My Study China scholarship experience
My name is Kelly Crawford, Im a fashion design graduate of the University of Ulster and come from Belfast, Northern Ireland, I’m currently studying Chinese language in Donghua University Shanghai.
Two years ago I sent a random application in reply to a university email to partake in Study china Easter 2012. I didn’t think much of it, I’d never really thought much about China, I knew only parts of it’s history - they created the amazing world famous Great wall (长城chang cheng - not actually viewable from space, my childhood feels like a massive lie) they are the manufacturing capital of the world, they make good food (the Cantonese in particular!),they have the largest population and therefore the majority of the people in the world have Chinese as their first language and of course,: they are the home of the panda!
At that time I wasn’t enjoying University, I was working all the time and was in an unhappy relationship, I felt at a wits end, I needed something to inspire me and shake things up. I got accepted, I went, I learnt some basic Chinese and made some amazing friends, one of which I later encouraged to also apply to do a scholarship year in china to benefit her future also.
At that time I wasn’t enjoying University, I was working all the time and was in an unhappy relationship, I felt at a wits end, I needed something to inspire me and shake things up. I got accepted, I went, I learnt some basic Chinese and made some amazing friends, one of which I later encouraged to also apply to do a scholarship year in china to benefit her future also.
This first experience really changed my life, it opened my eyes and helped me see the possibilities of working abroad and doing international business. A lot of clothes and fabric manufacturing is done in china, so along with some new inspiration I started to thing thats perhaps i could do something with my life and future career that could link this new found love of Asia.
And so, two years later, having graduated working as a fashion intern in Belfast I got another email from the British council suggesting applying to study in china for a year.
I leapt at the chance, I felt like I had unfinished business in china and that 3 weeks based in Nanjing didn’t quite satisfy me enough. I applied for a fashion University, and although I didn’t get an offer to study fashion as I hadn’t applied correctly I was offered a place to study language.
Unsure at first I decided to take the chance 3 weeks before I was due to be there - if I didn’t like it I could always come home rather than always have that “what if?” stuck in the back of my head for the rest of my life. Mandarin Chinese would help me to work with Chinese markets, factories and workers in future to create and make designs, all at a more affordable price if i didn’t have to pay for an interpreter or use a more expensive international company, I could do it myself (and I have learnt, speaking Chinese definitely gets you a better bargain!)
I arrived utterly exhausted on the 1st September and immediately had to register (as you can imagine my student card photograph was appalling for my first semester) to top of my exhaustion I did not like my room, it looked like it hadn’t changed from the 50s, the fridge and toilet smelt like sewer, and I also learnt that I was to have a roommate - the beds are a metre apart and take up half the room! I had to pay more for a resident visa, health check, canteen card, internet and a room deposit, all of which on the study china trip was paid for. I had deluded myself that this experience would be the same. This wasn’t through the British council, this was the university accommodation and Chinese university life.
However I quickly became accustomed to it. For a start my room was better than my friends in Wuhan (she was my previous roommate in Nanjing and we’ve become best friends since, I encouraged her to apply to study her degree further) My bed, although hard was better than hers, I had use of a small kitchen and washer along with a Tv in my room and a fridge unlike her as well she had to buy these with her roommate. My dormitory was better than the Chinese students as well, they share 4-6 to a room, no utensils and no kitchen either and my Korean Roommate and I got on quite well once she arrived.
I soon discovered once class began we all felt the same about what we’d experienced so fair in Shanghai and we just had to get used to it, we’re better of than the Chinese students for a start. Classes although difficult and intense were worthwhile (Monday-Friday 8.30-12.10) and I soon made many friends. I was able to gain some unpaid work experience in a Bridal design and fashion company, and was able to do some travelling during the Chinese holidays and some weekends (amazing highlights of Beijing and the XI'an terracotta warriors for example)I soon fell into a happy routine. I experienced the great Chinese nightlife clubbing and KTV (shanghai club life is great is you get to know a promoter - free in and free drinks, I’d love to see that in the U.K!) made some great friends including some Chinese friends who helped me out a lot and helped me practise Chinese too.
although I found it difficult at first living in this strange country with a very different culture (their spitting in public is gross, especially when a woman does it, sorry China!) I started to enjoy it and create a life for myself. I held basic conversations in Chinese, bought way to many things from Taobao, and chatted non stop on wechat, saw amazing sights and picked up some fashion experience along with lots of inspirations and learning the way of the Chinese market and where to go for what. Although my canteen food was poor, food is super cheap and there’s street vendors everywhere, fruit is in abundance and if worse comes to worse and you cant manage chopsticks, then no one will really judge you if you carry a fork.
