School Year Abroad in Beijing

I will be spending the next nine months living and studying in Beijing, China, and hopefully this will help you all keep up with what I'm doing.

Some people (Hi Aunt Terry!) have had questions about how I got into this exchange program madness, so I figured answering them would be a nice way to start out this blog. If you have questions let me know and I'll certainly add them on.

Why China?
Most people dream of vacationing in Italy or France, right? Well, everyone has their dream spot. I have always been fascinated with Asia - when I was little I visited both Japan and China with my family, and I always find a lot of interesting things about it. Me being the practical person that I am, figured out that Chinese is one of the most spoken languages in the world - if I could speak Spanish (which I'm studying in school) and Chinese fluently, I could successfully communicate with 95% of the world's population, which is pretty cool. At the time I was applying, I had decided that I wanted to learn Mandarin Chinese, so Taiwan, Singapore, and China were pretty much my options. A wonderful friend named Constance did some research and found the program that I'm going with, School Year Abroad (http://www.sya.org), so I chose China!

Is it an exchange student program?
Basically, yes without the exchange part. I'm going with a group of about 65 American (plus one from Mexico, Hong Kong, and a few other places) over to Beijing. It's a school within a school approach - we attend BNU High School, but we get a few courses taught in English; an English class, math, intensive language training...that kind of thing. I live with a native Chinese family who doesn't speak English (more about them when I find out who they are in August!). But it's not an exchange in the sense that there isn't a student coming back to live with me.

Are you staying with the same family the entire time?
Yes

What did you have to do to get into this program?
I went to their website and printed out their application - basic paperwork type of thing. With it, I had to include 3 essays (250 or so words each) chosen from a few different topics. I had to get various teachers to fill out recommendation forms (pretty simple and straightforward), and get my counselor to mail them my transcript. After that, they called me and set up a phone interview, where they asked me about why I wanted to go, what I was excited about, what I was nervous about, what I thought my host family would think about me, what I like to do, a good book I've read...etc. It was a very interesting and comfortable interview. After I got accepted there's basically a lot of paperwork, a questionnaire to place you with a host family, lots of medical release forms and such.

Are there only so many chosen or does everyone that applies get to go?
Honestly, I don't know, but from the looks of the application process they need a way to narrow it down. Obviously they can't take millions of students each year, so I think they limit it to somewhere around 60, though that number could change from year to year.

How have you prepared for the trip?
I've been taking Chinese classes at CSU for the past year, and my dad bought me a Rosetta Stone, which is quite interesting. I got some vaccinations (ew, not fun). I have to make sure to keep up with what's going on in the US, since my host family will probably want to talk about politics, the war, that kind of thing (that is assuming we can communicate given my current marvelous level of Chinese). I've started a packing list (I get 2 suitcases...how I will fit my entire life in there we shall never know). I also found about 40 other kids going to my school next year through facebook and have been talking to them, which has been nice. So far they're all awesome!

Do you think you'll have issues with the language?
No. I KNOW I will have issues with the language. If by issues you mean have no idea how to say anything for the first month and just nod and smile when people talk to me, then definitely. By the end of the year, I'm hoping to be able to get by. As in, if I am stranded in the middle of China where no one speaks English I will be able to find a toilet, food to eat before I starve, and eventually find where I was trying to get before I became hopelessly lost. Yes, I will have issues - that will be the fun part, don't you think (if not for me, all my Chinese friends, and certainly my host family!)

What are you excited about?
I think making a friend that speaks absolutely no English is about the coolest thing I could do - so I'm looking forward to that hopefully. I love change, so I'm excited about that, and a different country will undoubtedly be a totally different culture. I've never eaten fish or seafood (with the exception of tuna), and always assumed I didn't like it. I don't know...I'm excited about the weird things...eating something and later realizing I haven't the slightest clue what it is, finally figuring out how to say something, getting to teach someone from China something they didn't know about the states (breaking the stereotypes kind of thing), meeting new people, shopping (things are cheaper there, hooray!), traveling (we get to do study trips and that sort of thing).

What are you nervous about?
Not much at the moment. I hope that I can find stores to buy things like toothpaste, but I know that's a dumb fear (if you can call it that). I'm kind of nervous about accidentally doing something my host family thinks is rude, getting in trouble and not understanding a word of what my host mom says when she yells at me, getting lost and being late for something.

What will you miss the most?
My brother. That is the number one thing I will miss most. Every day since I was two and half I've woken up and seen my brother, talked, played, fought with, and annoyed him - even gotten in trouble with him and sent secret messages between our rooms using remote-controlled cars. Even if I have a host brother, I will always miss my real one.
Other than that (and missing the rest of my family), I think I will miss being able to communicate. Now, I take for granted that I can communicate eloquently and people will see that I am intelligent. Starting over in a language will be like having people think I have the mental capacity of the two-year old (if that), which I know will be frustrating. I will miss having my own baby grand piano, and my friends - hanging out with them and doing nothing, texting them, calling at all hours of the night, and e-mailing to say nothing at all.

Will you finish the IB program when you come back?
Unfortunately, no. Most of the IB diploma courses are two years, and I can't complete them in one year. I will be coming back to Poudre for my senior year and taking AP classes.

Can I call/e-mail/IM you while you're in China?
As of now, it looks like phones and IM aren't going to be a possibility, but I will have access to e-mail there.

---

---