临行之前的看法 : Thoughts upon Leaving China

In a little less than one hour I will be checking out of the hotel, in 3 I will be heading off to Beijing International Airport and in 6 hours and 20 minutes my plane will be taking off.

China has been an interesting experience. I spent most of my time in Harbin complaining about the food at the cafeteria, the unkempt-ness of the city, the ignorance of the people, the lack of real Chinese culture and the coldness of the weather. But upon arriving in Beijing, I feel like I've been exposed to the kind of China I've been longing for: clean streets, large buildings, relatively friendly people, with a touch of Westernization.

As I said earlier, Harbin was a let down and I plan on making a pact with myself to never go back to that city, but Beijing has given made me more excited about the prospect of coming back here and I'm glad that I got to end my study abroad experience this way.

Now, just 24 hours and I will be in Newark airport praying my parents don't forget to pick me up.

Beijing's Second Impression

When my plane landed in Beijing it was smoggy and cloudy and gray. I thought it had been raining but it was just the humidity of the city mixed with severe pollution, topped with my disappointment. Now, however, it might be the anxiousness of sitting in Beijing International Airport 24 hours from now or the clarity that you get from studying for a semester in China and coming to the realization that both you and your cab driver understand each other, but while I'm in Beijing I'm liking it more and more.

I was not happy while I was in Harbin but I have no regrets about studying abroad there I have tried not to let that influence my entire impression of China. But, upon leaving Harbin, I thought that I would not be able to live here at any point in my life. But so far, a light is beginning to shine again on that possibility, though only in Beijing (and Shanghai). At the very least, I will try to come back here if I have the chance.

When I get back to the US I know I will have lots of people asking me what I thought of my time abroad and I still haven't decided if I will lie about whether I liked it more not, but coming to Beijing and having this time to contemplate being in China has allowed me to begin to pick out the good moments of this experience.

Classes are Over!

After 15 weeks of whining, moaning, fighting through what seemed like an army's worth of Chinese students/random old people digging through garbage cans for bottles, and baring temperatures up to -20 degrees Fahrenheit (or should I say down to, it just doesn't seem to have the same ring), I am done with classes.

There is something satisfying in be able to say that I'm done with classes, but I was really hoping more for a sense of closure and the feeling that the end is near. But in all honesty, I don't see what at this point should be an extremely bright light at the end of the tunnel. So for now I'll just lower my head and push through the last barrier, 2 finals tomorrow, 1 final Thursday, and 1 final Friday.

It's also hard to imagine myself a week from now waking up 7000 miles away from this place. And that is a little unfortunate because it's thoughts like that that have gotten me through this semester.

Hopefully, upon completing my finals, I can get, and should get, the kind of closure about the program really being over that I can't get through posting on a blog. For now I'll just revel in this temporary joy.

9 Days and Counting...

After finishing my last full week of classes I figure it is time to begin reflecting on my semester her at CET Harbin.

Academically, I am satisfied with the program and I feel like the rigor of the classes, without any overwhelming sense of stress or anxiety, along with the benefits of studying standard Mandarin in Northeast China has gotten my Chinese to a level that it would not have been able to reach by studying in the States alone. I think it's also important to keep in mind that upon coming here I had a good Chinese language foundation thanks to Georgetown having a good Chinese department as well as relatively good study skills and personal motivation and those were also factors in my improvement.

Administratively, the program is lacking and I am currently working on a letter to send to CET headquarters in DC. The resident director, Li Laoshi, and that guy that was always in her office and for some reason was on CET payroll, Xuan Laoshi, and the resident advisor, Connie, are all nice people. Unfortunately, they are also utterly ineffective, unreachable and opaque in terms of what it is that they do, if it is the case that they are doing anything. Basically, I think that there needs to be a trimming down of resident staff, more responsibility on them to plan more cultural events for us, and for them to be a visible, transparently-operating, knowledgeable contact who not only lets us reach out to them but makes an effort to reach out to us.

