Promises of the New Year

[Photo provided to China Daily]

Santana Muthoni was born and raised in Kenya and came to Beijing in September. She was accepted by Yenching Academy, which is a school in Peking University aiming to cultivate world leaders who will make a difference.

Muthoni graduated with a bachelor's degree in international relations from the United States International University in Africa.

"I want to push myself out of my comfort zone," Muthoni says when asked why she came to China.

Muthoni has met fellow students from all over the world. As well as those from bigger countries, there are also people from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Many of her friends will share Muthoni's New Year's resolution, which is to make progress studying the Chinese language.

"So far I can say 'I want to buy this' and 'I want to go there'. Sometimes when I try to engage in conversation, I'm not able to understand what the other person means," says Muthoni, who has already become a language-exchange buddy with Chinese students and learned some basic Chinese characters.

"After graduation, I want to work in China for two or three years, maybe as a diplomat or in the field of human resources," says Muthoni.

Wu Yue contributed to the story.