Andrew HADDOW

Student of Swinburne University of Technology, Australia
Exchange to Beijing Language and Culture University, China

I consider the time I had spent studying on exchange in China as one of my best university experiences by far. However, in the beginning, coming to Beijing hadn’t even entered my mind. I had already planned and organized my exchange to take place in America and, if not for a last minute decision, may have missed an amazing opportunity. When told a place had opened up at Beijing Language and Culture University, I found my plans to see America appear on the backburner rather quickly. Always a bit indecisive, I needed time to consider my options and in the end, learning a new language swayed me.

It was the best choice I made during my time at university. The thought of traveling somewhere new and exciting, where no one speaks English thrilled me. I must admit initially the best word to describe me would have been stressed but after a hectic university registration day, lost papers and more official red stamps than I could count, things settled down and I quickly found my feet. Beijing has a fantastic public service network, anywhere you need to be can easily be reached by the subway and you completely lose the fear of missing a train as the next one is always only minutes away. What’s more, you’ll find the universities conveniently placed alongside the subway too (great!)

The universities in Beijing are different to Melbourne, they are all grouped together in a large district called Wu Dao Kou and there you will find people from all over the world. I had never met anyone from Russia before, now I had 2 Russian classmates! As an exchange student the majority of my classes were Chinese language courses; reading, writing, listening and speaking with other international students, but I must mention that includes non-English speaking international students! That makes for even more fun in class, especially when the Korean students would try to invite the Mexicans out for lunch in Chinese.

I also took an economics class with 169 other local students and that was great. At first I was a bit nervous, every time the teacher asked me a question, all eyes fell upon me, but I found that was only because everyone was so eager to get to know me. The Chinese students here are incredibly friendly (but a bit shy) and once you get to know them you are opened to a whole new perspective of Beijing.

The university lifestyle is fantastic, with the colossal mix of cultures all added to by the local Chinese, you will always have friends to study with, go out socializing with and you will never be short of someone wanting to take you to the famous markets or tourist attractions. I have found that the friends I had made both in and out of the classroom have really lasted and the great thing about an international class is international trips to visit each other!

I would like to thank the Endeavour Australia Cheung Kong Awards for giving me such a fantastic experience and I would highly recommend study in China. There are few other places in the world that can offer you such exciting opportunities and back it up with thousands of years of history, culture and language.

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