"Boom! What should I do? Where should I go? Is it even worth the effort?"
This was me two weeks before the deadline for the application of my foreign exchange semester. I was really looking forward to this opportunity, going far away from home and challenging myself to live outside of my comfort zone, but little did I know how big of a challenge it would be to choose a place to go. I had too many options, Europe, North America, South America, Asia... My first filter was distance and culture, I figured out, man this is the perfect opportunity to go far away for a long, but limited amount of time, so you better go experience different things.
South America was the first continent I discarted, because I grew up speaking spanish, and I want to pick up a new language, or at least practice one I'm currently learning. North America seemed to be a good call, because we had exchange programs with prestigious universities. But I ended up discarting almost all of them for cost reasons. Except for the University of Pennsylvania, that really caught my attention.
The next continent was Asia, here I found way to many options between the different countries, so I attended a group session of the exchange program, where they explained everything about an exchange in Asia. I had mainly four countries to choose from: India, Japan, China and South Korea. I discarted India first, maybe because I have some prejudices about the country, but I wasn't really feeling it, even though they posses incredibly presitious universities. Japan was focusing on Master Programs, so now I had reduced it down to two countries to choose from.
After hours and hours of research I decided to choose China, the two main factors where the following:
- It is less expensive to live in China than in Seoul (South Korea)
- Mandarin is a language with way more native speakers
All that information made me feel overwhelmed, but I hadn't even arrived at the most difficult part yet. Choosing a University to go to without knowing anything about them. I have to confess, this hazard was mainly caused by looking up the courses I could attend. It was extremely hard to find courses in english, and even more difficult to find courses that would give me credits here in Germany.
Sooooooo I ended up chosing Shanghai Jiaotong University for my first option, because they had courses I knew would count at RWTH Aachen University.
The rest was more of a gamble, watching endless videos about Beijing, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Xi'an and many more cities I ended up choosing Nanjing Southeast University for my second option. Some of the reasons are, that the University offers Mechanical Engineering courses in English and that there are less foreign students than in other cities, like Beijing. I said to myself: You'll have less excuses for not diving straight into the Chinese culture and trying to talk to people. Struggling this much, I want to give you some tips for choosing a place to go abroad:
5 tips for choosing a place to do your exchange semester:
- Ask yourself in what kind of climate you want to live in
- Do you want a "culture shock" or do you want something more close to home
- What languages do you want to learn
- What university offers courses that give you credits at your home uni
- What are you willing to pay for your exchange
With these questions you should be able to filter out many places. The rest is a mix between extended research and following your gut.
Well, I got accepted in Nanjing and I'm really excited to go there, but I have concerns about China opening its borders. I wasn't really aware of this back in November 2021. But the more I read about China, the less I think it will open its borders for students. Although I really look forward for these months abroad, I don't know if I chose the right place, because any other place would have been better than having no exchange. So I have to wait... my hope is that after the Beijing Olympics borders start opening again, making it possible to have this experience.
Anyways, if this doesn't work out, I will apply for a semester abroad next year, right now I have to admit that France has indeed caught my attention and will be a place where I will for sure spend some time in the future!
Ooops, I got a little of track, I wanted to write about why I'm learning Mandarin, I guess you now know why :)
What are my goals:
- Reach a basic conversational level before september 2022
- Pass the HSK 3 Exam in August
- Know how to order food
- Know enough Mandarin to not get lost
What is my strategy:
- Practice conversations as early as possible
- Build up vocabulary with flashcards
- Listen to Chinese Podcasts daily
- Watch every movie in Mandarin (Obviously with subtitles)
What are my Tools:
- HelloTalk
- Anki
- Quizlet
- Duolingo
- Coffee Break Chinese (Podcast)
- Mandarin Monkey (Podcast)
(You can find the links to these tools down below)
Watch my progress at my Youtube Channel, I will link the videos here as soon as I upload them!
