She learned that China was about more than the development of its cities and infrastructure, and what intrigued her more were intangible aspects, such as its culture and values.

She said she was particularly impressed by people's drive and determination to learn.

Rajbhandari noticed that people here are usually curious and always interested in learning new things.

"I still remember befriending a security guard when I was learning Chinese. He wanted to practice his English and I wanted to practice Chinese. Although I had a difficult time understanding him due to his thick accent, I was pleasantly surprised by how different Chinese can sound in different cities."

While the international relations course was a lot more popular among international students, Rajbhandari believes that in order to be able to understand international politics, one has to begin with understanding China's domestic politics.

She said that people generally have a skeptical view of studying politics in China and a fear of bias, often as a result of influence by Western media.

Rajbhandari disagrees with the perception. Instead, she believes that this is exactly why studying China in China should be encouraged and that politics is the foundation of international relations.

"I cannot describe how glad I am that I chose China and that China chose me－I believe it's a connection. If you told me 10 years ago that I would be graduating from Peking University in a Chinese-language program in political science, I wouldn't have believed you."

Having a strong base at Peking University allowed Rajbhandari to look deeper into her area of interest as she started to pursue a master's in Chinese politics at Renmin University.

While her studies have been exciting, she said that the experience of living in China and observing its political system has also given her a lot of firsthand experience.

"I not only learned about politics and the Chinese political system through theories and studies, but also through real life outside of the classroom," she said.