Chengdu- Just relax and go with it. Past Review
By Barry L (PSYCHOLOGY., University of Arkansas - Fayetteville) for
USAC China: Chengdu - Chinese Language and Culture
It was absolutely worth it. I feel that I gained an immeasurable amount of patience from the experience, both in dealing with a country completely different from my own and dealing with the different kinds of students that show up. I learned that no one way of living is better than another. I also gained a lot of comfortability with my Chinese speaking, even if my vocabulary didn't just explode.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 0-2 weeks |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
I took Advanced Chinese and Conversational Chinese, and the workload is definitely more intense than in the UA/American Chinese classes. We all struggled to keep up with the workload and outpouring of new vocabulary, but I feel that I learned a great deal as well. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
Wentao is amazing! She is the program advisor in Chengdu, and she really could do anything and everything we needed to get accomplished. We also had an intern and Wentao's assistant who were both very helpful and became good friends. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
I lived ten floors above my classroom- amazingly convenient. The quarters were pretty spacious, I had my own bathroom, and you can't beat the location. It was frustrating because the gates around campus, and next to the dorm, close and lock at 10pm, so we often had to go out of our way a great deal to get back to the dorm late at night. |
| * Food: |
Chengdu has the most amazing food in the whole world. It's cheap, it's delicious- you just win all around. My favorite places in town were Da Dong Bei (right by campus) and Namaste (Indian food, but glorious!!). |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
Pandas are fuzzy, our overnight trip was really interesting. I love hiking in the mountains, which we did. I loved Beijing as well, but I would go back to Chengdu over Beijing any day of the week. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
Chengdu is a really friendly city, so I didn't have any safety issues. No one really got sick, either, so I suppose I just lucked out there. |
| 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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Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
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* Who did you live with?
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A Look Back
| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | This program was very fun. It's best for a more laid back student- mostly for fun we went to new restaurants, sat for hours in tea houses, played mahjong, and got massages for 25 kuai. We spent a lot of time studying and doing homework. If you just want to party, go to Shanghai. However, if you're looking for an experience where you get to see and feel and taste real China, as opposed to an overly Westernized version of it, Chengdu is your city. It's huge, but it feels cozy and warm. The people were thrilled that we were there to see the city, and no one was ever rude to us. It's also very diverse, so you can experience a lot of cultures in a small space. If you have a hard time BEING FLEXIBLE, I would think long and hard about whether China is the place for you. It's very different from America, and cultural misunderstandings abound. It functions on another plane, but if you can just roll with it, you'll really enjoy it. |
