From KIM JIHO, a Korean student from BFSU.
China, especially Beijing, is full of opportunities. I met so many nice people from different cities of China and from different nations. They were very friendly, and their thoughts and lifestyles impacted me greatly in a positive way. The city itself is very diverse as well. It is common in Beijing to see modern skyscrapers being in harmony with historical architectures.
I lived on the campus of Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU) for a year. Some people might think a year is not long enough for a person to know what the city is like. But for me, the one-year experience led me to see more of Beijing and realize how much I love this city and this country.
During the second semester of my first year, thanks to the Extended Family Program for international students organized by BFSU, I had a great chance to live in a warm and welcoming Chinese family.
It was a big family with two daughters, a 13-year-old girl and a 4-year-old girl. Three generations lived together in the family. I taught the 13-year-old girl English and Korean. She was a girl with a tender heart, and I felt like I got a little sister I never had, so we became close very quickly. At the same time, she also taught me in many ways. She helped me to understand China from different aspects and gave me some ideas of how young Chinese viewed their country.
I was really interested in learning those things and felt lucky to be able to grasp a real perspective of China by living with Beijing locals. Moreover, they accompanied me to everywhere. We went to climb the Fragrant Hills when the leaves were turning red and visited the Forbidden City when the first snow of the season fell.
By living and spending a joyful time with them, I indeed felt that I was regarded as an important member of the family. Studying abroad, being apart from your own family could be very lonely. But for me, that was not true because I had the “second” family of my own in China.
To further enrich my experience, I joined the CY project during the summer vacation of 2019. The project assigned BFSU students to a few different remote areas of China and the students’ task was to help local students with their study, especially English.
I was one of the volunteers who joined this program and went to Heqing County, Southwest China’s Yunnan province. Since Yunnan is located in far southwest from Beijing, I had to take a night train for over 30 hours. When I first heard about this, it was shocking to me because in South Korea each place can be reached by car within 8 hours.
Thus, I worried about spending a night on the train. But now that I think of it, there was no cause for any concern. While I was on the train, I chatted and played games with my Chinese teammates and with that, the 30-hour train trip went unbelievably fast.
After we arrived in Yunnan, we had a short tour to the school where we will be teaching for a few days and got to know students. The students were really psyched to see us and wanted to know what Beijing was like, as most of the students had never been out of town.
Along with my Australian teammate, we got numerous questions from those students about foreign languages and cultures. By answering their questions, we got a little bit closer with those children. However, after teaching them several classes, we noticed that a proportion of students were neither interested in studying nor thinking about purchasing higher education.
Therefore, we had to find ways that could arouse students’ interest in their studies, especially in English. We tried our best to make the class entertaining and let them know the importance of learning English if they want to go out and see a broader world. We did not know whether our classes had any impact on them or changed their minds about higher education, but teachers of the school told us on the last day of our stay that students really liked us and wanted to meet us again in Beijing.
I sincerely hoped that our teaching could give them the motivation and courage to continue studying. Later that day, when we were just about to leave, the students came to us for a farewell. We exchanged our contacts and promised never to forget each other. A year has passed since then, and still, this is one of my most unforgettable memories in my life and I recall this from time to time. I was truly moved by those students’ innocence and love towards us.
Just like this, I made so many valuable memories throughout the year. I strongly believe that studying and living in China can offer international students an opportunity to broaden their perspective and knowledge. I not only feel very fortunate to be a student of BFSU but also want to know more about Beijing and China in the near future.
Every semester, BFSU provided me with experiences that I looked forward to, be it academically or not. It was always a pleasure to be part of the activities. Not only have I grown, but my mind has been opened to the extent beyond my imagination. I would never become the person I am today without all these experiences. Truly, with the short stay here, BFSU has cultivated me with international vision, overall quality and leadership, which will help me to achieve my fullest potential.