In terms of Harbin, this is a terrible city. Whoever did the city planning must have been on crack, the infrastructure is in terrible condition, and for a place called the "ice city" there is not one plow in the city. They just let it snow, let people walk all over it and pack it down, wait a day or two for it to completely freeze over, then hit it with a shovel and scratch at the ground til they get it up and throw it into a truck so they can ship all of the frozen snow out of the city. And then the process happens again the next time it snows. And it snows a lot here. And I think this instance is a good analogy for not just how Harbin handles things, but how China handles things. They let the problem exist and watch the situation compress under the stress of a billion people until they have to deal with it and then scrape away at it and cart it out of the city, only for it to be followed by another issue.

As far as the end of the semester, I have "classes" on Monday and Tuesday but they are more review sessions and are kind of half-assed so that is not an issues. Then two finals Wednesday, one Thursday (incidentally my 20th birthday), and one on Friday (Jarrett's, a Georgetown classmate here in Harbin, 21st Birthday). Then Saturday is graduation/train to Beijing, chill on Sunday, then a Monday evening, Beijing time, flight to Chicago, followed by a Monday evening, freedom/eastern standard time, flight to Newark.

Lots to look forward to, as in looking forward to getting out of this place.

Blogger and Youtube are now unblocked in China

After realizing that my VPN wasn't working this morning I've been grappling with the idea that I might have to deal with restricted internet for the next 3 weeks. But today's great surprise is that China has unblocked youtube and blogger. Hopefully this will be inspiration to do some more blogging before I'm back in the states. I guess we'll see.

Nothing is Free-flowing in China

From democracy to trade to toilet water, nothing flows freely in China.

They shut down the water in the dorm. And it is one thing to shut it down, but with out any 通知 lining the walls to inform us of this, they do it randomly in the middle of a Sunday, preventing me from taking a shower and taking away the ability of one of my suite-mates to flush down whatever is festering in the toilet right now.

Enjoy that image, for now I'm going to hunt down the crazy ai-yi and bitch her out until I can drown my sorrows in a 15 minute shower (the longest shower you can take before the hot water heater is completely drained.

Single Person Festival

Today is 光棍儿节 in China. 光棍儿节, pronounced "gwang gur ge-ay" is the official anti-valentine's-day day in China. Literally translated it means "bachelor's day" btu it isn't restricted to the millions of men that will not find a wife due to the millions of baby girls being killed off each year in a very 21st century 重男清女 ("strong man, light woman") fashion. Chinese society manages to reconcile this 男女不平等的问题 ("the problem of inequality between men and women") by allowing the millions of women that some how manage not to find a husband in this bachelor-dominated society nor escape into the arms of a blond-haired blue-eyed foreigner to celebrate as well.

Naturally the Chinese have found a way to trivialize dates. They first point out that on November Eleventh the date happens to be 11/11, and then they have to take it that much further by being like, oh four ones in a row imply that on this day the single people must gather together and support each other in their loneliness.

And so, in an authentically Chinese manner, they manage to ruin something that I didn't think they had the capacity to ruin: a random date in the middle of November.

Future Posts to look out for:

How I Told the Dorm Aid to Take my Temperature by "[Doing] my Milk House"
Bromance and Girl-on-Girl: The Evolution of Friendship in China
Lao Wai: How to go from Being Judged to Being the Judge

37 Days, 39 days, 41 days - Doesn't Matter Which One As Long as I'm Counting Down

37 days until the start of finals. 39 days until the end of finals. 41 days until I fly out of Beijing and into Chicago/Newark. (Thank you time zones for allowing me to fly out of China and Land in the US on, technically, the same day.) These numbers, which thankfully get smaller with each passing day, are the bulk of the conversations that I have with people nowadays.

It seems sad that at this point what is characterizing my experience in China is the extreme desire to be home. Every day it feels like a struggle to get out the door each day and deal with the things that make me not like this place. And the fact that as a foreigner it is entirely impossible to assimilate into the culture and way of life here, not just because it is completely foreign but because the people have the inability to allow non-Chinese people to fully experience China, it makes it hard to adjust to life in China. The fact is I don't really like Harbin and I'm completely unapologetic about it.

I feel as though if I were in a different city in China and in a different capacity it would be a very different experience. Of course I chose my first China experience to be that of a Chinese student deep in dongbei (northeast/ghetto) China at an intensive language program. And that has scarred my experience here. But I try to keep an open mind and recognize that when I come back to China it will be a good experience. But at this point I just want to be home.

