Sam: Unconventional.
Yanrui: 不同寻常。
Sam (reading like a dictionary definition) : Not based on or conforming to what is generally done or believed.
Yanrui: 不基于通常所做或所相信的事情。
Sam: That’s the word.
Yanrui: That’s how we start.
Sam: That’s who we are. We are the students who made an unconventional choice to attend an unconventional university.
Yanrui: And got an education that was far beyond what a “normal” education could be.
Sam: Since I chose NYU Shanghai, I can't tell you how many times I've had to explain our unconventional school. Yes, it’s NYU like in New York—but in Shanghai, China for three years and abroad for one. Half Chinese, half international. The response I always get? Wow! So unconventional.
Yanrui: 不管你是来自世界的另一端]，还是黄浦江的另一端。[Whether you’re from the other side of the world, or the other side of Huangpu River]
Sam: 选择这个学校就是选了未知]，选了不同。[Choosing this university means choosing the unknown and the different]
Yanrui: For us Chinese students, it was a major departure from the traditional path. Instead of attending a university where everything was familiar—our language, our culture, our academic system. Even though we were still in China, we were stepping into a completely different world.
Sam: And for those of us coming from outside China, we weren’t just starting college. We had to figure out everything—every app—sorry A.P.P— every Didi driver that asked us “美国好还是中国好？” [Is the US better or China better?], every time [my friend] Sarah made full use of the phrase “一个这个，一个这个，一个这个” [this and this and this] while pointing at a menu.
Yanrui: But, let’s go back to the very beginning. Before we even met each other, our class was split across the world. Chinese students started here in Shanghai. International students, well, most of them, were sent to New York.
Sam: And neither group got quite what they expected. We internationals had chosen this school to be in China. So finding ourselves in New York, we couldn’t help but wonder, “Wait, aren’t we supposed to be in Shanghai?”
Yanrui: I remember stepping onto campus that first semester and wondering, where is everyone? I had imagined this international environment, but where were all the internationals?
Sam: Then the email from Dean Pe arrived. Visas secured. Finally, I landed in China. I was excited but also nervous.
Yanrui: 我从来没有见过你们，我也不知道应该期待些什么。[I’ve never met you all, and I didn’t know what to expect]
Sam: But I’ll never forget what happened next. A knock came at my door; it was Sebastian with a whole welcome case of oranges. I didn’t even know what to say—it was such a simple gesture, but it meant everything.
Yanrui: Meeting my internet friends in real life was a “Zoom-to-reality” moment! My buddy Kiet from Design Your NYUSH, my GPS classmate Salina—we had felt so close on Zoom, but we were just floating heads on a screen. Who would have known Talitha had five pairs of the same Converse, all different colors, to perfectly match every outfit.
Sam: That was the moment NYU Shanghai stopped being a concept. It became reality.
Yanrui: And it felt like home.
Sam: But just when we were starting to find our rhythm, Shanghai hit pause—lockdowns, quarantines, and a whole new reality.
Yanrui: “Unprecedented times.” Everyone has their COVID stories, but the Class of 2025? Ours are next level.
Sam: 疫情那会儿，我们的宿舍隔离了三个月，谁能忘记以物换物，“我给你两个鸡蛋，你给我一个土豆，可以吗？” [During COVID-19, we were locked down in our dorm for three months. Who could forget bartering goods? "I’ll trade you two eggs for a potato, ok?"]
Yanrui: 还有，我们莫名其妙都成了“药神”。谁缺药群里提一句，转眼间就有同学翻家底把自 己有的药分你一半，比外卖还快，不过我们不拼手速，拼的是掏库存的义气。[Somehow, we all became our own kind of ‘Medicine God.’ If anyone said in the group chat that they were short on meds, within minutes a classmate would dig through their stash and offer you half—faster than food delivery. But this wasn’t a race of reflexes; it was a show of loyalty, of sharing whatever we had.]
Sam: I still remember how the highlight of our week became... the Lehman emails. I’d get the notification, run into the hall, and yell “LEHMAN EMAIL!” And like clockwork, the entire remaining crew from Floor 8 would crowd around to read it together.
Yanrui: I mean, who could forget the line:
Sam: “We. are. Shanghai!”