My time in china, although difficult at the start has shown me that although very different in some ways we are also very much the same, we all want a good successful future (some Chinese children begin learning English from 2!) we all like to have fun with friends, we worry about school and love a good bargain, sometimes we listen to our parents sometimes we don’t. everything seems to move fast, but some things always stay the same, In China you can be more free and experience new things and no-one will really judge you, with some many people you will probably not see them again, they’ll think you’re a strange foreigner regardless, and the other foreigners wont think you’re too strange in comparison to some of the Chinese. Everyday I see, do and learn something new. I enjoy my life here and am now applying to stay longer. once you start to get to know the real China and accept its uniqueness you start to fall in love and enjoy life. I feel I can benefit by staying longer, I enjoy my life here and believe I will learn so much more to help my career and also myself as a person. my advice, don’t be scared to take a leap and try something knew, you only live once, don’t regret, things happen for a reason, accept the ups and downs, work with others and enjoy the small things. as the Chinese saying goes one life one world (yi sheng yi shi 一生一世）so make a new experience to gain some experience, I know I am, and I don’t regret it one bit! (one other piece of advice, avoid the Chinese rice wine “bai jiu” 白酒 your liver will thank me for it I promise you along with your taste buds!)
And so, two years later, having graduated working as a fashion intern in Belfast I got another email from the British council suggesting applying to study in china for a year.
I leapt at the chance, I felt like I had unfinished business in china and that 3 weeks based in Nanjing didn’t quite satisfy me enough. I applied for a fashion University, and although I didn’t get an offer to study fashion as I hadn’t applied correctly I was offered a place to study language.
Unsure at first I decided to take the chance 3 weeks before I was due to be there - if I didn’t like it I could always come home rather than always have that “what if?” stuck in the back of my head for the rest of my life. Mandarin Chinese would help me to work with Chinese markets, factories and workers in future to create and make designs, all at a more affordable price if i didn’t have to pay for an interpreter or use a more expensive international company, I could do it myself (and I have learnt, speaking Chinese definitely gets you a better bargain!)
I arrived utterly exhausted on the 1st September and immediately had to register (as you can imagine my student card photograph was appalling for my first semester) to top of my exhaustion I did not like my room, it looked like it hadn’t changed from the 50s, the fridge and toilet smelt like sewer, and I also learnt that I was to have a roommate - the beds are a metre apart and take up half the room! I had to pay more for a resident visa, health check, canteen card, internet and a room deposit, all of which on the study china trip was paid for. I had deluded myself that this experience would be the same. This wasn’t through the British council, this was the university accommodation and Chinese university life.
However I quickly became accustomed to it. For a start my room was better than my friends in Wuhan (she was my previous roommate in Nanjing and we’ve become best friends since, I encouraged her to apply to study her degree further) My bed, although hard was better than hers, I had use of a small kitchen and washer along with a Tv in my room and a fridge unlike her as well she had to buy these with her roommate. My dormitory was better than the Chinese students as well, they share 4-6 to a room, no utensils and no kitchen either and my Korean Roommate and I got on quite well once she arrived.
I soon discovered once class began we all felt the same about what we’d experienced so fair in Shanghai and we just had to get used to it, we’re better of than the Chinese students for a start. Classes although difficult and intense were worthwhile (Monday-Friday 8.30-12.10) and I soon made many friends. I was able to gain some unpaid work experience in a Bridal design and fashion company, and was able to do some travelling during the Chinese holidays and some weekends (amazing highlights of Beijing and the XI'an terracotta warriors for example)I soon fell into a happy routine. I experienced the great Chinese nightlife clubbing and KTV (shanghai club life is great is you get to know a promoter - free in and free drinks, I’d love to see that in the U.K!) made some great friends including some Chinese friends who helped me out a lot and helped me practise Chinese too.
although I found it difficult at first living in this strange country with a very different culture (their spitting in public is gross, especially when a woman does it, sorry China!) I started to enjoy it and create a life for myself. I held basic conversations in Chinese, bought way to many things from Taobao, and chatted non stop on wechat, saw amazing sights and picked up some fashion experience along with lots of inspirations and learning the way of the Chinese market and where to go for what. Although my canteen food was poor, food is super cheap and there’s street vendors everywhere, fruit is in abundance and if worse comes to worse and you cant manage chopsticks, then no one will really judge you if you carry a fork.
My time in china, although difficult at the start has shown me that although very different in some ways we are also very much the same, we all want a good successful future (some Chinese children begin learning English from 2!) we all like to have fun with friends, we worry about school and love a good bargain, sometimes we listen to our parents sometimes we don’t. everything seems to move fast, but some things always stay the same, In China you can be more free and experience new things and no-one will really judge you, with some many people you will probably not see them again, they’ll think you’re a strange foreigner regardless, and the other foreigners wont think you’re too strange in comparison to some of the Chinese. Everyday I see, do and learn something new. I enjoy my life here and am now applying to stay longer. once you start to get to know the real China and accept its uniqueness you start to fall in love and enjoy life. I feel I can benefit by staying longer, I enjoy my life here and believe I will learn so much more to help my career and also myself as a person. my advice, don’t be scared to take a leap and try something knew, you only live once, don’t regret, things happen for a reason, accept the ups and downs, work with others and enjoy the small things. as the Chinese saying goes one life one world (yi sheng yi shi 一生一世）so make a new experience to gain some experience, I know I am, and I don’t regret it one bit! (one other piece of advice, avoid the Chinese rice wine “bai jiu” 白酒 your liver will thank me for it I promise you along with your taste buds!)
No comments:
Post a Comment