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Dorcas Chia
The University of Western Australia, Australia
Exchange to Zhejiang University, China
I spent a semester studying Chinese in Zhejiang
University in Hangzh
ou. I arrived feeling sick and had
to face heavy rain for a week, but everything turned
better quickly and I ended up really loving my time
there. Trying to learn Chinese in Australia is difficult
as you don・t get as much practice as you ideally
should have. When I was in China, I mostly had to
speak Mandarin to everybody all the time, which
was tiring sometimes, but also made me improve
very quickly. I found that it became a lot easier to
think in Chinese after a while.
Zhejiang University is the 3rd top university in China, with some of the best students in the country. I was privileged to learn from fantastic and patient teachers. One particular teacher inspired us to work really hard and I ended up scoring in the highest rung for the foreign students language ability exam, the HSK paper, as a result. Thanks!
What was exceptionally exciting about exchange was getting to meet students from all over the world, even from countries I never knew about. There were students from Korea, Mexico, America, Japan, Jordan, Australia, Thailand and Bolivia. Mandarin was the only common language between some students and it was amusing trying to get ideas across in the limited vocabulary we shared. I・m glad to have met so many new friends.
My time there taught me a lot about myself, discovering strengths and weaknesses about myself when I・m apart from all that I・m used to. I was challenged physically, emotionally and mentally, and I know I was not the only one. I have learnt more about my independence and ways of relating to other people.
China is massive and very crowded as most people might know. Trying to cycle on the main roads during peak hours is an exhilarating experience everybody should live through. It has definitely made me appreciate the order, systems and open spaces that I take for granted back here in Australia.
I・m very grateful for this opportunity that the Cheung Kong Scholarship has provided me with. Exchange would have been very difficult without the support I was given before I departed Australia.
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