Written by Alice Chen (Wofford College), Student Correspondent for Middlebury in Beijing, Spring 2025
Time Flies When You’re Having Fun
Jam packed head to toe with activities and classwork, Middlebury in Beijing sure does make time fly by. I have already been in Beijing for a month, but it feels like I arrived just yesterday! I won’t lie, this program does not go easy on the amount of work you have to do to prepare for before, during, and after each class. Sometimes, it can be overwhelming, but there are plenty of activities provided that have given me a sense of balance with managing my classwork and also still making time to have fun.
One Foot In the Door for Class, One Foot Out the Door for Letting Loose!
With Middlebury in Beijing, everyone is required to take a class called “Experience Beijing.” Every week (with a new topic), we spend Monday and Tuesday discussing as a class what we learned from our text. On Wednesday, we get to put our knowledge to the test and actually go out to “experience” what we spent the past two days in class discussing and learning. For example, these past few weeks, we have gone to Beijing’s 798 Art District, as well as the Temple of Confucius. After we complete our tasks, we get to meander and explore on our own!
Relaxation At Its Finest!
We have the opportunity to sign up for Wushu and Chinese Calligraphy classes that alternate every other week, so of course that meant that I signed up! For our Chinese Calligraphy class, we briefly learned about the history about the art of Chinese calligraphy and the different styles of Chinese calligraphy. We started simple for our first class with everyone choosing the style that they wanted to mimic and wrote the character “福“. The following week we had our Wushu class. I managed to sneak a selfie while some of my classmates had to perform for our teacher what we just learned!
Some of my favorite activities so far have been the ones that our roommates come up with. You can just feel the passion and effort they put into planning each activity. This time, we got to DIY our own unique fans through the process of dipping it in a bucket of water with our own specially selected colors, and swaying the fan back-and-forth to add another lair of flair!
Ending the Week with a Nice Family Meal
Every Friday don’t forget Chinese Table! During Chinese Table we all have a chance to discuss with our teachers how we have been and what’s been going on through our minds, while of course, enjoying a nice meal.
During the end of our fourth week of classes, we even went to one of the places we discussed in our “Business in Chinese” course for Chinese Table. This restaurant（悦宾）is meaningful when discussing business in relation to China because it was the first privately-owned Chinese restaurant to open after China’s economic reform during the 1970’s.