The First Snow of Harbin

It is currently snowing in Harbin. At least the bare minimum of what passes for snow. More like a rainy-snowy mess of weather. But I think it is fair to say that winter is quickly approaching. On the other hand, I'm pretty sure the weather report is calling for 60 degrees on Saturday and Sunday so it seems like the weather might be milder here than it is in the Northeast US. Or maybe just schizophrenic...

'Force-feeding Duck Style' Teaching Method

In my second year and second semester of Chinese at Georgetown we learned a vocabulary word meaning 'force-feeding duck style', the teaching method that defines China's educational system. The lesson text consisted of critiques on both China and the United States educational system, but we just passed it off as another one of China's, and our textbook's, quirks. However, now that I've come to China I've been able to experience a little bit of that 有中国特色的教育体制, educational system with Chinese characteristics. The work load and demands of the teachers are high and the expectation is to stuff vocabulary and grammar points and dialogues down our throats so that when they stick a piece of paper in front of us we can regurgitate all of that information back up onto that sheet.

The point of this blog post, however, is not to write my own scathing critique of this method but rather to bring to attention that this force-feeding has made me very full. The only thing that keeps me going as I prepare for my midterms, which includes a presentation of an essay followed by answering questions (kinda like a super mini Chinese-language thesis), is the thought that once I throw all of this knowledge up that's that. It's an unfortunate part of education in China in that they don't encourage any long term use or practical application of the things you learn while in school, but at this point my main goal is to keep my sanity, hopefully through lots of dove chocolate and cap'n crunch therapy (thanks mom!). So for now, see you on the other side, or maybe whenever I just get frustrated with studying.

Back from Hiatus

After a trip to the Chinese-North Korean border, a two week vacation due to the 60th Anniversary of the PRC/Mid-Autumn Festival/Preventing-the-Spread-of-Swine-Flu Measures, and after getting fed up with free proxies not working buying a VPN (Strong VPN has saved my Chinese internet experience), I'm back to blogging.

Unfortunately a 60th Anniversary/Mid-Autumn Festival/Swine Flu 2 week vacation/cancellation of classes isn't the most inspired time for blogging and next week I have midterms so my time is also somewhat limited. But I plan to get back to my regularly scheduled blogging as soon as my regularly scheduled life resumes.

We did take a trip to Lafashan (Lafa Mountain) and Hongyegu (Red Leaf Valley) over the weekend so I'll attach some pictures from that.



The Chinese guy who tried to kidnap me at Lafashan. No, I'm not kidding. And might I add that this picture severely over-represents his height.



View from the top of Lafashan (which took us about 3 1/2 hours to climb, might I add)



Red-leafed Tree in the Red Leaf Valley



Jarrett and I (check out Jarrett's Blog!!!)

中国任何外国人的爱恨交织 - The Love Hate Relationship of Chinese People and Foreigners

China had had a pitiable/interesting relationship with foreigners, most importantly in the period from the 1840s to the present. The "Hundred Years Humiliation" is still fresh on the lips of 10-year-olds who would have to be more like 60 to maybe have seen the tail end of the kind of occupation that China was subject to by England, France, Japan and the United States. The worse relationship was that between England and China. England, unable to let go of it's immensely successful entry into China's opium market decide it would need to use force in order to show China who the barbarians really were, leading to the Opium War, the second Opium War, the succession of ports to Western nations and Japan and probably the reason for why China has such harsh drug laws today.

Then, on October 1, 1949, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), fresh from running the Guomindang (GMD/KMT) out of the mainland and to Taiwan, declared the creation of the People's Republic of China under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party and with the support of China's 老百姓 - China's masses, China's everyday people.

Since 1979, China has been implementing Reform and Opening policies, allowing for preferential policies for businesses in cities on the Eastern coastal cities, and the aim of advancing technology and infrastructure in provincial capitals and the developing infrastructure, economic growth and job creation for ethnic minorities in the West. And with this opening up, Western companies with the foresight to see the potential of the Chinese market flocked and began investment projects in cities like Hong Kong (returned to the Chinese in 1999), Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Dalian, Shenyang. Of course all this foreign investment made the quick, and probably unsustainable growth of the Chinese market possible. Which means Chinese should love foreigners, right?

