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Studying Abroad in Nanjing, China

After my first week here, I have come to realize that the academics are far more challenging than anything I've ever experienced in the U.S.

So far, I've had to learn 100+ new characters, memorize two texts (one of them about evaluating political figures such as Deng Xiao Ping), and be able to orally summarize those texts by memory. The amount of effort needed to do all of this is beyond anything I've experienced so far in college.

Although it has been stressful - overwhelming, at many times - I am already noticing myself becoming more fluent with each passing day, able to follow about 50-60% of most fast-paced conversations and capable of cracking jokes and telling stories in a foreign language.

I am also really grateful that everyone in our program, from the other American students to our Chinese roommates, are such supportive and friendly folks. We always make plans to eat lunch and dinner together via our WeChat group, and they are infinitely patient when we struggle to express ourselves in Chinese.


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