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“Four hours a day and you
have plenty of time to get your homework done, live your life,
go and use the language in the streets, and experience the city.”


—Alyssa

Senior Alyssa spent a year living and studying in TianJin, China through the IRSEP scholarship exchange program. She focused on her Asian Language and Literatures major and studied the Chinese language at Nankai University. Alyssa described her experience as being challenging yet highly rewarding. She sought out social activities where she could engage in talking with locals and quickly broke through language barriers.

“I always had a notebook with me so I could have people write things down for me because otherwise I would just forget. I would say I improved a lot really fast. By the second semester I was feeling comfortable enough with the language and I had a broad enough vocabulary and was getting comfortable enough with the speaking patterns and the fall of the language that I could go out and I could have really rewarding conversations instead of just getting by. When I got there I could get by and when I left I felt like I could have discussions of anything from literature to politics, occasionally things as deep as philosophy. I was feeling much more confident in myself. Coming back now I am still studying, still trying to push it higher.”

Academic and Cultural Experience

With four hours of in class language instruction each day, Alyssa still had time to learn outside of the classroom.

“Four hours a day and you have plenty of time to get your homework done, live your life, go and use the language in the streets, and experience the city.”

Alyssa spent some of her free time hiking mountains and experiencing rural life in China.

“I passed the Chinese new years in the south of China. We were out in the mountains in a little village… absolutely no electricity no plumbing, nothing and we spent the new years there with a family. Everything we ate, everything we drank were things that they had completely raised from scratch. The scenery was great, we got to get up early in the morning and climb up the mountains. It was a really incredible experience to see that. And spend the holiday there, to be with them on one of the most important days of the year for this family.”

Throughout the week Alyssa also participated in local festivities such as a local barbeque.

“One of the highlights of living in TianJin, and anywhere in China is you have these things called a “ShaoKao” it’s a barbeque that they set up at night. It’s generally just a long grill instead of a big wide one like we have here… you order things by the stick. And you sit at little fold out tables and chairs that they setup around eight or nine at night. And this is a great way to talk to people because they’re always curious about the foreigners. People always want to talk to you and know where you are from. That was not a single story, that was a story that happened repeatedly. That was a good way to learn slang and to learn a lot of little cultural things that you don’t get in the classroom. Just hanging out in the streets and eating street food.”

 
Last modified on November 21, 2008