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Learning Chinese was the highlight of my time at ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾. Without prior experience learning the language, I took my first Chinese class during my sophomore year with Professor Cui and Professor Jia. At that time, I came to appreciate both how challenging and rewarding studying Chinese could be.

After attending the Princeton in Beijing online summer program in the summer after my junior year through the Goldsmith Adams Research Fellowship, I served as a Chinese Learning Assistant for Elementary Chinese and pursued an independent study with Professor Xie in my senior year. These opportunities gave me the chance to share my enthusiasm for learning Chinese with people who reminded me of myself when I first began studying, and to advance my professional Chinese language abilities. I had the opportunity to further my language study after graduating from ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾ through the U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarship in Tainan, Taiwan. My Chinese skills ultimately helped me gain acceptance to the Yenching Academy at Peking University in Beijing, where I will pursue a Master of Law in China Studies and Politics & International Relations as a member of the seventh cohort. ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾'s Chinese Program faculty are uniquely invested in students' success, and spend countless hours working with students to hone their speaking and listening skills. I am incredibly grateful to them for supporting my Chinese studies beyond what I could have imagined.

Coming to ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾ after a gap year in India, I found a welcome refuge in the Chinese language program. While the 8 am classes were grueling at times, my professors always made learning Chinese engaging and fun. Though challenging, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾'s Chinese language courses are fast-paced, and my skills improved quickly and dramatically. 

The professors are always available to help and are extremely supportive of language learners. I am fortunate to have developed close relationships with my Asian Studies professors, and they helped me take advantage of opportunities outside of ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾, including the State Department's Critical Language Studies scholarship and Middlebury College's Advanced Chinese Language School. The Chinese program at ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾ is filled with professors who are willing to go the extra mile to help students, and who foster an inclusive environment for students and faculty alike to share their love for the Chinese language.

Studying Chinese language at ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾ was both a challenging and a rewarding experience. My classes at ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾ have improved both my conversational and professional Chinese speaking skills, and have vastly expanded my ability to read and write in Mandarin. The Chinese Department has also helped me to take advantage of some incredible opportunities off campus, including a Chinese speaking competition in Boston, a Middlebury study abroad program in Kunming, and a summer internship in Kunming. Furthermore, the Chinese Department is a close-knit community that allows students to develop close relationships with professors and classmates.

My paternal grandparents immigrated from Southern China to Thailand. Even though they do not speak Mandarin Chinese, I grew up with Chinese characters, culture, folklores, and stories from my grandparents' childhood. Despite this environment, I often said that I am simply "Thai" and nothing else. I never fully grasped the "Chinese side" and how it has informed and shaped me as a person.

My whole family is from Shanghai—one of my goals coming to ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾ was to learn Chinese. As a kid, I grew up speaking Shanghainese, but never really learned how to speak Mandarin or write in Chinese. I've been taking Chinese for the past 3 years and my Chinese has really improved! It's been one of the defining parts of my ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾ education.

My Chinese skills helped me find an internship at a venture capital firm and land a job at a Chinese real estate company in Shanghai and Hong Kong. I wanted to learn a new language at ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾—one that would be challenging and that would open up doors in the future.