Natalie Wright didnt have Olympic medals in mind when she embarked for Beijing and Shanghai earlier this summer.

She just wanted to make a difference.

For the past three months, the third-year student at West Virginia Universitys College of Law has been in China, where she was setting up a nonprofit company and learning about life and the legal system.

On the decided lighter side, she did most of her communicating in Mandarin, which made for a few linguistic missteps (of the comical kind) during her first days in the country.

Like the time she asked a total stranger out for a date.

Im a lot better now,she laughed,but my Chinese is still a little tricky at times. Thank goodness I had friends to rescue me. They found me pretty entertaining, actually. People are so patient and gracious. I learned and experienced so much.

And thats the point of WVU s Mandarin Study Abroad Program, which was Wrights springboard to the country.

The program links WVU with Suzhou (soo-CHOW) University, a campus 35 minutes from Shanghaiand a world away from Morgantown.

WVU s Office of International Programs set up the partnership with the help of language professor Hanna Lin, who is introducing Mandarin to public schools across the Mountain State through the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences.

While Wright jokes about her so-called lack of proficiency in the native tongue, she had still learned enough in Lins classes to get by before she ever boarded a plane, and she really put her language and law skills to work in China.

She spent a lot of time over the past weeks shuttling from Suzhou U. to Shanghai to Beijing, which now has the eyes of the world as the 2008 Summer Olympics continues.

Wrights trips garnered a gold medal for networking, as she got to know several expatriate professionals in the country. A lot of them even have ties to WVU and West Virginia.

She wants to work in international development after law school, and one American company in China gave her the opportunityalong with a paycheckto do just that.

ACCION International, a Boston-based human outreach firm, hired her to open its newest Asia office in Beijing. The company began its life in 1961 as a student-run, volunteer effort to address poverty in Latin America.

Today its expanded its mission across the U.S., Asia and Africa as amicro-financierthat makes low-interest loans to budding entrepreneurs in economically depressed regions.

This is actually their first office in China,she said.I was hired to write a how-to manual on the opening of wholly foreign-owned businesses in China. That took a lot of research on all the applicable statutes on incorporation, tax laws and labor laws related to foreigners living in China.

Her quickly growing network of professional friends and sources helped immeasurably, she said. She was able to draw on the expertise of lawyers, business managers, professors and students for help in drafting the document.

I learned so much about what it means to be a foreigner practicing law in China,she said.This was a real opportunity.

The law school is already known for going beyond its borders to enrich its students. The school offers a similar exchange in Brazil, and Wright went on that one last summer, studying legal issues such as international trade and economic development with the opportunity to spend a week on a houseboat exploring the Amazon.

Were part of a global economy,said Joyce E. McConnell, dean of the College of Law.These programs are an essential part of our curriculum and are critical in affording our students the legal education, the breadth of understanding and the experience to compete in that arena.

Before WVU , being a student in a foreign arena was nothing new for Wright. Shes a Brigham Young University International Studies graduate who earned a masters degree in advanced development in the United Kingdom before returning to the U.S. to look at law school opportunities.

The move to Morgantown worked out just fine for the Potomac, Md., native. She was closer to her family, and she happily found another family at the College of Law.

And even though she was halfway across the globe this summer, Wright says she wouldnt want to be anywhere but WVU right now, both personally and professionally.

Ive been really blessed in Morgantown,she said.In the two years Ive been here, Ive been able to live and learn the law and language in two countries, and Im being taught by some of the best professors in the world at the College of Law. This whole experience is really opening the door to my dream. Who could ask for anything better than that?

Her dean appreciates the praise because it reaffirms her colleges mission.

We want our students to go into the world prepared to serve as excellent lawyers and advocates,McConnell said.Natalies an excellent example of someone who consistently makes the most of the opportunities extended to her. We are extremely pleased by her accomplishments.