Home / MY JOURNEY
My Journey
The world kept changing.
So did the way I saw it.
From family journeys across continents to a road trip through western China—and then a new school in the United States. This is a story of learning to see places through the people who live there.
GREECE / FROM THE FAMILY TRAVEL ARCHIVE
26+
countries across
five continents
OVER THE YEARS
Beyond the photograph.
Travel has never been only about collecting destinations. Staying in ordinary neighborhoods in Greece and Turkey helped me experience everyday life beyond the landmarks; museums and historic sites opened windows into how people and civilizations change.
A racket, a board, or another chance to move often came along. I learned to travel simply, stay curious, and pay attention to the lives around me.
ASIA / EUROPE / THE AMERICAS / AFRICA / OCEANIA
ONE JOURNEY / FIVE CHAPTERS
2012 — 2019
Many countries.
More ways of seeing.
A first overseas trip to New Zealand in 2011 began a rhythm of family travel. Through the years that followed, islands, cities, ancient sites, and training courts became different classrooms.
2012–13
TRAVEL JOURNAL
First routes, familiar crossings.
New Zealand family journeys and cross-border school life in Hong Kong.
NEW ZEALAND / FAMILY ARCHIVE
HONG KONG / SCHOOL DAYS
2014
TRAVEL JOURNAL
Islands opened the horizon.
Hawaii, Macau and Taiwan; new landscapes close to home and across the Pacific.
HAWAII, USA / 2014
TAIWAN / 2014
MACAU / 2014
2015
TRAVEL JOURNAL
From one coast to another.
The United States, east to west: cities, museums and immense natural landscapes.
NEW YORK, USA / 2015
BRYCE CANYON, USA / 2015
NIAGARA FALLS / 2015
2016
TRAVEL JOURNAL
A wider European chapter.
Thailand → Portugal → Spain → France. Architecture, ordinary streets and different ways of living.
LISBON, PORTUGAL / 2016
SEVILLE, SPAIN / 2016
PORTUGAL / ATLANTIC COAST · 2016
2017
TRAVEL JOURNAL
Learning travelled with me.
Cambodia, Taiwan, Singapore and Thailand. Summer learning and tennis became part of the journey.
TAIWAN / TENNIS TRAINING · 2017
2018
TRAVEL JOURNAL
A racket in the suitcase.
Malaysia → Vietnam → Thailand → Indonesia. Sport connected unfamiliar places to a familiar rhythm.
MALACCA, MALAYSIA / 2018
VIETNAM / 2018
THAILAND / 2018
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA / 2018
2019
TRAVEL JOURNAL
Different worlds, real encounters.
Czech Republic → Turkey → Egypt → Thailand → the Philippines → Australia. Snow, history and everyday encounters.
CZECH REPUBLIC / 2019
EGYPT / 2019
AUSTRALIA / 2019
CZECH REPUBLIC / WINTER · 2019
LATE 2019 — 2021
And then,
the routes narrowed.
The outbreak at the end of 2019 changed the meaning of distance. During our early-2020 journey through Austria, Hungary, and Greece, even getting home became uncertain.
Online classes.
Masks. Waiting.
By 2021, overseas travel had given way to online learning and restrictions at home. The interruption made the freedom to move feel less ordinary—and made me more attentive to how people adapt when daily life changes.
AT HOME / KEEPING A RHYTHM · 2020–2022 ARCHIVE
2022
The long road west.
A world beginning to heal.
CHENGDU → CHONGQING → XI’AN
A family road trip took us from Shenzhen through Guizhou, Sichuan, Chongqing, Shaanxi, and Shanxi. As travel began to resume, I noticed how restrictions differed from place to place—and how people were finding their way back to everyday life.
HUKOU WATERFALL / 2022 WESTERN CHINA ROAD TRIP
CHENGDU / 2022
Looking at history.
Noticing the present.
The journey brought ancient history into view, from Sichuan to the Terracotta Army in Xi’an. Along the road, the changing rhythms of ordinary life mattered just as much. My skateboard and tennis racket still travelled with me.
XI’AN / TERRACOTTA ARMY · 2022
“The long road west, witnessing everyday life begin to heal.”
2022 / ANOTHER KIND OF EXPLORATION
▶ WATCH FILM 01:28
A moment on camera.
Alongside travel and sport, 2022 also brought an experience in front of the camera: appearing in a Vanke promotional film.
VANKE / PROMOTIONAL FILM
ROLE: ON-CAMERA PARTICIPANT
2024 — 2025
The world reopened.
I returned with new eyes.
THE BRIDGE / 2023
A UK summer school, Iceland, and Riga marked the return to overseas travel in 2023.
A WIDER HORIZON / 2024–2025
In 2024, journeys to the Philippines and Thailand were joined by the New York Times summer program and travel in the U.S. and Canada. In 2025, Thailand and Chiang Mai, followed by a summer program at Penn, brought exploration and learning closer together.
I was no longer seeing only where I could go, but what I could learn by being there.
THE PHILIPPINES / 2024
2025
From visiting a place
to building a life in it.
Columbus Academy
Moving to an American high school in 2025 changed the journey. I was learning how to belong in a new classroom, a new team, and an unfamiliar community.
Asking questions, listening to others, and participating became ways to make a new place feel like home. The curiosity I carried through travel was becoming part of everyday life.
WHAT STAYED WITH ME
I carry more than places.
01
Adaptability
Learning to recalibrate when a route changes, a plan fails, or a familiar way of doing things no longer fits.
02
Curiosity
Looking beyond what is familiar, asking how things work, and letting everyday observations become deeper questions.
03
A wider perspective
Listening across cultures and noticing the quiet pressures others carry—on a journey, in a classroom, or on a team.
NEXT CHAPTER / RESEARCH & ACADEMICS
Experience became
a question.
Travel taught me to observe. Sport taught me to reflect. Those habits now shape my questions about the brain, movement, and adolescent mental health.
Explore research & academicsZier Wang.
The story is still unfolding.
A PERSONAL JOURNAL OF GROWTH & DISCOVERY
© Zier Wang 2026