My name is Kyra Swick, and I am currently a senior at Penn State majoring in Chinese with a linguistics minor. Last year, I spent an academic year (about nine months) studying abroad in Beijing with IES’s language intensive program. During that time, I ate some amazing (and sometimes not so amazing) foods, saw some of the most beautiful places on Earth, and met some of the best people I have ever known.
I know that whenever people talk about studying abroad, they always describe it as a monumental, life changing experience. I remember hearing repeatedly how everything I knew was about to be tested. It was almost like studying abroad was akin to having some sort of metaphorical baby. Of course when I boarded that plane to Beijing, I was thinking to myself that I was about to embark on a trip that would mark a new phase in my life. I was about to realize that thinking that to yourself and being thrown into it are two entirely different things. To say that I faced a little bit of culture shock doesn’t even begin to cover it.
Being a Chinese major, the IES Beijing program seemed an obvious choice because of its commitment to language instruction. Even though I had been studying Chinese for a year already, I had very little knowledge about the country itself. I only knew the cultural nuances I had read in a textbook. My exposure to the food was limited to the nearest fast-food restaurant. I had never been out of the United States before. I tried to look up pictures of Beijing and listen to people talk about the city, but I had no concept of what the city even looked like.
My program really lived up to its ‘intense’ name. From day one, I was completely immersed within the language. My exposure to Chinese at Penn State was limited to my short hour-long classes. Within a few days, I went from stepping off of a plane to living with a family who spoke not a single word of English. My Chinese classes were taught entirely in Mandarin. There was even a language pledge that kept me speaking Chinese throughout my day. I would sometimes go for periods of several days without even hearing English. The immersion component of studying abroad was one of the major factors that allowed my language skills to advance at a rapid pace.
I also attribute living in a home stay during my time abroad as being one of the biggest contributors to my language acquisition and increase in cultural understanding. Every night at dinner, my home stay family quizzed me on the different foods at the table. It became a daily game that helped satisfy their curiosity as well as mine. They would talk about the different foods at the table and ask me about which ones I had seen before. My host family was always interested in learning more about where I came from. During my evenings, I sometimes spent hours sitting around just talking with them about everything from the weather that day to Chinese history and politics. On weekends, my host family would take me on trips to tea markets and other local places. Sometimes I would go back to my other friends and take them on field trips to these little places that are only known to exist by the local Beijingers.
My experience in Beijing truly provided me with the opportunity to immerse myself in Chinese culture and language. Check back for my next blog post to learn more about my experience in Beijing.