Chinese are a people of grudges and generational hate. You can ask any Chinese person our age what their feelings about the Japanese are and odds are they hate Japanese for their occupation of Manchuria, their militarism (although Japan currently has no military for their actions during WWII) and their attempt at hegemony in the Asia-Pacific region, and probably the world. You can ask any American our age if we hate the Japanese for their bombing of Pearl Harbor and odds are we don't care because Japan has robots and that is so freaking cool. It's not because most Americans don't remember/know the bombing of Pearl Harbor, but because we Americans learn to forgive and to forget.

Chinese are also a people of gross stereotypes. While looking at exhibits in the Jewish Synagogue, Jarrett's roommate told me about how all Chinese people think Jews are so good at business and they make so much money because they are the smartest people in the world. Shocked and trying to suppress laughter I told him about how there were some Americans that shared the same point of view as the Chinese. Luckily there were enough stupid Jews in the world to keep those stereotypes at bay.

So when you look at the history and the current state of Chinese people in regards to their relationship with foreigners you can see why they would be appreciative of the foreign existence in China however, due to generational hate against foreigners, particularly Japanese/Westerners there is a gross lack of understanding and that void is filled with stereotypes that would get all the windows in your car knocked out if you based your opinion of someone based on them in the states.

And where do I fit into this? I am just a confused Westerner who spends most of her time giving dirty looks to the people pointing at me and laughing at the sight of me from behind my back or right in front of my face, not realizing that I can completely understand what they are saying. But upon entering and leaving St. Sophia's Cathedral I encountered a different kind of response: Chinese that were so completely happy to see a Westerner that they just had to get a picture with her, while interested Chinese that realized the Black girl was actually a nice person and not going to bite them in the face gathered round to get pictures and just enjoy the spectacle. I'm not sure whether this goes under the ignorance category or the acceptance category, but it was pretty freaking funny.

(Pictures Coming Soon.)

The Day I Ate Dog and Chicken Hearts

One of the punchlines I constantly heard over the summer in response to hearing of my impending trip to China was "So, are you going to eat dog?" As some people know, I have been begging a certain someone for a puppy for a long time, so the thought of taking a precious animal out back, killing it, slicing it up and serving it to people barbeque-style was, and still is, stomach turning. Just a point to make, they usually cook the big, ugly dogs that look almost like small bears (puppies or other dogs don't have enough meat on them to make it worth the kill). But it's still like taking the-cute-dog-with-floppy-ears' uncle out back and shooting him, hence it all traces back to the cute ones, making it a sick, sick idea.

But how does this trace back to me eating a dog? A week ago I took a trip to Yagou (see post below) and since they weren't going to provide lunch so a couple of us decided to get baozi (big balls of bread with meat and vegetables inside). My friend Jarrett and I decided to get the second one on the list. I asked him what was in it and he said he thought it was pork (the standard answer in China if you don't actually know what it is as it is most likely pork). The name was something like "香菇...包子". The first two characters mean something like fragrant mushroom. However, what made me nervous hours later and stopped me from eating any more after the one in the morning before the bus ride to the mountains was the fact that the Chinese like to shorten names of things a lot, meaning 香菇 would be lengthened to 香肉蘑菇 meaning fragrant meat (the unsuspecting and unassuming codeword for dog meat) and mushroom. (I won't even get into the implications of calling dog meat fragrant meat.) After making my case to several friends I, unfortunately, got several responses. Jarrett seemed unsure and was just glad that he ended up not eating any. Laura told me I didn't eat dog meat and to stop worrying. Andrew told me he thought it was a type of mushroom and to now worry. Charlie seemed to think it was sadly funny and that I had eaten dog.

