I''''m an American from the southern state of North Carolina. My hometown is a large city in my state called Greensboro, although it pales in comparison to a city in China. I''''m often mistaken for a student, due to my age, as I recently graduated from Appalachian State University (ASU), with a degree in Finance Risk Management Insurance, and completed my Masters of Business Administration (MBA) in 2011.

My original major and focus in college was International business with a minor in Chinese. However, I later decided to change to Finance because I became infatuated with financial markets. So, from my undergraduate study at the university, I was already keen on China. After doing an internship and manging a restaurant for a year, I decided to try something new, as I was inspired to teach by a former professor, and attracted to the differences between the east and the west.

My first two years in China, I was located in Qingdao. While living in Qingdao, I taught at Qingdao Agricultural University (QAU). The school is located in the northern Qingdao district of Chengyeng. I was advised by a mentor to start here and it worked out excellent. I learned a lot about China and myself during those first two years. Qingdao is a beautiful place, but all great things come to an end. Thus, I started to look for another attractive place with a warmer climate. After finding that place, this year will be my first year teaching in Zhuhai.

My personal interests, are as follows: music, traveling, cycling, and skiing. My musical tastes are trance and electronic, though from time to time, I will also listen to classic and modern rock. While music is one reason I love to travel, meeting new people and seeing different cultures would be the main reason. I''''ve traveled to twenty different states, 6 different Chinese provinces, and 5 other countries. From the time I was a small innocent child, I''''ve always dreamed of being able to travel the world and see many different places.

My preferred way to travel is by car, but I found cars too expensive to own in China, so I picked up a bicycle. I have many great experiences with bicycles and raced for my collegiate cycling team. Though I haven''''t done any major touring during my life, when I was in college, I used to bike from city to city, riding with my friends, and I would go for 120-150 km training rides. Before I found cycling, Skiing was my hobby of choice. However, in 2009 I had an unfortunate skiing accident, dislocating my jaw, tearing my rotator cuff, and suffering through a major concussion. As a result, I gave up this hobby.

My goals for the future, are to improve my fluency in Chinese, start a family, and possibly go back to school to pursue my doctoral degree in Finance. In the meantime it is my pleasure to be living and working at Beijing Normal University at Zhuhai.