Story Location: China
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A Young, Black, English Teacher in China
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During my study abroad with IFSA in Shanghai, China, I was offered an unpaid internship opportunity to teach English to migrant children. After going through the required bureaucratic documentation, I was finally allowed to start teaching after a few weeks of living in Shanghai. This began what was honestly a life-changing experience. As a Chinese…
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Exploring China’s Wuzhen: Study Abroad Experiences
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Wuzhen: An Ancient Chinese Watertown Halfway through my semester in Shanghai, our IFSA coordinators organized a getaway to Wuzhen, an ancient water town. We boarded a bus outside the dorms and headed west. Our journey included a stop at a restaurant just outside the town for a traditional Chinese lunch of Shanghai cuisine and local…
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Exploring Family Roots and Exotification in China
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I have always wanted to come to China. Listening to the stories my grandfather told about his childhood here and wondering about the ones he didn’t share, I felt I owed it to my blood to try and understand some of Chinese culture. What did my Grandpa feel on his way to the Philippines and…
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A Black Man in China
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Being abroad in China has taught me so many things about myself. I am a Black male from America, a first-generation college student raised in a middle class, mixed family. This may not seem important, but the diversity in my family is something many Chinese did not understand, and often caused a lot of confusion. …
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How I Gained an Understanding of Chinese Culture through Food
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Upon arriving in China, the one aspect of my semester abroad that I was particularly excited about was the cuisine. Having spent most of my life growing up in the US, my perception of authentic Chinese food was characterized by cinematic imagery and the special dishes my mother would prepare during the holidays. Therefore, my…
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Studying Abroad…in China? It’s More Likely Than You Think
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“How can you be okay with living in a communist country?” “The language is so hard, how are you going to be able to find your way around?” “But it’s just so…different.” These are definitely the most common questions I heard after I told people I was going to study abroad in China. Based on…
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3 Reasons Student-Athletes Should Go Abroad
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As a student-athlete, I was very nervous to study abroad. For the last four years, I have been a part of the Mount Holyoke College swim team as a distance freestyler. I love my team and I had fears that I wouldn’t be able to perform as well as I wanted to upon my return.…
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IFSA Interview Series: International Business in China
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“My internship abroad grew my Chinese language skills and differentiated me in such a competitive workplace that we find ourselves in today. When studying abroad you are definitely going to run into challenging situations where you don’t know where you are and no one speaks English, but those times are important because… professionally I learned…
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My Summer in China
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My interest in China began when I was a young teenager around the years 2011-2012, when I became interested in the economies of nations and how they rise and fall. This was motivated by the recent global recession. One day when I was looking at GDP graphs, I saw one showing a future projection in…
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Studying Abroad in China as a Second-Generation Chinese American
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Before studying abroad in Shanghai, I had been to China twice – once when I was 7, and once when I was 10. I only have flashes of memories from these trips: getting trapped in the bathroom at my Nai Nai’s house, visiting the Forbidden City and Great Wall, being stuck in the pouring rain…
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