An intense, and rewarding experience. Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

Our program was very small when it came to the amount of students, so we ended up having a 2:1 student teacher ratio. Because of that the program was very rigorous, and we accomplished a lot in a limited amount of time. Since we were able to pick our own topics for a one-on-one class, we had a lot of opportunities to learn vocabulary that pertained to our interests. The only downside I'd like to mention is that because the program was so rigorous we didn't have as much time to explore the city as we would have liked to. Of course, we had weekends free, but we usually didn't have time to leave campus independently during the week. This might have been a good thing though because we probably wouldn't have taken full advantage of the time and instead devoted it to bettering our Chinese.

On-site administration of your program

Administration was pretty good, we were given a lot of opportunities to sightsee in groups, and participate in group activities organized by the administration. Though, these became less frequent as the semester went on. Nonetheless, we had many great opportunities throughout the program. Everyone's favorite trip was organized by the program and we got to go see bamboo forests in Zhejiang for a weekend.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

For China, the housing was pretty good, but when compared to American standards it was kind of gross. The rooms were large, but not very clean - especially the bathrooms, but we did have private bathrooms. But whenever we needed anything we could ask the dorm staff for help. We also had access to a common room with a TV.

I only take the half star away because the cafeteria food was not that good, but incredibly cheap. I could eat for an entire day on less than $3 and I'd be incredibly full. Most of our program stopped eating in the cafeteria in the last few weeks, though, because there was a lot of cheap and much more delicious street food and restaurants very close to campus.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

We were housed with Chinese roommates who helped us integrate with the local culture, meet other Chinese people and see what life is like for a Chinese college student.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

Nobody really had any health problems, but we were told that any staff or faculty member could help us or accompany us to the nearby hospital if we needed to see a doctor.

The city is incredibly safe and I did not once feel unsafe, even at night.

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

China was very cheap and if we were to live most cheaply we could probably do it on less than $50 a week. I probably spent about $100 excluding trips outside of the city.

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

We were only allowed to speak in Chinese, and our students stuck to that the entire program. We only spoke to ourselves in Chinese, and the classes were only in Chinese.

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• Dorm

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• Local Students

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• Americans

• Chinese Roommates
• Students that stuck to the pledge
• 2nd tier/not biggest city in China

• I'd like a bit more free time

The Academic or Linguist