“We live in this bipolar world where there is increasingly, there’s power struggle, but there’s still a huge level of misunderstanding I think on a cultural level, and it’s not until you actually create those people-to-people relations and strengthen personal bonds between people that they actually strengthen their capacity to work together,” said Chang.

Support for study abroad programs has also gotten a recent boost from Beijing officials. Chang said, “And the Chinese government came out and said we’ll fund 20,000 scholarships, which was unexpected and also a signal that yeah, they’re into it [support it].”

As part of her study abroad program, Civetta is taking cooking classes at Black Sesame, a Beijing restaurant hidden in one of the city’s historic courtyards. There she learns how to make traditional Chinese dishes and practices her Chinese language skills with the staff. She said, "Even though it may not be the final direction I go for in my career if you will, I am very excited to get that alternative perspective on the whole world of culinary arts through a Chinese lens.”

Twelve times more Chinese study in the U.S. than Americans study in China. The 100,000 Strong Foundation is working to shift that balance so more students like Civetta come to Beijing.