2011-12 Student Photo Essays

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I was born in Beijing, China, but immigrated to the States at a young age. I chose to study abroad because I wanted to learn what China is like today. I am taking business classes in the PKU Guanghua School of Management. It is a great experience and most of the classes are taught in English. In the future, I'd like to find a job where I can travel between China and the States often. I would certainly like to come back to Beijing.

At Peking University, there are many groups of students from all over the world. How do we show our love for our CSU system? Through our CSU IP Basketball Team, of course! With teams of cheerleaders in the background, it made for a noisy and crowded event. It was a great way to meet students from other schools as well.

Here is one of our talented players taking a break before going back to the game. The games are usually held in the beginning of the semester in order to allow new students to meet other international students and Chinese students as well. Peking University has a very large basketball court, and it is usually packed with students. During the winter, however, the ground is usually coated with ice, making it quite dangerous.

On our group trip to visit other parts in China, our resident director was our shining beacon of light, giving us detailed explanations of different things that we saw. She really made our trip fun, and we learned a lot. Our tour guide's English was not very good, so translation was a problem. Usually, the tour guide would say things in Chinese, and then the resident director would translate it for us. This allowed us to practice listening in Chinese.

This is a garden in the beautiful Hangzhou. There are many steps surrounding the garden that tourists can climb up and down from to better see the lake. There are also courtyards beside the lake that you can visit. During the National Holiday, it was extremely packed with tourists. Perhaps you can spot some CSU students in this picture?

This tree is in Shanghai, and there are many wishes that are hung on it. Most of the wishes are about prosperity and luck. While it may be fake, it certainly adds a lot of charm to this busy street. On the street, there are also many small shopping stores and food stands. It was a fun adventure for all, because there are so many unique items sold, modern as well as antique.

In Wuxi, there is a Three Kingdoms park where the popular Chinese TV show, Romance of the Three Kingdoms was filmed. There are many re-creations in this park, including battle scenes, and other fun things to do such as roller coasters and horse riding. There are also huge remade battleships that circle a big lake that you can ride on. In addition, there are various statues of horses and warriors. It's like an old-time theme park!

Here is one of our students dressed as a warrior in the Three Kingdoms Park. At the end of our tour, it was a nice way to remember all that was in the park through a simple picture. It was interesting to see such a blend of the old and new. Although it was pricey to dress up, it was certainly worth it, as it created a lot of laughs and tons of awesome pictures and memories. Many of the Chinese tourists also flocked around, since it's not every day that you see a foreigner dressed in Chinese war gear!

It's Halloween in Beijing! You might think that people don't celebrate Halloween here, but they do. At night, you see lots of people in costumes parading around, checking out other people's costumes and hitting up some fun parties along the way. Many venues in Beijing will host costume contests as well. Just be sure to celebrate responsibly and safely!

Since most of us have different class schedules, we try to get together once in a while to do something fun. Here is our little group making homemade dumplings. They turned out to be quite delicious, and we had a blast making them. We didn't know what to do with the dough at first, but we eventually got it. We ended up not having enough to share since it was so delicious, so we made a quick dumpling run at the restaurant down the street!

It's easy to get homesick here. Some of us decorate our apartments with Christmas things to make it feel just like back at home. There are plenty of Christmas items sold here, just check your local Carrefour and stock up! Carrefour has great prices on seasonal items. They sell trees and decorations at low prices, but wrapping paper was not available.

It's important to spend time with others during Christmas, as we all know. Our group chose to do a Secret Santa gift exchange and have a pizza party at someone's apartment. It was a lot of fun watching Christmas movies with everyone. We also played Christmas music in the background to remind us of home. It's a great way to spend time together and make sure no one is left out on this important holiday.

The most important thing to remember is that we're all in this together, and that we will always have each other if anything goes wrong. We rely on each other when we need help or support. Since we are all going through the same kinds of stress, it's nice to have someone who can relate to your problems. Although we didn't know each other in the beginning, this journey has turned us into more than friends. Studying abroad together truly turns the CSU-IP group into a family.