One of the most wonderful experiences of my life Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

The Advanced Chinese Studies course requires you to take 4 hour Chinese classes 4 times a week (Monday-Thursday). While this may seem overwhelming, time goes by rather quickly since you're going through large amounts of content. On top of that, you have 2 tutors per day, each around an hour. While some students thought that it was a waste of time, I loved having my tutor to check my homework, clarify things I didn't understand in class and teach me new things that I wouldn't have learned in class otherwise. While I did like my classes, the teaching style is repetitive. Over time I found myself bored and less inclined to pay attention in class.

On-site administration of your program

The teachers here are all very young and are very easy to approach. Most students (including me) became very close with their teachers and felt comfortable talking to them about anything. The teachers were are also very kind and thoughtful. I remember once, a girl from another program was asking where to get sleeping pills for an upcoming trip. Instead of the teacher directing her, she volunteered to pick them up for her and bring them to class tomorrow.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

I lived with a host family whom I loved dearly. However, compared to the students who lived in the dorm, I feel like I didn't have some utilities that I wished I had. For example, my host family didn't have proper heating. When winter came, I found myself freezing and struggling to get out of bed in the morning. However, most host family students I know didn't have that problem. My family was very sweet and caring. They did so many things for me which were completely unnecessary like doing my laundry and cleaning my room. My host mom's granddaughter was the only one who spoke English in the house, so I spoke mostly Chinese at home. The dorm rooms are very nice. Each room housed 2 people with a full size bed, a closet and desk. The rooms were very spacious. Each floor had a common bathroom. However, the internet there was very slow. Most kids' wifi slowly stopped working through out the semester.

Living with a host family provided me breakfast and dinner most days of the week. However, if I wasn't eating at home, I never had any issues with dining out. Most students in the dorm ate outside the back gate (a five minute walk from the dorms) where there was a collection of street food carts and restaurants. The prices ranged from 6 kuai (less than a US dollar) to about 20-30 kuai (about 5 US dollars) for a more expensive sit down restaurant. Shanghai has restaurants for very cuisine you could be looking for, at any desired price range. Eating here and having so many options is such a treat! *Note: Most people had stomach issues on the program. Most came from food poisoning, gutter oil used in street food, or a lack of fiber in Chinese diets. Bring medicine and supplements with you! People with sensitive stomachs should really be careful about what they eat here, especially street food.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

Please note that the university is in one of the most under-developed parts of Shanghai. While living at ECNU wasn't horrible by any means, don't expect it to be anything like living in Pudong. That being said, I really think living in the ECNU area allowed me to utilize my Chinese more than if I lived in Pudong because most people in Pudong can speak English. Fitting into Shanghai wasn't difficult. People from Shanghai are very receptive to foreigners and we weren't stared at too often. I really like everyone on my program, everyone was friendly and easy to get along with. It was a big program (around 70 people) and so meeting everyone was a little difficult.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

Living in China is obviously going to be nothing like living back at home. The air in Shanghai is awful and it's a bit less hygienic. I never needed any medical assistance while in Shanghai, but finding things for a common cold wasn't hard at all. Like mentioned before, bring stomach medicine from home just in case is highly recommended. Also, finding pain killers in large amounts was a problem for me. So bringing a bottle of ibuprofen might benefit some people.

I never felt unsafe in Shanghai, even when walking home alone early in the morning. While CIEE strongly discouraged this, I personally never had any issues what so ever. If you're going to be using your iPhone over here, make sure that you're taking good care of it. I know many people who were pick-pocketed when at bars and clubs. Also, be wary out the back gate. People have had their wallets and phones stollen. Don't stand too close to a group of people you don't know and keep an eye on your belongings. It's really not as bad as it's put out to be, I feel like most students who had their stuff stolen just weren't paying attention to their surroundings.

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

I think it's very easy to budget if you're making an effort. Food is cheap here just as long as you're not going to a sit down restaurant every night. However, I know students blowing hundreds of dollars per week. A lot of that is if you go out to bars and clubs every weekend because it can get super expensive.

0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language

CIEE has a language commitment but it isn't upheld at all. Part of it is because students on this program range from beginners to very advanced students and so speaking English just makes it easier on everyone. Points can be docked from your grade if the teachers catch you speaking English, but it can be really depend on whether or not they're in the mood and want to make it an issue.

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• Host Family

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• Host Family

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• Americans

• No classes on Friday
• Wonderful teachers
• Planned trips to different parts of China (there is a Week long tip and a Weekend trip)

• Repetitive teaching plans
• Enforcing the Language Commitment