Name: Robert Karnick
Location: Beijing, China
Program: Peking Exchange- Terry
Date Published: 3/16/2016
Link: https://medium.com/@BigBobInBeijing
My First Weeks at PKU
It’s been three weeks now since I began classes at Peking University, and so far it’s definitely been a fascinating transition. Although at first I was overwhelmed by the environment and all the new challenges it had to offer, over time I’ve come to realize that college over here in China isn’t so different from college in the U.S. after all. Though the campus, student body, and even the local language may be different, at the end of the day we’re all just students looking to expand our minds
My favorite part of attending PKU so far has been the class format and schedule. Back in the States, my classes were all between 50 and 75 minutes long, and I almost always had several per day. Over here at PKU, however, the classes are all 3 hours long, and only meet once a week. This new format, though hard to adjust to at first, has ended up giving me much more free time than I had back at UGA. By condensing a week’s worth of material into a single lecture, I don’t waste nearly as much time getting to class and commuting between classes. Now, I have all the time I want to get acquainted with the campus, explore the city, and involve myself in extracurricular activities.
On the other hand, there have definitely been some major challenges since I arrived here, and the greatest of those would have to be the language barrier. I understood before coming to China that the general populace was not conversational in English, but it still amazes me just how difficult it is for me to carry out everyday tasks using my limited Chinese. Even university staff members and fellow students here at PKU don’t all speak perfect English, but with a little patience and a lot of translation help from my bi-lingual classmates, I’ve managed to survive over here so far. If anything, these experiences have made me extremely respectful of anyone who makes the effort of moving to a foreign country and learning a new language. It’s truly difficult to empathize with this struggle until you’ve done it yourself.
