Straight A's...A Race to a Longevity of Academic Excellence

I definitely understand school much better overseas! This is my best semester so far because I feel like I can actually apply curriculum. I participate everyday, do readings, give the best presentations, and my teachers love me! In addition, the classroom environment has gotten much more interactive and I'm making friends with my Chinese classmates! Everything is looking up. It's a shame that it took going abroad to make me try harder in school, but this successful semester is pushing me to keep these good habits :)

Icey's Birthday Party

My friend from International College of Beijing (ICB) had a birthday party yesterday and it was so much food...I mean FUN! Me and nine other people headed to her parents house and the commute wasn’t too bad. Probably an hour and a half. Icey’s parents were incredibly welcoming to having a bunch of American’s in their home. It was fascinating being in a traditional Chinese house for the first time. Oriental and traditional art everywhere, real animal fur on chairs, etc. Her house was quite comfy. 

Birthday girl Icey

As you can see here, the food was DELICIOUS! We toasted and grubbed away! All of us had to take a 30 minute break to digest for the second round of food. Ahhh...I miss home cooking and it was nice to be surrounded by a family. My program family and Icey’s parents.

I just thought that couch looked fierce

The infamous Chinese hard liquor (stay away!!) 

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Feeling Like a Teacher’s Pet

In China, I’m the most studious I’ve ever been in my entire life. It’s not a bad thing, but the classroom environment is completely unfamiliar even though my courses are taught as UCD classes. 

The Chinese students in my class are use to being lectured at and expected to just go home and study. But in an American-styled classroom environment, there is an expectation to participate in class to get a good grade. Since this style is unfamiliar to most of the younger Chinese students, most sit in silence when the teachers ask a question. I can hear crickets chirping every time. So I always feel obligated to raise my hand and break the ice. That means keeping up on each reading, doing every assignment, taking notes, etc. I’ve build a good relationship with my professors because of my high participation, but I feel like I’m taking the opportunity away from my other fellow classmates. Also, I feel bad for the professor who has to constantly drag participation out of the other students.

Raising my hand all the time, answering questions, constantly commenting, and building relationships with my teachers makes me feel like I’m a teachers pet. This is only because I feel that my Chinese classmates probably don’t feel they have the same opportunity because of their English (which is fine).

I’m confident that things will get better in class and hopefully I can encourage my Chinese classmates to participate more. That way I won’t feel wrong for doing something right by being a good student. Only time will tell.