Major: Chinese
Hometown: Severna Park, MD

How did you learn about this opportunity?

Though the course Chinese 120: Introduction to Chinese Literature and Culture with Dr. Shuang Shen.

Tell us a little bit about your experience.

This visit to Nanjing, China and Nanjing University (NJU) entailed that students from Penn State partner up with two or more students from the IAS program at NJU. The program lasted for two weeks and students were given opportunities to attend classes at Nanjing University as well as experience daily lives of Chinese students. In addition, we were able to visit the city of Nanjing as well as many historically significant locations in the surrounding area.

How did this experience impact you academically?

Because of the short duration of the program, as well as it taking place after the end of the spring semester, it did not impact my academics too greatly. However, this was an embedded course counting for one credit. Getting an A in this course has helped to boost my GPA slightly. Aside from letter grades, the experience of being in China gave me a good deal of opportunities to practice and improve my Chinese skills in a native environment.

What are your career goals and plans?  How did this experience impact them?

This experience greatly affected my future goals and aspirations. Firstly, I am certain that I wish to return to China in the future, hopefully for work. I also am certain that I would like to come back for an longer period of time to study abroad and further increase my Chinese language abilities. This program really helped to give me a feel for China and a taste of the society and culture. It has greatly prepared me for when I come back in terms of how to live and interact in China.

This program really helped to give me a feel for China and a taste of the society and culture.

Would you recommend this experience to other Liberal Arts students?

Yes, though the course was only two weeks, it was extremely beneficial. I personally wanted to stay longer, but for those with majors unrelated to Chinese or with no language ability they felt that this two week program was the perfect length of time. The greatest part about this trip I think was the people we met. Our student partners at NJU were some of the nicest people I've ever met, and we had so many fun times with them. Because of this, I highly, highly recommend this program to anyone in the College of liberal arts who wishes to gain experience abroad.