你好! Hello from Beijing!

你好！I am very excited to start blogging about my experiences in China. My fellow classmates and I actually arrived in Beijing almost four weeks ago and have been through orientation, then a two week trip across the entire country and finally our first week of classes. The trip followed the old silk road trail from Beijing to about 50 miles away from the Pakistan border! It was a very eye-opening trip to see the different minorities of China as well as the beautiful and diverse landscape. TBC (The Beijing Center) did a wonderful job of coordinating our trip and ensuring that we not only had a good time but were safe and reflecting on our own assumptions about China. It was very well planed to do the trip before classes started. Now we have a better understanding of China and have knowledge entering our China-specific courses.

So far my classes have been not only extremely interesting and thought-provoking but challenging, too. This program is less of a typical “study abroad” program and more of a “learn about China in China” program. The difference I believe is that our academics and language courses are taken very seriously and the professors and staff expect a lot our of you throughout the whole semester. We are encouraged to venture out and utilize the knowledge we learn in our classes and apply them throughout our experiences in Beijing and beyond. The professors at TBC come from all over the city to teach in this program and their resumes are phenomenal. Many of these professors are known around Beijing, China and the world for their works and studies. I feel very fortunate to be learning under such knowledgeable people.

Now, just because academics are taken very seriously and a majority of every student’s weekday evenings are spent reading or practicing Chinese, Beijing is full of amazing opportunities and fun activities. In such a large international city you can find just about everything. Just outside of our campus you can find hundreds of large and small restaurants of varying cuisine. There are numerous festivals around the city celebrating Chinese culture as well as expat cultures. Also, China holds one of the oldest societies in the world and therefor have thousands of historic sites throughout the country. Yesterday the entire TBC group had the opportunity to visit the Great Wall, probably the most famous historical site in China. It was amazing to think about all of the work it took to build this enormous structure and that it still stands today.

Almost one month down in China and I have already seen parts about China I did not even existed. Being in such a rich culture has helped me to think about my own culture back home in the United States and reflect on the differences as well as similarities. The people are very welcoming and enjoy talking to foreigners so it is easy to become friends with people walking on campus or down the street. The language is also so different that communication can be difficult and simple tasks such as going to the grocery store become a long and tiring process. However, through these struggles and misunderstandings I am learning more about my new home and falling in love with China each strange conversation at a time!