The Alliance: Alumni Network

Everything that I did abroad was either suggested by the program director and the assistant director or stemmed from their suggestions. They really have your best interests in mind and want you to have the best experience. They are the best resource for learning what fun activities can be had.

I loved shopping and haggling and walking around the city trying to find new places to eat and explore. I loved the food and although I had my favorites I always tried to find new cuisines.

Hui Min Jie is honestly my favorite place in Xi'an. The food is great, the people are friendly and it's a great place to learn to haggle and practice speaking.

The best thing about the Xi'an study abroad was the fact that they pair you up with a Chinese roommate, forcing you to practice your Chinese. The hardest part was that many of these Chinese students were very bright and therefore already spoke English fairly well. Because of this it takes self-control to make sure you don't "cheat" and speak English with these students. It's difficult, but The Alliance program promotes it strongly and encourages students to interact together so that you learn as much as possible. The Alliance program also has incrediable Chinese teachers. I've never been worked so hard in my life! Every day there was a quiz, then a review of the chapter with questions in Chinese and a in depth discussion.