Growing up, my favorite meal to eat was American Chinese takeout. I have memories of a young Kelsey doodling potstickers on the side of my homework instead of doing the long division assigned that day. Now, I know that the idea of Chinese cuisine is way different in the United States, but that's what got me to explore the path of Asian food and culture. Enjoying American Chinese food with my family on the weekends was such a cherished memory for me that I went as far as to change my open-mindedness to trying new food. It started off as just eating orange chicken, which slowly turned to going to a dim sum place to try traditional chicken feet. I knew that culinary arts was going to be in my future, but I wasn't quite sure how at that point. As I grew older, I became way more adventurous both in my diet and in my inspiration to cook at home. From folding my own bao buns at home to designing plates for my culinary competition team in high school, there was always some sort of Asian influence in what I created. Flash forward to culinary school, I was exposed to a brand new community, which made me change my mind a million times as to what I wanted to do for my career. So many friends, chefs, professors, all of them forced me to question what I really want to do and how I'm going to do it. Then, I took my Asia's course. It was the fastest, most educational three weeks of my life, and I felt so out of place every single class. Not because I was bad, but because I knew absolutely nothing about Asian cuisines. I thought that I knew so much about Asian food before I came to school, and that I would be bored in that class. That was the complete opposite of what happened, and I couldn't have been happier for that. Asian cuisine is not just soy sauce and sesame oil. I learned that I barely scratched the surface of what the cuisine is, and how it's prepared compared to other types of cuisines in the world. The fact that I found a category of food where I can be challenged even with experience leads me to believe that I will never be bored doing what I do. Because of my chef, my passion, and the support of my family, I am now on course to continue my education of Asian cuisines in Singapore for my last semester of culinary school.