[New Email] Subject Line: I Made It!
Penn Global Seminar: Global Business Communication for Impact
Jessica, one of the Spring 2026 Penn Global Seminar Correspondents, shares her experience abroad during the Spring Break. Follow along with the group of correspondents on our blog and look out for their images on the @pennabroad Instagram feed.
I didn’t know if I’d be joining my Penn Global Seminar until the hour before my flight departed.
Since March, I have been navigating the stressful process of obtaining a travel document for my trip to China. It was finally approved the week before my flight–but delays in shipping, followed by an error that sent a held document into transit, put everything in jeopardy the day before I was supposed to head back to Philadelphia.
What got me through it was, ironically, exactly what my course is about. WH2011 is an extension of WH2010, the communications class required for Wharton undergraduates, with an added global component. Over the past semester, I’ve learned how to communicate clearly and efficiently–and I needed every bit of that in the final 48 hours before departure. I was sending dozens of emails, making early morning calls, and checking my inbox every half hour. The stress had me wanting to ramble, but I kept coming back to one principle from class: lead with the headline and simplify your ask.
It worked. With incredible support from course staff, classmates, friends, and Penn Abroad, I was approved to apply for a new travel document the day before my flight. I jumped in the car to the airport, took the next flight from Los Angeles to Philadelphia, and barely slept before boarding an early Amtrak to New York City the next morning. I was standing at the consulate door when it opened–just four and a half hours before my flight. From there it was a full sprint: submitting a brand new application, cab to Penn Station, train to JFK, and through security. I finally made it to JFK with an hour and a half to spare–and it was worth every second of it.
Despite being ethnically Chinese myself, I’m not too familiar with China. Born abroad, I’ve always felt a curious cultural distance between myself and Chinese people born and raised in China–something beyond just language. A communications course with a China component felt like the right place to start figuring that out and I’m so excited to be here.
I haven’t had time to form grand expectations or map out must-see destinations. I’m arriving with an open mind, a lot of relief, and maybe just a little disbelief that I actually pulled this off. Whatever China has in store, I’m ready to take it all in as it comes.
See you from Shanghai!