But then later that night, after a long hike up the mountains, they took us to a German-themed, Brazilian steakhouse-style Chinese restaurant (As weird as it sounds). One of the guys with spears of meat came around and pulled off 3 small pieces of I didn't know what but looked like very small, burnt sausage. My roommate leaned over and asked if I knew it was chicken hearts. I gave her one of my over-the-top of my glasses looks and thanked her and let her know that if she hadn't told me I would have eaten it. "They make you healthy since it's a heart," she told me. And then I did what I didn't expect. I covered it with some Chinese barbeque sauce and ate one. And then I ate another. And then I told her I couldn't eat the third. But I felt something change at that moment. I'd spent so much time fearing what I had eaten to even care about the fact that for them this is life. They eat dog, they eat chicken hearts and they don't care. So why should I? I don't have to like it but I should at least respect it and not feel so disgusted when I'm put in a situation where there is simply the possibility of something a little less than kosher could end up on my plate.

Since I've been here I've spent more time complaining about this place than embracing it. And it's not that I want to be bitter. The Chinese, in their prideful arrogance, malice laced with a lack of proper education, and ridiculously impolite and frankly disgusting habits make it very easy for a person to become disillusioned with this whole environment and want to jump the next plane back to the West. And all of these bad habits combined with simple ignorance diminishes their ability to accept and understand other cultures. And that is the reason why people stare. That is the reason why when you are speaking perfectly understandable Chinese they will turned glassy-eyed and pretend that they don't comprehend. That is why you will innocently be walking down the street and if the one old lady walking in the opposite direction doesn't cross the street to avoid passing you, the two walking behind you will burst into laughter at the thought of foreigners casually walking in front of them. It seems that it will take a while for the 老百姓, regular Chinese people, to learn to do their part in any genuine sense of a cultural exchange/dialogue. But that doesn't mean I can't do mine, because, while the people of China may not be invested in the world beyond copying all the other products made in every other part of the world, the people of the world are invested in China. Even if it means they have to eat the occasional dog and chicken heart.

The Humbling Experience of Hand-washing Clothing

It seems almost comical that all of the washing machines here seem to rip your clothing apart while dryers are simply nonexistent. The first time I washed my clothes I enjoyed the first 10 minutes. I haven't been exercising since I got to China so it felt good to do something even remotely related to physical activity. Unfortunately, after that 10 minute mark, the romanticism and old country flavor a hand-washing clothes disappears and it becomes an annoying, messy process.

Steps for Hand-washing Clothing
Step 1: Fill a large, plastic basin with water and tide powder (they still make powder for washing clothes???) or pull out your tide detergent bar (a soap bar for washing clothes??? Only in China). Don't forget to put your pretty, yellow, plastic gloves.
Step 2: After filing the basic with soapy, bubbly water, place your clothes in the water and allow to soak for 5-20 minutes (the tougher the stain, the longer the soaking period).

Step 3: Fill a separate basin with clean water, pull out an article of clothing from the soaking basin and scrub it in the clean water
Step 4: Rinse the article of clothing with clean water until the water runs clear, wring out excess water and hang to dry.
*Repeat steps 3-4 until you are looking at an empty basin and a bathroom full of your clothes hanging on what in America would be a shower curtain, but what in China is purely decoration; in it's most practical sense a place to hang clothes.

When I get back to America I promise never to take for granted amazing technology, like washing machines and, even more so, dryers. I will also slap the first person in front of me who complains about the laundry services at Georgetown. Because, laundry, much like many things we take for granted, should learn to be appreciated and it shouldn't take a semester in Ghetto, Harbin, China to figure that out.

Yagou:We Have a Meeting With Shangdi (上帝 ) at the Top of that Mountain

Yesterday morning and afternoon (based on China Standard Time), my group took a trip to Yagou, a town in the mountains about an hour and a half outside of Harbin. IT was fun, scenic and made up for the fact that I haven't exercised since I got to China almost 3 weeks ago.


When we first made it to Yagou we were welcome by a scenic lake with picturesque mountains lining the background. "那么漂亮," "how beautiful" was something to be heard for the rest of the afternoon, particulary as we began to ascend the mountain and get an amazing view of the the surrounding area and the coal-powered factories in the distance.



We first spent about 45 minutes climbing to the top of a smaller mountain to look at a rockcarving of a man and a woman who I'm sure used to actually exist but instead our leaders pointed to a wet spot on the rock and told us that she was in that vicinity. When we climbed back down we hoped back on the buses for a 3 minute ride and then were kicked off again in the front of what I assumed to be a house on the edge of this lake with donkeys, cows and two rabid-looking dogs.

