Julie from Denmark spent her exchange in China

I spent 10 months in northern China, in Hebei province, and I don’t think I could’ve asked for a better experience.

Why did I choose China?

The reason I chose to do an exchange year in China was because I wanted to try something different from the classical exchange countries, meet new people, and improve my Mandarin.

School life in China

School life in China is totally different from what I was used to in Denmark. The first period would start at 8 am, and the last period would end at 5:25 pm. Then there was something I was definitely not used to, which was evening self-study, which would last from 7 pm to 8:30 pm. Even though the school days were long, it wasn’t that hard. The lessons were mostly focused on learning Chinese, and the teachers would incorporate fun games into the learning.

Besides Chinese classes, we would also have other fun, creative subjects like tai chi, kung fu, Chinese calligraphy, dance, and music.

Life on campus

In China, students live in dormitories at the school, which I also did. I lived in the dormitory on the weekends with two other exchange students, which was really fun because I got to learn about their culture too. The dormitory was nice overall and had all the necessities needed. Instead of a host family, we had a dormitory auntie who would care for us, make sure our rooms were clean, and make sure we were all home before curfew.

My host family

On the weekends and during holidays, I stayed with my host family, which consisted of my host mom, host dad, host sister, and a little dog. They were very welcoming and took me to travel to many different cities. Communicating wasn’t hard since my host sister was pretty good at English, and in that way, I could help her practice her English, while she would help me practice my Chinese.

Friends

Making friends wasnt hard since I was in a class with 14 other exchange students, which made it a lot easier because we were all in the same boat. Making friends with the Chinese students wasn’t hard either, since they were all very interested in speaking to us and learning about foreign cultures.

Travels

On my exchange, I also went on many different trips. I ended up visiting 12 different provinces with the school, my friends, and my host family. Since China is so big, there are many cultural differences for each province, and my travels gave me a pretty good understanding of these differences.

Highlights of my year

I had so many good memories that it’s hard to choose my favorite, but if I had to name some, it would be my trips during Chinese New Year, when we had one month off. My host family took me to their hometown in the far north of China, and a week later, I went to the far south of China. The following month, I just spent travelling. I ended up visiting 4 provinces and 7 cities. That was definitely the best month of my life.