CIEE Intensive Chinese Language + Culture in Nanjing, China

My biggest advice is to check your visa. When I received my first visa it was a single entry into China, but I wanted to go to South Korea and Japan for spring break so once I was in China I had it switched. Since my Chinese was not very good and the roommate that was translating did not know the English words for the translation, I received a brand new type of visa. This ended in a huge misunderstanding, causing me to overstay in China for 24 days and pay a fine of roughly $2,000 to leave the country.

Another piece of advice I would give is don't over stress. With this program comes a lot of homework and is very fast paced. There were a few times that the stress caused me to become sick and I would hope that no one else puts themselves in that kind of situation.

Classes started at 8 am and went till noon Monday through Thursday, but since I was in a Nanjing International University class, one of my classes was Monday through Friday. Normally, the CIEE group would meet up and go out for lunch, then after we would usually study, hang out, and then go out for dinner.

On nights where we all did not have a lot of homework we would go in the group study room and watch movies on the big TV. On Mondays, those who chose to be in the non-credit classes would have Taichi and/or Calligraphy courses. Those classes would go from 1 pm to 4 pm.

On Wednesday from 2-4 pm, we would go to the elementary school and teach. Friday would be the group field trips around Nanjing. Our teachers would plan these for us and pay for it too. Then on the weekend, we would do one of three things: studying and just exploring/shopping around the city, go out with a few of the roommates, or most commonly, we would go on weekend trips to nearby areas.

My biggest fear was going to China which is a communist country. I was told by family and friends here that I need to be careful there. Plus my Chinese was bad and I was scared I wouldn't be able to survive.
Once I arrived in China the most enjoyable part was learning the language through ordering food and conversations with locals. When it comes to Communism, I honestly did not notice it until I tried to get on social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. In the end, not having access to these things allowed to get away from my phone and enjoy China more.

Transportation: In Nanjing and most major cities, there are subways which are very affordable and most times you can buy a metro card which makes it even cheaper. Unfortunately, metro cards are limited to each city and can not be used in other cities. They also have Uber, taxis, and public buses. Also, most cities have an airport or an airport nearby. I suggest using the bullet train for shorter distances mainly because its cheaper and you see more of the country.

Phone/Social Networking: Most phones are universally unlocked which means when you get to China you can buy a SIM card and just pay a monthly fee. The CIEE Nanjing program helps you get a Chinese SIM card and pay for it. In the event that your phone is not unlocked, the teachers help you buy a Chinese phone. In China, most people know that Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. are blocked and you have to use a VPN to get around it. I suggest using Express VPN - some of my friends used Nordic and they didn't have too many problems. You can find more information on them on their websites, they're pretty affordable also.

Wechat: Wechat is the social networking app of China. It is kind of like Facebook, Messenger, Twitter, and Instagram all in one. On Wechat, you can also use it to pay people who also have Wechat, buy items online, or even order food and other services.

Banking: CIEE Nanjing will help with setting up bank accounts, but once you have a Chinese bank card you can attach it to Wechat and Alipay (another app that allows you to buy and sell goods) which allows you to basically buy everything. China is more of a cash based society. Not a lot of restaurants take cards, but all places take cash and or Wechat and Alipay. When it comes to taking cash out only some banks take international cards, the ones I used were ICBC and China Construction Bank.

Food: Food in China is super cheap and very easy to get at all times. They have regular restaurants, but the best and cheapest places to get food are the "mom and pop" restaurants that are scattered all over the place. Most major cities have a "snack street" which is all of those local foods. Also at night around when it gets dark, all the night street food or "stick food" and street noodles are available.

Study Culture: In China school is very important and comes first in most cases. Be ready for a lot of studying and hard work in general. All the teachers and roommates are very passionate about their studies and futures.

Chinese Culture: Chinese culture is similar, but also very different in many ways. One of the best parts about traveling is learning the culture yourself, so I won't say much about it. Although I will say for me there were some things that I did not understand, but you learn to respect and sometimes compare their culture to your own. Which is another fun part about studying abroad.

Culture shock: Culture shock is different for everyone, so I can't really speak about it. It all depends on where you come from and how you feel in certain situations. For me, most of the culture shock was when I came back to America.

Language: As a side note, me and most of my friends did not speak English a lot during the day in China. When you end up coming back from China your English will probably be very unstable. For me, it was the grammar. Sometimes Chinese grammar can be the complete opposite from ours. So, often times I found myself using English words, but Chinese grammar. Also, my friends and I were constantly forgetting words for certain situations or just objects in general. At first it's awkward and embarrassing, but ends up being just another part of the experience!