The climb was long and sweaty and for the majority of it were were pretty sure that they had no idea where the trail was and in fact, at one point when we had made it to the top of one mountain they turned to another mountain across the way, pointed and said "那时我们的目的，" "that is our target."I'm pretty sure those words struck fear into the hearts of every Chinese roommate as the guys were having their own trouble (brought on my being pretty much the antithesis of a macho man) so imagine how the girls were doing. Luckily my roommate is a good sport and I think she enjoyed the hike. But I digress... (when you look at the picture you'll see a tiny, little thing sticking up out of the mountains in the middle. That was our "目的" and it was really far away.)
Unfortunately you can't even see it in this picture (it's that far away) so here is a closeup.


So after forging our own trail through the countryside, and hilariously running into some of the locals, we made it to our target, the top of that mountain. The air was light and crisp, not like the heavy, coal laced air of the city, and the weather was to die for. I'm pretty sure when we made it up there we met Shangdi (上帝, God) and gave us the privilege of a spectacular view of the real China.





And now for some assorted pictures from the trip.













1. Me and my roommate, Song Yang 宋洋
2. Chinese motorcyclist in the mountains
3. Puppies! Their parents were a little camera shy and too busy growling at us to go and away and looking emaciated.
4. View of cornfields while descending the mountain

First Week of Class Review

(The changing around of my schedule, both voluntary and involuntary makes this title a little less than accurate.)

I'm currently signed up for 4 classes, totaling what would be about 20 credits at Georgetown (though they only think this is worth 15 credits toward graduation and my degree). My 4 classes are Business Chinese, Conversation, One on Two Drill, and One on One Tutorial. I also attended one day of Composition and can give some remarks concerning my short-lived time in that class.

Composition (写作）: This class is only useful if you are planning on going to grad school for East Asian Studies or Chinese and you need to do lots of writing in Chinese. For the most part, punctuation is the same as English, not counting one unusual comma. Otherwise, its practical application for the average student ends with the class.

Business Chinese （商业）: This is a relatively easy class with a manageable level of vocab and grammar patterns each week. The teacher is also very sweet and invested in making sure everyone understands a concept before we move on, even if it's just the Chinese name of a company (Windows -> 微软, Apple -> 苹果, literally apple). What annoys me about the class is that with each chapter she gives us a supplementary list of vocab, just using the words from the book but putting them into phrases that we have to have memorized. The problem is that, while in the scope of the chapter these words go together, there are also other words that are suitable and appropriate and it's annoying that we have to limit ourselves to the answers that she likes/thinks are correct. Otherwise, I think it's a useful course and have some capacity for practical application. We also get to have some interesting dialogue: Do you think the Chinese Government's reform and opening policy in the West is destroying the lives of the ethnic minorities?

Conversation （口语）: Very useful class. I think that most Chinese students would agree that speaking Chinese is a little bit easier than writing Chinese. But then they open their mouths and you wonder if there are a 5th or 6th or 10th tone that no one every taught you (Mandarin Chinese has 4 tones). That is where this class is helpful. We read a lesson text then spend two days discussing it and learning relevant grammar patterns. It's great for vocab and also for learning to pay attention to the way a question asked and then formulating how you respond to it. The teacher is very nice and so far I'm enjoying this class.

One on Two Drill (一对二）: My easiest class. I already feel like my tones and pronunciation are already pretty good so my teacher is relatively easy on me, unfortunately at the expense of reminding my classmate how unprepared he is for class. But even if you're tone deaf and you can't seem to get yourself to pronounce that ubiquitous u with an umlat, just show up and look like you're trying hard and I'm sure you can expect to see an A+ on your transcript when you're back in the states.

One on One Tutorial （一对一）: This is easily my most interesting class. My topic is China-US Relations and over 12 weeks we will cover the three communiques, Taiwan, Economic/Trade Relations, Ethnic Minorities, Security and U.S.-China's Role in Leading World Organizations. I like my teacher and I feel like he enjoys coming to teach me and hearing about my life back in the states and my other opinions on things, like health care reform or the importance of Congress. And these materials he gives me are interesting. Such as how Congress took advantage of the Tiananmen "event" to punish China by imposing sanctions. I'm sure that this is only the tip of iceberg of Chinese perspective on important events and topics within China-US relations.

