Nancy Tang is back from her year abroad in Shanghai, China, and eager to talk about her time in one of the world's largest cities. "In every sense, Shanghai is a city at the crossroads," she writes. "The cultural capital of China is where old meets new and East meets West, all blending into a bustling, cosmopolitan city."

Nancy Tang could have been president of the sophomore class during the 2008-09 school year. After all, she had already won the election. But she wound up spending the year living in China's largest city, Shanghai, a municipality of more than 18 million people. Now she's back, and Kahlilah Cooke has the story of her experience abroad.