This project is aimed at celebrating friendship, and deeply experiencing what it's like to be a temporary resident in a foreign country.

I photographed five of my friends, Chinese women studying in Atlanta, whose shared cultural background fostered a strong bond as they pursued their dreams away from home. When one friend graduated and had to leave the United States due to a change in her legal status.

The project lasted from the time she was ready to leave Atlanta until after she left Atlanta. We experienced farewells in this process.

As international students, our relationship with Atlanta was nuanced; we weren't exactly tourists, we had some connection to Atlanta, but we weren't exactly integrators either; for two years, we actually stayed in our apartment for the most part, it was the safest place we felt in the city that we could call home, it was where we sought solace and formed bonds.

But with her departure comes the realization that these spaces are temporary, and that we as international students belong neither to this foreign land nor to the apartments that provide a brief habitat for our lives.

The photographs reflect the ephemeral nature of life as an international student, where each outing and the minutiae of daily life will become treasures of memory. I hope to convey that these good times are all the more precious for their transience, and that when feeling unfamiliar with the world around us, we find a sense of belonging in our friends, and that the connections we make are lasting and help us navigate through uncharted territory with courage.