Students Recap the First Few Days in Nanjing

It's been 4 days since the start of the Session II Chinese Language & Culture program in Nanjing. Between traveling to China on a group flight with 25 other students, meeting and settling in with their host families, exploring the area around their new homes, CIEE orientation, and having their first Chinese class and Into the Community conversation activity, our students have been busy, busy, busy!

With all of these new people, sights, tastes, and experiences flying by at once, I was curious to know which moments have been sticking out in students' minds as the top highlights of their first few days in Nanjing. Here's what some of the students had to say about the past 4 days on the program! 

"My first few days have been really exciting! I didn't know what to expect because this was my first time in China. Even though Nanjing is a big city and I come from a big city back home (New York City), I feel like everything is much calmer here, especially taking public transportation in the morning. When I take the bus in the morning, it feels so much more relaxed than taking the bus in New York. It was also really exciting to meet my host family. I've made some new friends here on the program and it's really fun to have lunch with them every day. Some of us know Chinese better than others, so it's nice to have them to help teach us. It's kind of funny because when we go to buy things, we still don't really know what the vendors are saying, so we just kind of give them the money randomly and hope that it's right. It's been interesting to see how my decision to come here has played out so far and I'm really excited for the rest of the week!" - Natalie

"My first few days in Nanjing have been really interesting so far. It's a lot different here than it is in America. I think the hardest part about adjusting to life here is the language barrier. I've never spoken Chinese in a non-controlled, non-classroom environment before, so this was a big step for me coming here and having to use the language every day. I use Chinglish to communicate with my host family a lot. I try to speak as much Chinese as I can, but I'll usually incorporate English words when talking about more complex concepts, and they'll correct my Chinese a lot too. The first Chinese class on the program was a lot of fun, but it was also really hard because it was all in Chinese. But, I think that if I keep trying, I can definitely get better." - Aidan

"It's been pretty cool actually. I ate a chicken foot at a restaurant, but it only had two of its toes. It was missing the other two. It was really spicy and the bones were squishy but also crunchy. My host family was not at home that day, so I went out to dinner with Aidan's host family. His host family was like, 'Spit out the bones!' but I had already swallowed them. We drank milk tea after that. Needless to say, it was a very interesting experience." - Isabelle

"It's been really good. I've had some minor issues with my host family because they speak Cantonese, not Mandarin. The mother and the daughter speak English, so that's fine, but the father and the grandparents speak Cantonese. I can sort of understand what they're saying, but not very well. So, I just sort of nod along and say 'Yeah, I understand' when I really don't. To communicate with them, I use the little bit of Chinese that I know, point to things, and try to act out what I want to say. They sometimes get what I'm trying say. Hopefully, I can get better at my nonverbal communication skills to overcome the language barrier with them. Plus, it would be really cool if I could pick up some Cantonese!' - Chloe O

"It's been really, really, really hot and humid. It's foggy a lot and there's smog sometimes too. Nanjing is really different from America because, in America, the cities are really modernized, but when you're in Nanjing, most of the buildings aren't as modernized as they would be in the U.S. The part of town where CIEE Nanjing is located looks pretty modernized, though. There's also a lot of food! I think maybe my stomach shrank on the way here or something because I can't eat as much food here. If you eat a lot of rice with your food here, you can't eat a lot of side dishes because the rice will fill you up really fast and there are so many dishes on the table to try! The host families are really accepting also. If you don't know any Chinese, it's fine because the families usually have someone who speaks English there, which was a nice surprise. It's been really, really fun. When you do things for the first time like ordering on your own in Chinese, you feel really accomplished." - Stephanie

"At first, it was a little rough coming here. I wasn't used to the culture and it wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but over the past few days, things have really calmed down and I've realized that Nanjing is a really nice place. I'm learning a lot, and the program has been really good about teaching me a lot of Mandarin. I really love my Chinese classes so far and think that the teachers are really great. It's even better that, in my host family, we speak a lot of Mandarin, and that's really helping me to get better at speaking the language. At first, it was a little difficult to communicate with my host family - I had to look up a lot of words on Pleco (an English/Chinese dictionary app) - but my host mother has been teaching me a lot. When we go to the grocery store, I ask her how to say a lot of things in the store and she teaches me the correct way to say it. I'm really excited about what the program holds for me as far as learning Chinese." - Robert

"So far, the program has been better than what I expected it would be. My first class was difficult in a way, but I understood most of it. They gave us vocabulary words at the beginning of class that we had to learn. Then, we read over the textbook and learned some grammar. At the end of class, we did a debate about Chinese traditional culture and whether we should preserve it or forget it in order to improve China as a nation. Our Into the Community conversation session was pretty cool too. We went to a silk store and saw things made out of real silk. It was really, really pretty. It was cool to see that in real life because I usually see silk things like that in Chinese movies or dramas. What really surprised me were the prices. There were things on the extreme expensive side, but there were also things that were really cheap. I got to talk to the vendors a little bit in Chinese about the history behind the pieces and how they were made. It was an extremely amazing experience to go there." - Vicky

"It's been amazing so far! It's been a bit of a cultural shock, but I've been having a lot of fun and eating a lot of good food. My host family is super nice. We talked for two hours last night about the differences between the Chinese and American economy. In general, there are some small details at my host family's house that are different than in America. Taking off shoes before entering the house is one of those differences. Also, brushing your teeth before breakfast is another one. I went to eat breakfast before brushing my teeth one morning and my host family was like 'What are you doing? You have to brush your teeth first!' So that was pretty funny. Also, there's a little less privacy at the house, but that's okay. I'm getting used to it. On the first day of classes, my host dad and I rode our bikes to school together in the morning. Then, I found out that Noah and I live right next to each other, so we rode our bikes to school together today. I race bikes back home, so it's been fun dodging all the people and mopeds on the street on my bike in the mornings. Don't worry, I'm staying safe out there, though!" - Finn

To wrap up this post, here's a look at all of our enthusiastic, bright, and engaged students, as well as our program leaders and CIEE Nanjing staff members who are helping to support and encourage students every step of the way as they study Chinese language and culture here in Nanjing.