When I signed the language pledge on day one, I made a promise: only Chinese, all day, every day. Every character was a rep, every assignment a set, and I studied my way through coffee shops all over Beijing, rating each one out of five stars. My politics and business courses were taught entirely in Chinese, and my one-on-one research dug into modern dating and why so few young Chinese are having kids — answers I found by interviewing locals myself.
The real growth, though, happened outside the classroom. I'd talk to anyone who would say hello — monks, aunties in the park, students in the library, a woman making tea in a Yunnan mountain village. Each conversation was a private lesson worth more than gold. I took the bullet train to Shanghai, biked around West Lake in Hangzhou, got lost in the tea mountains, played pick-up basketball with Tibetan and Uyghur students, and even talked my way into a free tour of Alibaba's headquarters after waiting at the gate for over an hour. Persistence works.
By the end, my teachers said my Chinese had improved tremendously. But the part I'll carry with me isn't a grade or a trip — it's that I loved who I was in China.

This past spring, I had the pleasure of studying abroad in Taiwan with Middlebury. . Much like most of the other kids in the program, I had never heard of Kaohsiung before, and so I wasn't sure what to expect from the city. I was met with a fully prepared educational curriculum and support system crafted and maintained by our wonderful teachers. I quickly adapted to a life spent going to the beach after morning classes, eating dinner at new places with classmates at night, and even drank 108 手搖飲 bubble teas (over the course of the entire program, of course). Aside from thoroughly enjoying the city, I was also fully satisfied with the academic portion of the program. The one-on-one tutorial class allowed me to fully delve into a topic of my choice, and the chance to do a internship with a news channel taught me more about Taiwanese culture and Kaohsiung's inner workings than I ever could've learned on my own. I felt my Mandarin skills improve in real time while I learned how to converse with locals. I made friends in the most unexpected places, even having long lovely conversations with small shop owners who let me feel warmth and friendliness of Taiwan. Overall, my time studying in Taiwan has been one of the most rewarding times of my life, giving me irreplaceable friendships and experiences that I will cherish for years to come. It truly does not take much to fall in love with this city.

The program was great for language learning abilities. It required us to speak Chinese at all times, so it really helped me learn Chinese and learn how to live in a non-Western city. However, the dorm life was challenging, and although it helped me navigate a campus, I did not get close with my roommate. I would have liked to have opportunities to acclimate more with the campus community. The professors were amazing and really cared about us.

As a language intensive, Middlebury China is probably one of the most challenging college level programs out there. Many of my peers felt the workload was often a little overwhelming, as we had to study a new Chinese lesson every two days. Although it says you are eligible to go on this program with two years of college level Chinese, it is strongly recommended that you partake in a summer intensive beforehand. The language pledge is taken quite seriously by most people, and everyone in the program my semester improved their Chinese greatly.
The teachers and staff on site are all friendly and extremely helpful, especially Lili, one of the main program coordinators.
The college is located in the cultural center of Kunming, and has many places you can walk or take a bus to quite easily.

I would recommend this program to people dedicated to improving their Chinese language skills, and/or interested in carrying out an individual research project in Chinese. The academics are manageable but perhaps relatively rigorous compared to other study abroad programs. Kunming is a great city, and the province of Yunnan is beautiful: mountainous, good air quality, amazing rice fields. I loved that the program offered lots of opportunity for and encouraged travel, which was relatively easy and affordable to do within and around China. Something special about my experience was that I joined a pick-up ultimate frisbee team based out of Kunming that was composed of some American ex-pats and some locals. I played with them once a week and even went to a few tournaments with them around the country. It was a really unique and fun experience for me to be introduced to the frisbee culture in China! It also helped with my language skills to spend so much time with locals.

Super amazing program, super dedicated/supportive teachers and staff, flexible curriculum, diverse options and activities. The program plans city exploration activities for students every week. Every experience was wonderful. We had one-on-one classes in which we could study any topic we choose. My language improved a lot thanks to the program's language intensity. Amazing housing; we lived in a hotel basically. Our roommates were local college students & we developed great friendships. The program also helped me find a internship, which expanded my professional interests in China too. I have learned and grown so much. Transformative semester.

My experience in Hangzhou last semester helped me grow and learn a lot about the Chinese culture, language, and myself. The Middlebury Language Schools is a very academically rigorous program and students must be prepared for this from the beginning. We all had a language pledge which helped immensely with language improvement. However, on the other hand, it also hindered the social scene. I felt isolated at times during this program, confined to my room and stuck doing my homework. We had week excursions, but they did not seem as relaxed and casual because teachers and program directors also came. I wish there had been more activities with the other local Chinese roommates and the other American students in the program as well. I felt very stressed because of the academics because the classes were very small and the pressure to perform well increased since the teachers' focus was on their very small class of students. I also personally put a lot of pressure on myself to do well and learn the language, but that hindered my social enjoyment of the overall experience. I finally found frisbee, a few people in my program played frisbee. We went to local fields in Hangzhou to practice with other players weekly. This made my experience so much better and I am very grateful for having that outlet during my time in China. It gave me exercise, a place to meet people, and a outlet from my stress. The teachers were very kind and patient and sweet and very good at teaching us Chinese. The food and transportation in China is very affordable.

Additionally, as an adoptee from China, I look Chinese. This made it hard for me to interact with local people because they always assumed I spoke fluent Chinese, especially when with other foreigners/white people. They always assumed I was their local translator and got confused and frustrated when it became apparent that I could not speak fluent Chinese. It made my lack of language skills feel more obvious than the other American students and foreigners there because it was deliberately pointed out and drawn to attention. They also (perhaps subconsciously) went easier on white or foreign looking people, thinking it was a feat just when they could say one or two phrases in Chinese. However, when I spoke, they thought it was just surprising I couldn't speak better and I was just speaking bad Chinese. It was also hard to explain, and for Chinese people to understand, my status as an adoptee from China who had two white parents and no relation to China, other than just being born there. They asked where my parents were from, assuming they had immigrated to the United States from China earlier, or something like that situation. However, it always got a little awkward when I had to explain they were white and I don't speak Chinese at home and they were born and raised in the United States.

Overall, this experienced made me grow as a person. It made me realize that I should not take my ability to speak English and communicate freely in the United States for granted. I developed more confidence in myself because I now know I can live and travel in China where I can barely speak the language, then I must be able to do well for myself in the country I grew up in and can fluently speak its language in.

I attended MIC Kunming in the fall of 2016 during my junior year of college. Overall, this program/experience was extremely transformative for me. It was my first time in China, and while culture shock was indeed a real thing for me, I quickly got over it and found myself calling Kunming home within no time. The program is very well-organized, and is truly designed to help you improve your Chinese. The language pledge, which seemed daunting at first, is designed to facilitate this, as well as having a Chinese roommate. In addition, the teachers are all extremely passionate and really want to see you do well. Kunming is a beautiful city, with SO much to do, from hiking, biking, and badminton, to museums, temples, and concerts. The cafeteria food at the university is decent, but the surrounding area has tons of great restaurants. It is worth noting, however, that the program is VERY academically rigorous. Having all four classes in a semester be entirely in Chinese is no doubt a big change from what most college students are used to for a normal course-load, and definitely takes some adjusting to at first. Be prepared to memorize lots of characters each week. With that said, simply being so immersed in Chinese 24/7 for a semester will have an incredible impact on your language skills, and you'll see improvement in no time