It’s already been two weeks since I moved to East China Normal University in Shanghai to work on my senior seminar research. I try to spend my time here in a productive way, but also enjoy the company of the three professors and two classmates from Wabash who arrived this summer. Very often though, I reflect on the experience of my IES Abroad semester at Fudan University. I have to admit that I’m very thankful to Wabash for this opportunity.
It was very interesting to see how higher education works in mainland China and Hong Kong (we spent a week at Hong Kong University) and compare it with the U.S. and Europe. I made some (really smart:)) Chinese friends at Fudan who taught me a lot about the Chinese culture and “how things here run” in general. I was lucky enough to have only four people in my Mandarin class, which enabled me to learn a lot, especially work on my pronunciation. I will certainly miss all my American friends (most of whom are already back in the U.S.) from the program, including our irreplaceable RA. Once I’m back in Indiana, I know that I will certainly miss the IES Shanghai staff who are very professional and took great care of us, but are also a lot of fun to be around. I am also very thankful for my internship with BD Shanghai, where I learned a lot about marketing in China.
In the next note I will write more about my post-Fudan Shanghai life.
