I'm not going to mince words: this program is hard. You will work hard every day, and you will finish every day exhausted both mentally and physically, and sometimes you'll think you won't be able to find the energy to make it through tomorrow. You'll have Chinese class followed by hours of kung fu class, and then a bit of time to snag a meal before you do your few hours of homework every day once you finally get back home to rest.
Then, all of a sudden, it's a month later and you're joking with the hotel staff in Chinese when you realize that you need new pants because your muscles got too big to fit into the ones you brought with you. And that is what Academic Explorers is all about.
I personally started the program with zero knowledge of Chinese, and others came in with no martial arts experience, and we all had a fantastic time learning from Sabrina and the other instructors. I've been studying Japanese for about 8 years now, and in terms of teaching quality, Sabrina blows all of my sensei out of the water. I learned so much Chinese so quickly I could hardly believe it. One other participant started the semester with zero Chinese, and learned enough that by the end he tested into 3rd year university-level Chinese classes and apparently had the best speaking and listening skills out of his whole class.
I grew up learning taekwondo from various instructors until I eventually found my current master, a student of the founder of the style that I practice, so I've had a lot of experience learning martial arts. From my experience, I've found that most "traditional" martial arts practiced in the US are inauthentic and poorly taught. The martial arts instructors on this program, however, are absolutely the real deal. All of them are exceptional, both as martial artists and as teachers. They were all very perceptive of each participant's strengths and weaknesses, and each one a very capable and adaptable teacher.
As far as living goes, Beijing is a wonderful city. Everything is cheap, food is delicious and healthy stuff is easy to find, the public transportation is surprisingly reliable, and the city itself is easily navigable. The hotel where you stay is located conveniently, roughly in between the martial arts school, the parks were you sometimes practice, and the Chinese classroom. There are several famous temples within walking distance, and plenty of hole-in-the-wall places that are worth looking for. It's tucked very close to a main road, so it's very easy and safe to get to, even at night. The rooms are surprisingly nice considering how cheap the rate is, and the staff became like a host family to us.
Honestly though, the best part of this program isn't learning Chinese or martial arts, or eating awesome food, or exploring an ancient city and culture. The best part is being overwhelmed with all of that at once, realizing exactly how hard it's going to be to do all of it at the same time, and then doing it anyway. I will admit, about 3 weeks into the program, there were about 2 days for each of us where all we wanted to do was give up, go home, and finally speak English for once. We persisted, and the rest of the program was perhaps the most consistently satisfying experience we'd ever had. Every minute of studying and every drop of sweat shed led to us improving faster and faster; if someone had told me everything I'd be able to do after I finished my semester before I actually did it, I wouldn't have believed him.
The bottom line is: if you want a vacation, look elsewhere. If you want to improve yourself, I can't recommend this program enough. I personally wish I could take another semester off just to do it again!
