Xakkary PATTERSON

Student of University of Wollongong, Australia
Exchange to Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, China

During my initial travel to China I had no idea what I was in for. I had a single goal of improving my Mandarin to a usable level. The first few weeks my Mandarin was horrible and yet I was privileged enough to be befriended by Chinese and internationals like wild fire. Within a couple of months I had roughly 100 to 200 friends from all over. These social relationships gained through travels, school and having a night out or three enabled my Mandarin ability to reach my expectation. From being unable to understand Chinese when they counted, to now being able to understand different dialects.

I was lucky enough to mix with all kinds of people while in China. From people who could perform circus tricks, privately taught languages, business men from China, America and New Zealand as well as rice farmers and engineers.

I spent short periods of time with the families of good friends in rice fields and smaller cities. I have travelled to around 25 different cities in China (quite often more than my Chinese peers). I have seen a small town made entirely of ice and lights, eaten Tibetan cuisine and even had first-hand experience trying some of the more controversial foods.

Due to the wonderful flavours found in China my love for food was fuelled evermore. So much so that as others lost weight I had gained it. The nightlife in Shanghai was terribly exciting, the ice sculptures in Ha’erbin were gorgeous as was the city of Xi’an and the baby pandas in Chengdu was as cute as the food was great.

My time in China helped me find my identity and set an almost fantastical future before myself. I will be going back to such dynamic and exciting people many times in the future. It has been an experience that I believe most, if not all, could benefit from. I would not call this a once in lifetime experience because in September I am about to do it all again.

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