Author: Maia Moore

Location: Study Center – Hangzhou, China

“But where are you really from?”

This was the second sentence out of someone’s mouth after knowing me for about 30 seconds. He was Ghanaian and Lebanese, so I was a little surprised he asked this. I’ve been asked this question numerous times since I arrived here by Chinese people and other foreigners alike, but this is the first time I had been asked this from someone who was also black.

“What do you mean?”, I asked him.

“You are black American, but where is your real country?”, he replied.

“I don’t know”, I said, not really wanting to get into the 300+ years of history that black people have with the US.

Even though this isn’t the first (nor will it be the last) time I’ve been confronted by this, I thought more about this than I have before since I came to China. When I think about where my “real” country is, of course, I think of the United States. However, for some reason, others don’t seem to see it that way. When making small talk with taxi drivers, they will ask where I am from and when I say “USA”, every time, they will say “Really?” or say “But where are your parents from?” Even one of my Chinese professors asked me this on the first day of class.

I didn’t expect to come here and have to defend my “Americanness” on what seems like a daily basis. I also realize I can’t expect everyone to know the US’s history and the complicated ideas of identity that we have there. However, it can be frustrating to be asked this regularly especially when your white, American counterparts are never asked this.

This trip has made me think a lot on what I means to be American, what it means to be black, and what it means to be black in America. I may have to defend my background frequently, but if anything, I think it has made me take more pride in my identity and heritage. It’s odd that I’m discovering more about my identity in China of all places, but study abroad involves a lot of self-discovery.

Author: Tiffany Luehrs

Program: Hangzhou, China – Study Center

Yes, class on a Sunday.  The opening ceremony for the school year was on Wednesday September 14^th but classes did not start that day nor the next because of the Mid-Autumn Festival that took place September 15-17.  In America, most holidays are observed on a Monday even if the holiday occurs on the weekend but in China, they celebrate holidays on the exact day.  This means that you might have to make up for having days off during the week like we had to.  The Mid-Autumn Festival fell on the 15^th and while we got three days off, we had to make up for the missed classes by beginning our semester on a Sunday.  But I was more than ready to get started after what had seemed like a never ending summer!

The first day was the usual syllabus day with the overview of the semester, the professor’s expectations, and of course the awkward but necessary icebreakers all in Chinese.  The class I had that day, 精读 (jing du – intensive reading/grammar) is somewhat like our homeroom class and our jingdu professor also serves as an academic advisor.  We have jingdu every day except for one, and our jingdu professor keeps us updated on campus activities, holidays, elective courses, class trips, etc.

With the exception of the first day of school, I normally have two 90 minute classes per day with a break in between.  Everyday I have class at 8am except for Tuesdays when my first class begins at 1pm.  Instead of just one main Chinese class that meets everyday I take four separate courses that often overlap in topics, grammar patterns, and vocabulary.  The Chinese courses I am taking include 精读 (jingdu)，阅读 (yuedu – reading) ，听力 (tingli – listening comprehension)，and 口语 (kouyu – oral).  The way that our classes are split up allow us to focus and gain a deep understanding of each aspect of communicating in and comprehending Chinese.  In addition to the intensive Chinese language courses, I am also taking the Environmental Biology of China course and the Chinese Culture and Civilization course taught by our Valpo program director.

The campus is much livelier than we when we first arrived in Hangzhou now that classes are in session and I have met students from all over the world from places such as Germany, Russia, Scotland, England, Romania, Korea, Japan, and Thailand.  Apart from classes, I usually spend my days going on runs by West Lake, studying at nearby cafes, eating out with friends, roaming around Hangzhou, and playing soccer with the boys (in the process of recruiting other girls to join).  The first couple weeks have flown by and I look forward to seeing what else the semester has in store!

-Tiffany

Author: Tiffany Luehrs

Program: Hangzhou Study Center – China

I have spent Thanksgivings in Mongolia, Indonesia, Japan, and a few other countries due to my overseas upbringing, so having Thanksgiving in a different country was not the strangest part. But not being with my family during this holiday was definitely odd. Instead, I spent Thanksgiving in Shanghai with my new family, the Valparaiso Study Abroad cohort.

Sitting around a table with my peers and professor with plates filled with the Thanksgiving essentials of turkey, stuffing, and potatoes, and partaking in laughter filled conversation, it felt like Thanksgiving even if I was thousands of miles away from my family in America. I am thankful for our mini Thanksgiving celebration as a study abroad family and grateful for the opportunity to study in China for the semester.

Author: Maia Moore

Hangzhou Food Fest

Program: Hangzhou, China – Study Center 

The First International Food Festival took place in Hangzhou this past weekend. There were foods from India, Mexico, Thailand, and many other places. Hangzhou, unsurprisingly, is home to many expats from all over the world. These expats bring along with them the knowledge of food from their homelands, so many restaurants here serve foreign food. However, many restaurants that specialize in these foreign foods have Chinese owners and staff.

Simba Waffles

Of course, for my first stop, I had to get food from home. I stopped at the stall of Charcoal Bar and Grill, a local restaurant that specializes in American cuisine. They were serving barbecue chicken drumsticks, good old fashioned burgers, and hot dogs. I bought a drumstick and immediately was transported back home. It had all the right flavors and spices. It turns out that Charcoal is owned by someone Chinese, but he seems to know what he’s doing. My next few stops included a fresh roll from a French bread shop, chicken wings from Thailand, and a pizza roll from Italy.

Thai Cuisine

I like Chinese food, but not having an American home-cooked meal in two months can be tough. I came to China expecting to have food different from American food. However, I had no idea that I would have the opportunity to try so many different foods!

-Maia

Author: Tiffany Luers

Program: Hangzhou, China – Study Center 

Often when you visit a new country you hit all the tourist spots. And while those sites are important to see, sometimes it is also worthwhile to get away from the tourist traps and see some of the lesser known and more authentic areas.  I had the opportunity to do just that during our time in Xian.  While we did all the tourist activities such as biking on the city wall, visiting the Wild Goose Pagoda, and gawking at the Terracotta Warriors, it was a nice change of pace to spend a day visiting a dairy farm a few hours out of the city of Xian.

Xian is filled with the richest coal reserves in China, contributing to the lower air quality within the city.  In addition, Xian is surrounded by mountains, and while the mountains add to the feng shui, the pollution and dust is trapped and sits in the city.  The air at the farm was noticeably fresher than in the city of Xian although there was an evident trace of cow manure and corn mixed in the air.

The dairy farm belonged to Li Zhi also known by his American name, Bruce Lee.  14 years ago he knew nothing about cows.  His father had oxen so he knew how to raise oxen, but raising cows is a whole different venture.  Yet, Bruce persevered and learned through trial and error how to successfully run a dairy farm.  He began with around 16 cows and today tends to approximately 500 cows.  One of the ways he was able to successfully run his farm was by researching farming methods utilized in other countries.  On his dairy farm he uses tactics from Australian farmers and technology that efficiently milks each cow 3 times a day for 5 minutes each.  He also gave us a tour of his gardens, where he grows a variety of fruits and vegetables. We learned that the irrigation system he uses for his strawberry fields was inspired by irrigation methods used in Israel.

Lunch was a delicious assortment of dishes made from ingredients grown on the farm.  We also tried creamy milk and sweet yogurt courtesy of Bruce’s cows.  Well fed and more knowledgeable about farming in China, we headed back to the city of Xian.