By the end of my trip in Shanghai, I found that there were three overarching themes that I drew from my stay. Here’s a list of top thing I would tell anyone who wants to study abroad in China, or really anywhere: 1. Be Flexible – There’s a saying that I learned early on this…
Category: China: IFSA Shanghai
The Great Wall Was Pretty Great
My favorite experience in China was going to Beijing and visiting the Great Wall of China. There is definitely a reason for why they call it one of the Seven Wonders of the World. One of the best pieces of travel advice I can give to someone wanting to plan a trip to China is…
Anxiety-Stuffed Crust
When you move to a big city the first thing you’re going to do is get lost. You will probably get lost almost every single day for the first couple of weeks. Especially if you’re taking public transportation. And even more so if think you’re too good to use a map like I did. But…
Publicly Humiliated on Public Transportation
Adjusting to Shanghai was the harshest learning curve of my life. In my first week out of orientation, I quickly began to realize that without the immediate guidance of one of the locals, I was leagues away from being able to function. For that reason most people around you will try to give you a…
Lost in Translation
“Clearly she was expected to say something, but panic at having to speak stole the thoughts from her head.” ― Shannon Hale, The Goose Girl When living in China, it’s important that you try to communicate as much as possible in Chinese, especially with the locals. But don’t, under any circumstance, say things unless you’re…
Reflecting on Shanghai
Wow. I didn’t know re adjusting would be so weird. It’s been very interesting coming back to my home country and seeing all the things we take for granted. It has opened up my eyes to a lot of problems we face as well as a lot of opportunities for growth in both countries. I…
SHANG-BYE
Now that my time has ended in Shanghai, I can only look back and thing about what my life would have been this year. How many places I wouldn’t have seen, people I would’ve never met, lessons learnt, and most importantly, culture I would not have experienced – especially the food. So after much reflecting…
When you travel in China
As many of you may or may not know, China is one, if not the most populated places of the world. With an estimated population of 1.5 billion citizens, not counting ex-patriots living in the country, when it comes to traveling, you can expect higher volume traffic than back in the states. It is impressive…
Made it to the Mountain!
This past weekend I finally completed a major travel goal of this semester: hiking on Huangshan (Yellow Mountains-黄山)! Much of my first blog was dedicated to explaining this goal, and it was even more beautiful and worth it than I had imagined! Neither my friend nor I had ever hiked on (and up!) mountains before, so we researched much-needed tips before leaving, especially using traveler blogs. I learned so much and…
Small Opportunities Often Forgotten
One aspect of studying through Alliance (the program that Rollins is working through in Shanghai) that I have truly come to appreciate and enjoy is the existence of Alliance-coordinated lectures, activities and extracurricular activities. Sometimes we get caught up in big weekend trips and forget to take in the small experiences. (I say this about myself just as much…