#beijingnormaluniversity

China exchange provides experience of a lifetime

Danielle Franklin, a junior at Bloomsburg University, spent her fall semester studying abroad at Beijing Normal University in China. 

“I can honestly say I had the best experience in China,” shares Franklin, a double major in business administration finance and Chinese. While in Beijing, she took three classes and spent her weekends traveling and exploring the Chinese culture.

For Franklin, the best way to enhance and practice her Chinese skills were to speak as much of the language as possible. Immersing herself into the culture improved her skills and helped her connect with the people she met there. 

“Going to China, you can definitely expect to have some culture shock,” she expresses. “However, since I was in a major city, I found a lot of similarities to the United States.”

BNU helped to arrange events and trips once a month, all of which were affordable for a college student studying abroad. Franklin went to the Great Wall of China, saw a Beijing opera show and took a trip to Hunan. She was even able to visit Mongolia thanks to a travel agency for tourists in the city.

“If there’s one piece of advice I could give anyone thinking about studying abroad would be, be flexible. Do not expect to go abroad and have every country be like the United States,” suggests Franklin.  

The day she arrived, Franklin was dropped off at the dorms and remembers looking around at scooters driving on the sidewalk and realized cars didn’t yield to pedestrians the way they do in the United States. This was just one of the culture changes that she had to get used to. 

“Go into it open minded and you’ll have the experience of a lifetime.”

Not only was Franklin able to learn new things, but she also made new friends, ate great food and got to experience an entirely different way of living. 

“If someone gave me the opportunity to go back right now, I would return in a heartbeat.” 

After graduation, Franklin hopes to work for a company that either has a branch in China, or regularly does business with them so she can utilize the skills she gained in Beijing.

  — Danielle Backowski, mass communications major 

Beijing Normal University