Multicultural education

Limya was born in a small town in Ningxia, and moved to Beijing when she was three years old. She has traveled to many cities such as Guangzhou, Shanghai and Suzhou, but feels most comfortable in Beijing. "I [have] grown up here and it is my home. Beijing is so international, I love it," she said.

Limya is not only a bicultural child, she's bilingual: she speaks both Chinese and Arabic fluently. "It's quite a good thing," she said. "We have Chinese, Arabic, English all mixed in [my] family. You speak three languages in a five-minute conversation."

Limya attended primary school at Beijing's Fangcaodi International School. There, she had friends from South Korea, Japan, North Korea, America and Africa.

"When we had lunch, everybody sat there and ate the foods cooked by our mums in the morning. [Every lunch] we shared Chinese food, African food, Japanese food, Korean food and American food. It was very international," she recalled.

Now when she sees a Korean restaurant, she can't pass up the opportunity to order favorite dishes from her school days. "The memory just naturally comes to me," she said.

Finding her interest

 After finishing junior high school at Beijing No.55 Middle School and senior high school at the Pakistan Embassy College, it was time for Limya to go to university. But what major should she choose? Limya was interested in architecture. Her father thought petroleum engineering was a better choice with promising career prospects.

Limya's mother stood her by daughter's side. Yang wanted Limya to be happy, but her father was convinced that even if she was "happy," without a good job in the future she would suffer. The parents argued.

Limya picked petroleum engineering to stop her parents fighting. In September 2006, she began matriculating at the China University of Geosciences in Beijing, but completely ignored her studies that first year. "I was against my father, because I really didn't want to [study engineering]. I was [a] tough kid," she said.

A two-week internship in Qinhuangdao, Hebei Province changed her mind.

During the internship, Limya rose at five in the morning to climb mountains, investigating rocks, learning under which ones oil could be found. "When I was young, I liked to collect and keep stones," she said. "[I realized] I had finally found what I wanted to do."

In her second year, she transferred to the China University of Petroleum in Beijing. There, she found her coursework easier and felt more relaxed. "I think learning is a good thing, but you need to see what you want to learn. Interest is the best teacher," she said.