- My international experience to date is…
My international experience is abundant and diverse. My parents, younger sister, and I have traveled for as long as I can remember. At first, when my sister and I were younger, we’d take trips to Toronto, Canada, Ohio, upstate New York, and Puerto Rico. As we grew up, my parents discovered a local scuba diving shop, where my parents and I got scuba certified. This shop does group trips to Caribbean countries annually, which my family has been fortunate enough to attend usually once a year. We’ve visited (newest first) Costa Rica and Nicaragua, Belize, Cozumel, Mexico, the Turks and Caicos Islands, Aruba, and Bonaire with this group.
In addition, my family loves traveling without the scuba group. In 2012, we spent a week living on the tundra in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada with a group from the Pittsburgh Zoo. When I was in elementary school, my family traveled to The US and British Virgin Islands. We’ve visited Cancun, Mexico twice, taking along my best friend at the time on one of these trips. My sister and I were flower girls for my mom’s college best friend’s wedding in Barcelona, Spain.
However, my longest and most diverse trip occurred in 2010, when my mother, who was an exchange student to Indonesia in 1984, decided to take my family back to visit her Indonesian host family. We spent 7 weeks exploring South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, and India.
Finally, my most recent trip (and first international trip without my family) was taken to Europe over the summer with my best friend. I spent time in London, England, Poland (where my best friend is originally from), Germany, and the Czech Republic.
All in all, China will mark the 20th country that I’ve visited.
- I want to go to China because…
Growing up, my parents were history and culture nuts and instilled within me an equal, if not greater, love for history and other cultures. Some of my mother’s best friends in graduate school were Chinese. My parents often watch foreign films and my younger sister and I not only grew up watching them, but have come to enjoy them also. Some of our favorite Chinese movies have been ones that show the vast, unique and varied geography of China as well as ones which showed the places and architecture of ancient China. Additionally; I’ve always been fascinated with the various Chinese dynasties and their legacies, many of which we’ll get to visit while we are in country. Furthermore, I love Chinese food (realizing that what we eat in America is not really “Chinese” food) and culture, so much that one of my goals is to learn Mandarin in addition to Spanish, Arabic, and Polish.
- I think the main professional work differences I will experience will be…
The formality of the work environment. In even the busiest, most professional American businesses, there is an element of informality, whether that be the way businesspeople dress or the relationships between employees. Because Chinese culture is more reserved overall, I don’t expect the workplace to be as informal as in the USA.
- I think the main cultural differences I will experience will be…
The United States is so free, from the clothes we wear to the level of our voices to the way we express our displeasure. Chinese culture is generally more reserved and respectful, which I expect will throw some of us off. In addition, there is a HUGE emphasis to respect elders in Chinese culture, which is not as important in American culture.
- I think the main political differences I will experience will be…
Well, China is still a communist country. I expect there to be less freedom to search the internet, express displeasure with the government, and behave as we do here in the United States. Whereas the United States has a long, tolerant, and variable history with public dissent, China has historically tried to quell resistance. Because of this, I think that I will have to mostly avoid politics or hot-button topics (where I can lean quite liberal and outspoken) to avoid offending anyone.
- I think the students I meet in my country will be…
Overall, I think the students will be like American students in the sense that they’re stressed out of their minds, but love what they’re doing and wouldn’t change it for anything. However, I believe that the Chinese students will culturally have a lot more pressure placed on them. In many large countries with huge population, such as India, there is a huge emphasis to do well in school so students can better their lives and be able to care for their parents when the time comes. I expect China to be very similar to India in this sense.
I also expect the Chinese students to be curious about American students and wanting to practice their English. I am prepared for them to have the impression that America is isolationist and disdainful of other cultures or anything not American. I have experienced this before throughout my travels. I am also prepared for them to think that what they see in our media (TV, movies, etc) to be the way we all live.
- I think the major differences in living conditions will be…
I think that everything will be a lot more crowded. China has the largest population in the world with over 1 billion people, and many of these people are concentrated in the big cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. I don’t foresee everything being cartoonishly cramped, but I do predict that living conditions will reflect the sheer number of people living in these big cities: smaller rooms/apartments in taller buildings, similar to New York City. I am also prepared for there to be more air pollution and particulates in the air than what I am used to. China still has many factories, more people, more autos, more emissions than the USA but without our Clean Air regulations.
- I think the most enjoyable experience I will have during this trip will be…
I believe that the most memorable and enjoyable experience I will have while in country will be visiting the Great Wall and the Forbidden City. Visiting these sites has been on my bucket list for as long as I’ve had one, and I honestly cannot wait to behold the magnificence of the Great Wall and the Forbidden City.