China: Best Four Months of My Life Past Review

By Zachary T (International Business, Bryant University) for

CIEE: Shanghai - Business, Language, and Culture

What did you gain/learn from your experience abroad? Was it worthwhile?

The Chinese culture is completely opposite of the American culture so it was great to see the differences and adapt to those differences to try to locally fit in. I learned so much about Chinese people and their traditions it was an amazing experience that made me apply for a summer program in Shanghai this summer so I can experience it again.

Review Your Program

* Overall educational experience Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.	The workload was similar to that at my home university as well as the grading system. The teaching methods are a little different because the teachers are mostly Chinese and they teach like local Chinese teachers would teach. the nature of the program was a little more laid back system because they are more interested in you experiencing the culture than the classes.
* Host Country Program Administration On-site administration of your program	they were always available to help you with anything and they were all native Chinese and knew everything about the city as well as they could help you any language problems you were having. the program size was perfect with about 65 kids they you lived with in a dorm style building. The program exceeded my expectations by far
* Housing: How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?
* Food:	We ate mostly at local restaurants which are pretty good. My favorite place was Gourmet and it was 50 feet from the international dorms so very convenient and they offer different types of food, even American style dishes.
* Social & Cultural Integration: How integrated did you feel with the local culture?	they brought us to a Chinese gymnastics show the first week as well as a river boat cruise on the bund. they also organized weekend trips to various places semi-close to Shanghai which were all interesting. they also gave us a week off to go wherever we wanted to. for nine days they flew us down south to Guangzhou to go to the import export fair and also to participate in a habitat for humanity project in a small remote village.
* Health Care: How well were health issues addressed during the program?
* Safety:	overall Shanghai is not a clean city by any means it is in fact very dirty with a lot of street vendors cooking food and filling the air with smoke which makes it difficult to breath sometimes. however, if you ever get sick the international healthcare in the hospitals is extremely nice, much better than American health care. It's a fairly safe place because guns are illegal.
If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program?	Yes

Finances

* 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)

Language

* Did your program have a foreign language component?	Yes
If applicable, to what degree did your living situation aid your language acquisition?
Language acquisition improvement?