And those are my classes for this semester. This morning we are going on a day trip to Yagou for a hike and some BBQ so I'll have some pictures from that when I get back. Also look forward to a post on hand-washing clothing. All coming soon!

Language Pledge, also known as how to make study abroad a legitimate learning experience

Some people study abroad looking for a chance to see the world, add perspective to their studies, or experience new culture. Then there are the contemptible few who look at study abroad as a chance to extend their summer vacations, taking trips to private beaches and eating sumptuous, multi-course meals as the rest of the country's people starve themselves, or jet setting to nearby countries with beautiful women. Then there are the valiant few who are willing to cast themselves in the far reaches of a foreign country, denying themselves proper bathrooms, clean water or the convenience of English, in order to have a truly foreign experience from anything that one could come in contact with while in the states (unless you happened to drive through West Virginia or upstate New York).

I don't mean to entirely de-legitimize other peoples' reasons for study nor the other places people choose for their study abroad experience. I personally hold the opinion that study abroad best lends its usefulness to people looking for an authentic environment to learn a language. But there are even those who take advantage of larger, more Westernized cities (for example, the students in Beijing or Shanghai) so that they don't have to worry about the shock of being in an environment where a little bit of English will set you further back from where you started. Thus, I propose for all study abroad programs to adopt an environment that does not let students treat it like an extended vacation where grades don't count toward your GPA. This can be done through the language pledge.

At CET Harbin, the day before classes start we recite and sign a language pledge stating that for the length of the program we will only speak in Chinese. They mention listening to English language music with headphones and even go so far as to suggest reducing the frequency by which we contact family and friends in the US, as the slightest utterance of English could corrupt the precious language environment for our fellow students. While this seems extreme, I think that in the week and a half that the pledge has been in effect, my Chinese has already improved. I'm excited to see the point that I'm at by the time October rolls around.

CET Harbin is a tough program. I probably spend about 8 hours every day looking up characters, writing oral reports, which our teachers seem to assign daily, memorizing dialogues and vocabulary and grammar patterns, and trying to do readings on Chinese-US relations that are entirely in Chinese and don't have an English version or a convenient list of vocabulary words in the back. But despite the enormity of my work, if we had not had a language pledge, I most likely wouldn't wake up every morning wanting to bang my head against the wall (unfortunately that would wake my roommate and every other person in this dorm). The work load would be tough but manageable and it would be easier to explain the ridiculous run-ins I have with the real Chinese out on the streets of Harbin. But then it wouldn't really be studying abroad. It would be like I was displaced from Georgetown and the registrar has mistakenly put me into four Chinese classes (something I'm sure that Georgetown could manage to do).

I think the most important part of study abroad is adopting the environment that you are in and allowing yourself to become a part of it. And in this case it means that you need to take on all the difficulties of the language and the language pledge and start defining yourself and your experiences within it and through it.

To me, this is a legitimate study abroad experience.

3 days and counting...

I really can't believe that I'm going to be in China in 3 days. It is utterly nerve wracking and overwhelming and, frankly, I don't like thinking about it. I'm not nervous about the normal aspects of traveling to another country, particularly one as foreign as the Middle Kingdom, like exchanging money or worrying about food and the possibility of contracting crazy diseases that could only originate in China. I'm very nervous about my placement test. I'm nervous about the Chinese people adjusting to me, rather than me adjusting to the Chinese people and their culture. I'm nervous about just being able to communicate in general when I get there (we can only speak in Chinese because of the language pledge we take a couple of days after arriving in Harbin). It's a little disheartening. I'm going to be there with 24 other CET Harbin students, 4 of which are Georgetown students, 2 of which I am good friends with, not to mention the 1.3 billion plus people that live in China. Yet I feel like being there, surrounded by all of these people, could still be very lonely. But regardless of my trepidations, unfounded or not, I will still be taking off from Newark at about 8:40 on Tuesday morning, heading for what will be one of the most momentous experiences of my life.