Yanrui: COVID shaped our circumstances, but what truly defined our time was how we showed up for one another—how we helped, how we cared, how we stayed connected.
Sam: Slipping meals under doors, organizing bulk food orders, or just sending a simple “You okay?”
Yanrui: And that connection…
Sam: …it didn’t end with COVID.
Yanrui: It was in every challenge we faced, every moment we pushed through together throughout the NYU Shanghai experience.
Sam: Our journey at NYU Shanghai was exciting.
Yanrui: It was terrifying.
Sam: It was—
Yanrui: Frustrating.
Sam: 受益匪浅的。[Rewarding]
Yanrui: Absolutely worth it.
Sam: 真的很值得 [Absolutely worth it]– Because here’s the thing most people don’t understand.
Yanrui: When you throw yourself into something unconventional, something uncertain, it has the potential to exceed every expectation. And that’s exactly what happened.
Sam: NYU Shanghai is not just a university. It’s not just a campus. It’s an experiment—in what education can be when you challenge what’s expected. Academically, culturally, even geographically.
Yanrui: Think about it. We didn’t just learn from textbooks—we learned from each other. In every class discussion, in every late-night conversation, we challenged each other, questioned our assumptions, and sometimes completely changed our minds.
Sam: Like that night in New York—one question about subway safety turned into a full debate on the balance between privacy and security.
Yanrui: And that was just one of countless moments where we weren’t just studying global issues—we were living them. Because our education wasn’t confined to one city or one perspective.
Sam: We don’t just come from different parts of the world—we lived in different parts of the world. Shanghai, Abu Dhabi, New York, London.
Yanrui: And because of that, we learned the world isn’t just something you read about.
Sam: It’s something you navigate, something you shape.
Yanrui: During all these experiences, we adapted to different languages, different expectations, different ways of thinking.
Sam: And along the way—maybe even more importantly—
Yanrui: We became more than classmates.
Sam: One of the hardest parts about being an international student at NYU Shanghai is leaving family behind—not just for semesters, but for years. Holidays, birthdays, even small, everyday moments—we missed those. But our classmates…they became our family.
Yanrui: A family where we could support each other, even when our biological families were thousands of miles away.
Sam: Thanksgiving at NYU Shanghai meant recreating home—Sophia brought mac and cheese, Matt brought pancit canton, and we all ran across Shanghai hunting down, of all things, butter. That night, our tiny kitchen was chaos—flour everywhere, Emma’s butter chicken splattered across the ceiling, the fire alarm going off. Sorry, Tower 4—
Yanrui: That was you?
Sam: Well it was *Clara’s vegan cookies* but yeah…
Yanrui: Huh…
Sam: —but it felt like home. And sometimes, our Chinese friends welcomed us into their families. My roommate Tokio invited me to Qingdao for Spring Festival—we made dumplings, drank 白酒 (báijiǔ), and set off fireworks on the beach. Even though I wasn’t with my own family, I felt like I was part of one.
Yanrui: In New York, we celebrated Chinese New Year with friends from around the world. Watching 春晚 (chūn wǎn) and playing mahjong together, it felt just like home. And that’s our community—wherever we go, we’ll always have a classmate, a friend, a family.
Sam: That’s the real education we received here. Not just facts and theories, but the ability to communicate across cultures, collaborate across differences, and lead in spaces where there is no clear roadmap.
Yanrui: And now, as we step out into the world, we take that with us—the ability to navigate uncertainty, embrace complexity, and thrive in the unfamiliar.
Sam: 我们说真话，我们的未来也会是不同寻常的 [To tell the truth, our future will also be unique]
Yanrui: We’ve already done what most people would think to be impossible—
Sam: We built a home wherever we were in the world.
Yanrui: 现在，我们把这种精神带进了公司、政府、研究实验室，带进世界的不同角落，带进 了我们选择建设的未来。[Now, we’ll carry that same spirit into companies, government, and research labs—into corners of the world far and wide, and into the future we’ve chosen to help build.]
Sam: So, to our classmates—our fellow, unstoppable, boundary-breaking, unconventional classmates—
Yanrui: Let’s go change the world.
Sam: In a way only we can.
Both: Congratulations, Class of 2025!