First Week of Classes

Into the 6th day of my sickness, the raging fever, sore throat, raspy cough, runny nose, and general all-over pain did nothing to help me get through the first week of classes. Nevertheless, armed with rolls of toilet paper (attempting to pass as facial tissues, but really only making me look like Rudolph) and many bottles of water, I managed to make it to all of my classes.

I'm enrolled in 15 credits here at TBC as well as an online course through BC. My Intensive Intermediate Chinese class will be one of the hardest ones. Meeting 4 times a week for 2.5 hours each day (in addition to at least 3-4 hours of studying every night), it is a lot of Chinese, but will hopefully pay off in the end as I attempt to learn the language. Lacking the necessary listening and speaking skills, it is a little hard to understand the professor at times, but my reading and writing placed me at this level, so I'll just struggle through it until I get used to hearing and using the language. Several of my friends are in this 8-person class with me, so that will also help as we have a good group to study and practice with. All TBC students also have their own personal Chinese tutor to help whenever we need it. Mine is named Jennifer (or Fei), but since I've been sick, I have yet to meet her in person.

State and Society taught by the Dean Russell Leigh Moses (apparently he's pretty big, you can Google or Wikipedia him if you want more information). It is an incredibly interesting class (although I missed the first 2/3 of this week's lecture due to getting a huge medical examination completed for my year-long visa) about how the Chinese government and Communist Party are structured and operate.

Chinese Foreign Policy is taught by a professor from Peking University (the "Harvard of China") who is a Party member and brings in interesting insight from that position. We will be looking at domestic issues (food shortage, water, health, etc.) and how they affect China's foreign issues, image, and goals.

Peoples of China is taught by a professor from the National University of Ethnic Minorities (?) and examines various ethnic groups around China. If all goes as planned, we are supposed to take some excursions to try different ethnic foods and have guest lectures from individuals of those groups.

Last but not least is my online course called Advanced Intercultural Communications. There are 6 students in the class who are all studying abroad in various locations throughout the world. Every week, we send in Electronic Journal Assignments about different topics assigned to us by our professor. The last two covered jet lag, getting settled, and shopping in our new countries. The one for next week is about our living arrangements and school campuses. It is very interesting to hear about other students' experiences and struggles as they study abroad and become accustomed to completely new lifestyles. There is a shared sympathy for all the hardships and an excitement for all the progress we're making.

So...with all that, I'm going to be very busy this semester: learning a lot about China, about myself, and about the Chinese language that really can tell you so much about this amazing country.