Off-Campus Trip to China and Taiwan

List of 6 frequently asked questions.

• Q. What surprised you about this course?

  I was surprised at how much I learned. While I knew I would learn a great deal, I never expected to learn so much about China and Taiwan and improve my Mandarin abilities so much.

   

• Q. What were some of the highlights from your trip?

  There are too many to list. Off the top of my head, one of the best experiences of the trip was when we spent a night at an aquarium. After dropping our bags off at the lockers, we went on a full tour of the aquarium, including a behind-the-scenes look at where they keep some fish. Later, we slept in a tube surrounded by various exotic aquatic creatures. I woke up in the morning to a manta ray staring down at me.

   

• Q. What would you tell another student interested in taking this course?

  If you want to improve your mandarin, learn about a new culture, and learn how to connect with over a billion more people, go on the China Trip. I made friends who will last a lifetime and and learned a lot while doing so.

• Q. What did you hope to learn from this course?

  I hoped to learn about Chinese culture, improve my mandarin speaking and comprehension abilities, and to learn how to connect with people on the other side of the world.

• Q. How would you rate your ability to speak Mandarin now as compared to when you left?

  When I left, I knew what words to say in certain scenarios, and I practiced a lot in class, but I did not have a true understanding of the language. I knew what I was saying, and (for the most part) what the other person was saying, but it took me a while between each sentence to truly comprehend it. During the trip, I remember one moment where it all clicked. I was at the National Art Museum of China with my host family, and because there was never a lesson on “critiquing art,” I struggled to come up with the vocabulary. But after an hour or so, something clicked where I recalled with little difficulty the words my host family used to describe the art as if I learned new words in English. It really was a great moment.

• Q. What was it like spending an entire mod away from campus?

  I was a little nervous at first, as was everyone there, about spending such a long time away from home, but after a day or two I was no longer nervous. I made many new friends (including some from China and Taiwan!) and strengthened bonds with old ones, learned about a new culture, and expanded my understanding of the world tenfold.