Learning In and Out of the Classroom Past Review
By Becca G (Biology, General., Carleton College) for
CET Harbin
A lot of the people on my program are Chinese language or East Asian studies majors and plan to work in China or with China for a career. At the moment, I don't, but if I don't get into Biology grad school, it's a possibility.
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
I got so much better at Chinese! As someone who has been studying the language since middle school, I have a large vocabulary and grammar base, but my tones and pronunciation were not up to scratch. These got a lot better during my time abroad. I also improved at daily conversational aspects of Chinese, something I didn't have the opportunity to work on in the States. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
We had academic staff and residential staff, all of whom were very helpful and willing to answer questions. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
I needed to buy toilet paper for the four of us who shared our bathroom, but sheets were provided. |
| * Food: |
I'm a vegetarian, so the choices are pretty limited, but I was never hungry. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
My favorite experience organized by our program was a long weekend trip to Dandong, a city right on the Korean border. We were busy pretty much the whole time--we went to a temple site, a geological nature reserve, part of the Great Wall, the river between China and North Korea, and a farming village for a night. The program website says we go on two weekend trips, so I'm confused as to why we only went on one. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
I got a bad cold halfway through that persisted essentially through the rest of the program. When the Chinese get sick, they go to the hospital. My roommate told me to do so, but I had American medicine, tea with honey, and ways of getting sleep and didn't want to trouble someone to go with me to do something I doubted would actually be helpful. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
Yes
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Finances
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* Money: How easily were you able to live on a student's budget?
(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost) |
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| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | I spent very little on food and personal expenses. Meals are roughly $1-3 in the "black market" and restaurants and cheaper in the cafeterias. |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | We had to pay roughly $5 each month for broadband Internet access, but that wasn't a huge deal. |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | Advanced |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | 357 |
| If applicable, to what degree did your living situation aid your language acquisition? |
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| Language acquisition improvement? |
Very few people spoke English! We were on a language pledge, so we spoke only Chinese with locals, our Chinese roommates, and each other. |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
Select all that apply |
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* Who did you live with?
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* Who did you take classes with?
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A Look Back
| * What did you like most about the program? |
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| * What could be improved? |
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| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | This program focuses on academics more than most study abroad programs. I was thus not very good at getting out by myself during the first few weeks, although I did participate in all the program-run activities. You do get a week off in the middle to go traveling, which made me realize that I should go off by myself more often, which I'm very glad I did. Talking with locals, who were often impressed at how good my Chinese was, was a very neat experience. |
Individual Course Reviews
| Course Name/Rating: |
Modern Literature |
| Course Department: | N/A |
| Instructor: | Hu Laoshi |
| Instruction Language: | Chinese |
| Comments: | This was my favorite class. The teacher has been teaching this class for years, loves the topic, and clearly wants us to love it to! |
| Credit Transfer Issues: | I'm not back yet. Not sure. |
