On this past Tuesday, November 27th, TBC brought together the Beijing expat and young professionals community along with host organizations to discuss the significance and characteristics of a successful internship program and celebrate the achievements of TBC student interns at our semester internship showcase.
On Sunday, November 25th, TBC held its 20th Anniversary and Thanksgiving Gala to celebrate 20 years of promoting mutual understanding between China and the West through friendship, research, and exchange.
So this past Thursday was actual Thanksgiving Day, and to be honest with you all, it didn’t really feel like Thanksgiving. In the days leading up to Turkey Day, I was feeling less homesick than I thought, most likely because I wasn’t being bombarded with the fact that Thanksgiving was quickly coming up (I made it a point not to check social media for awhile, knowing full well that seeing Thanksgiving food videos and ads would make the homesickness worse).
I grew up in a Buddhist Vietnamese family. As a child, I went to the closest Buddhist temple to my house every Sunday to sit and listen to the morning chants and teachings alongside my family before attending Vietnamese school for a few hours. I grew up wearing necklaces with little Buddha carvings and prayer beads around my wrist. I was raised with Buddhist traditions, and I was told that whenever I felt unsafe, unsettled, or just not right, I should pray to the Buddha. Doing so would calm my rapid heartbeats and my noisy mind. So it was natural for Buddhism to become the belief that I would call my religion for a good part of my childhood.
In its online ads, The Beijing Center promises to take students to the China they weren’t expecting. That has certainly been true for me as an openly gay man studying abroad in Beijing.
I had an expectation, when I decided to study abroad in China, that I was going to travel all over Asia. It was unrealistic because I neglected the fact that I was a part of a STUDY abroad and that I had classes during the week. However, I didn’t want classes to hinder my desire to see as much of China as possible. Also, the Beijing Center purposefully schedules classes Monday-Thursday and gives you three days off for travel and internships.
The decision to study abroad is not always easy. There is more to it than applying to a program. You are faced with the reality of being immersed in a culture that differs from your own. Maybe the language is different, the food, the style, the etiquette…
By Alexa L., Stonehill College, TBC Fall 2018 Student
In China, the first week of October is the National Holiday. Many businesses and schools close for the week. Given this free time, some of my friends and I planned a 6-day trip to Seoul, South Korea!
Step 1: LOGISTICS
When I first saw the recruitment article for Chinese Roommates (CR) by The Beijing Center (TBC) in my WeChat Moments feed, little did I know that it was going to be an experience that would completely change my college life. TBC’s semester study abroad program provides its students with the option to live with a local Chinese Roommate, an experience which I’m proud to say in most cases, ends up becoming the student’s favorite part of their semester in Beijing.
The first week of October is the Mid-Autumn Festival in China, a national week-long holiday.
Our TBC students utilized this period to explore distant destinations across Asia. In the end, our TBCers settled in 5 locations: Bangkok, Tongling, Shanghai, Seoul, and Palawan & El Nido. A member from each expedition describes the logistics of their travels below.