a lady who worked in the cafeteria. She had a massive smile on her face and would laugh each time I came back to order the same, predictable thing. Tang Cui Li. We became friends and would see each other during mealtimes at least once a day.

Tsinghua felt like home not just because we would go to sleep and wake up in our dormitory rooms on campus each day.

It was because of the people, the richness of the environment, the stimulating lectures, the likeminded peers, the fascinating professors, the diverse activities, the unparalleled opportunities. Tsinghua provided everything that a supportive and encouraging home should.

Remember cycling next to the river in the middle of campus each day? Watching as the seasons changed from hot, green summers, to autumn where the leaves would turn orange and families would play in the foliage on weekends. In winter when the river would freeze over and the trees would become bare, we’d pile on layers of clothing. And in spring we’d head out for picnics around the campus where everything was in bloom.

In the process of growing up, we learn to temporarily say goodbye to people and places. This is why today feels so bittersweet. Even though our journey as Tsinghua master’s students is now drawing to a close, we are excited to be part of the Tsinghua alumni family and to call ourselves Tsinghua-ren.

In my application letter for the GBJ program I wrote: “Being a Tsinghua student is an enormous privilege.”

I know this now more than ever and I know my peers feel the same.

Thank you to my thesis supervisor Professor Hu Yu, to Professors Rick Dunham and Hang Min, our unit coordinator Li Chengzhang, and all of our professors from the program, for your support, your guidance and for sharing your wisdom. Thank you to the Tsinghua School of Journalism and Communication and the Chinese Scholarship Council for enabling this opportunity. Thank you to those who I have worked with in the Tsinghua Global Communication Office, Chen laoshi, and all of her staff. Thank you to my GBJ peers, thank you to all of the personnel who served us on campus, especially our dormitory staff, and Tangcuili and her colleagues in the cafeterias.

Thank you Tsinghua for these unforgettable years.

Natalie Meyer and her supervisor Professor Hu Yu