Past Review

By (COMPUTER AND INFORMATION SCIENCES AND SUPPORT SERVICES., Wellesley College) for

CET Shanghai

What did you gain/learn from your experience abroad? Was it worthwhile?
I definitely gained self-confidence in my Chinese. I gained a lot of great friends. Finally was in a co-ed environment. Had LOTS AND LOTS of fun. Shanghai is a great city. I gained confidence in general too and understanding of another culture and gained a greater international perspective. I met so many international people. It was awesome.

Review Photos

CET Academic Programs: Shanghai  -  Chinese Studies and Internship Photo

Personal Information

If you took classes at multiple universities, list those universities here: Donghua University
How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? 0-2 weeks

Review Your Program

* Overall educational experience

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

Chinese is very much memorization. They throw a lot of vocab at you every day. Dictation every week, and one final at the end. Other classes were fairly laid. LOTS of presentations. Quizzes nearly every class. No finals!

* Host Country Program Administration

On-site administration of your program

He's really great. His suggestions for food aren't the best but he's so laidback and he does work fairly hard.

* Housing:

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

International Dorm. VERY CONVENIENT LOCATION. Right by the subway. Food around the area is not so good though. Lived with Chinese roommates. <br /><br /> It was safe, very convenient location. We were basically in the middle of Shanghai. Rooms were smaller than what I'd expected but comfortable. We were definitely better accomodated than local students.

* Food:

Cafeteria is really cheap but gets old after a while. Local food is fairly decent (mostly cheap) but also gets old. I recommend going out on weekends to eat. There are so many places you can eat at that are delicious and cheap. Dingxi Lu is a fairly good location for food. Lots of Cantonese

* Social & Cultural Integration:

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

Field trips were fairly fun...the beach trip was kinda fail but our program people are GREAT. It depends on the people in your program. History field trips were great cuz of our professor.

* Health Care:

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

* Safety:

I always felt safe. People ALL people, including bus drivers, drive like mad men. Be careful on that respect, but otherwise...China's way safer than cities in the US.

If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? Yes

Finances

* Money: How easily were you able to live on a student's budget?

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? each day food is $10-$20 max unless you're going to extravagance. Many days it was less. It's SO CHEAP IN CHINA.
Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? BARGAIN BARGAIN BARGAIN. It's in the blood. Esp if you go to Qipulu, which you should. Don't do more than 100 kuai for anything IMO. If you get to travel around China, esp. Guangzhou, clothes are way cheaper.

Language

* Did your program have a foreign language component? Yes
How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? Beginner
What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? 204 - Intermediate
If applicable, to what degree did your living situation aid your language acquisition?

Language acquisition improvement?

Because there is no language pledge, it's easy to not speak Chinese, BUT DO IT. It will be so much better for your language skills. Speak with the roommates! Go to local restaurants. Don't spend all your time with foreign people or in foreign places.

Other Program Information

* Where did you live?

Select all that apply

  • Dorm
* Who did you live with?

Select all that apply

  • Americans
  • International Students
  • Local Students
* Who did you take classes with?

Select all that apply

  • Americans

A Look Back

* What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? Work hard, play harder.

Individual Course Reviews

Course Name/Rating:

500 Level Chinese

Course Department:
Instructor: Ba Lao Shi
Instruction Language: Chinese
Comments: Challenging because I was put up a level. It was really good though. We improved a fair amount. I don't know if the constant dictation really helped. I'd prefer to learn less vocabulary really well than learn more vocabulary but forget it. The good thing is there was vocab that repeated lots.
Credit Transfer Issues:
Course Name/Rating:

Issues in the Workplace

Course Department:
Instructor: Jeremy
Instruction Language: English
Comments: Not a difficult course. Some interesting readings...very laidback, we'll say that. Quizzes every class on reading.
Credit Transfer Issues:
Course Name/Rating:

History of Shanghai

Course Department:
Instructor: Si Lao Shi
Instruction Language: English
Comments: Si Lao Shi is awesome. She's so much fun. Class is not that difficult, there might be a lot of reading though. Presentations and reading quizzes every class. FUN and REALLY GOOD field trips. GO.
Credit Transfer Issues: