Study Abroad program: Chinese Language and Culture 

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In 2018, over the course of two months, I had the opportunity to travel to the other side of the world and immerse myself into a culture unlike my own. After four semesters of studying Mandarin at Florida International University, my curiosity on the language grew, which lead to the first step of taking a plane to Asia. I traveled to Tokyo, Hong Kong, and parts of China (pictured in right).

 

During my experience abroad, I was able to live with a host family which allowed me to practice my Mandarin and get a taste of the Chinese way of life. I lived with a mom, dad, little girl, and a cat. They were absolute nicest to me which surprised me. I had never met them before and was from a completely different culture but they welcomed me with open arms. One of the highlights from the home stay was being able to learn how to cook Chinese dishes with my Chinese mom. I was able to learn how to make dumplings, baos, and even noodles, all from scratch. I got to see intricacies of these recipes that I have now introduced into my own home. 

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I was enrolled in two courses over in Zhejiang University of Science and Technology. One of them was our advanced Chinese language course, in which we were taught difficult phrases that we would use daily such as when ordering food or trying to haggle a price. The other course we took was Business Chinese in which we would sight see different ancient places around Hangzhou and nearby cities like Shanghai. We also took part in a Chinese culture club in which we had a Chinese student who was our language partner. They helped us getting used to campus and understanding how to practice the phrases we had learned in class. It was great to have a Chinese friend my age so they could teach me about their culture from their perspective and I would with the American culture. 

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The study abroad was a month long but I took the liberty of traveling to other cities around China, Tokyo, and Hong Kong. This was one of the best decisions I could have made. I met so many new people and was able to experience not only the different aspects of the Chinese culture but the ones from japan as well. One of the highlights from my extra travels was meeting a group of students and their professor in Hong Kong. It turns out that their university was in Shenzhen, China was where I was heading to next. They invited my best friend David and I to speak at their university. It was an amazing experience to meet these students and answering their questions about the American culture. 

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This study abroad trip was my first time leaving home and making decisions for myself. It was the first step towards my journey of growing as a person. 

 

 

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