Irene Aguilar has been living in China for the past 5 years and says she’s still not ready to come back to Costa Rica.

“You can purchase things just using your cell phone without taking cards or cash with you. And the technological field keeps growing more each day,” Aguilar said. She also likes how well the economy is doing and how her salary easily matches most of her expenses.

After high school, she decided to pursue a career in the performing arts. Aguilar got her degree at the Universidad Nacional and took Chinese as an elective. She took her learning seriously and her teacher recommended some Mandarin scholarships.

Aguilar then traveled to China for the first time on a nine-month scholarship. Aguilar enjoyed the culture shock and took a bus to Hunan’s capital, Changsha, and started asking about scholarships at local universities.

Aguilar finally got a spot at Hunan Normal University’s art, film, and television master’s program. She says to get a scholarship like hers, all you have to do is follow the steps and go through a few interviews. Aguilar added that the information you need about available scholarships is on the Casa Amarilla website.

Aguilar graduated from her master’s program this year and she’s full of hopes of future trips around Asia, as well as projects related to her career.