Written by Alice Chen (Wofford College), Student Correspondent for Middlebury in Beijing, Spring 2025
All Hands on Deck
Spending a semester studying abroad in a new country is certainly no easy task, but choosing to study in China is even harder. Everything that we use so seamlessly in America, China has their own version. Thrust into a new country where everything is done so differently, you can’t help feeling overwhelmed. Thankfully, we have had tremendous help from not only our local roommates, but also the incredible teachers and staff of Middlebury and CET to help us get situated.
Beginning Days Where the Potential is Endless
Within our first few days, we were able to go to Jingshan Park and attend a Kungfu program where we learned a few beginners poses. Afterwards we walked to the top of the mountain to get a bird’s eye view of Beijing. There, you could stand directly in the center of Beijing, as well as see the endless potential of what we could explore.
Exploring Murals in Beijing’s Subway…for Class
Don’t know how to ride Beijing’s subway? No problem, we do it for class! One of our class’s main topics is exploring and learning more about Beijing and for our first week we learned about Beijing’s subway and the murals within them.
Although I admittedly had not paid much attention to the murals in the subway at first, now, they are the first thing I see. In addition, it was fun to learn that most of the murals’ topics relate to what station they are located in. Afterwards, a group of us explored the area were ended the class with and ate some small snacks and discovered a cute little coffee shop!
Tanghulu Event Hosted by Local Roommates
Our local roommates are encouraged to host activities every now and then, and during the end of our first week of class, they decided to host a tanghulu event! I experienced first-hand the decision making of our roommates deciding which fruits to buy and all of the rest of the hard work they put in behind the scenes.
What’s to Come Next?
Trying to balance schoolwork and wanting to explore the city is hard, so why not combine the two? For one of my classes, we were tasked to go to a popular chain store that sold famous Beijing snacks. We each had to order our own snack and after we finished eating, we had time to explore the area. Although we ended up not really knowing where to go next, it was still nice to be able to be out and see more of the city with my classmates.