Courtney PARRINDER

University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia
Exchange to Fujian Normal University, China

I am currently completing my Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in International Relations and Politics, with my minor in Japanese, at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia. I was fortunate enough to find out about an exchange opportunity to Fuzhou, China while at a Global Opportunities (GO Program) information session for exchange opportunities being offered to Japan, China, and Korea. I initially intended to gather information about opportunities available in Japan since I had intended to major in Japanese and International Business at the time. Instead, I was pleased to discover that not only was there an opportunity for me to study in Japan, but an opening to study for one semester in China as well. I had always wanted to visit China. In primary school and early high school, I studied Mandarin with some success. I had always enjoyed studying languages and had dreamed of being able to speak a foreign language in the country itself.

At the time, I never thought my program would allow me the option to study both the Japanese and Chinese languages, so I dismissed my dream. Upon hearing about this chance to be an exchange student in China, I was extremely excited, but was also confronted with the problem of funds. Fortunately, I was given a Cheung Kong Endeavour scholarship which financed my exchange study in terms of food, shelter, and educational expenses.

Life in Fuzhou was very different from anything I had ever experienced in Australia. On the one hand, I had prepared myself for the culture shock; on the other, I was not prepared for life in a big bustling city. The Sunshine Coast is hardly a city, let alone a busy one. Food was also a complete surprise to me. I was so used to what I thought was “Chinese food” in Australia that I thought it would be the same in China. How wrong was I. I now prefer genuine Chinese food and back home in Australia I miss the taste of it and also the ambience of eating in a ‘local’ Chinese restaurant.

Fujian Normal University, my Chinese university, was separated into new and old campuses. I studied at the old campus. Although the part of the old campus where I studied was showing its age, it was beautiful, unique, and had a quaint feel about it. I often saw people taking wedding photos in the gardens. I am used to studying at a small campus, since the University of the Sunshine Coast is fairly small, compared to campuses in Brisbane, for example. But this part of the Fujian university campus was very tiny, consisting of only three buildings. However, later in my exchange, I discovered that the part of the university in which I was situated was only a small section of the whole university. My classroom and class size were small as well. This enabled me to develop my language skills more easily, as smaller classes allowed more intimate personal interaction between teachers and pupils. My teachers were very helpful and offered me a lot of support. They were all very understanding and friendly.

One of the most valuable assets that I gained from studying in China was not just the language skills I acquired, but the insight I received from living there and submersing myself fully into a culture completely unlike my own. I came out the other end of the exchange a better person for having taken part in it. Being in China opened my eyes to the possibilities out in the world as a whole and I feel that this was the most important part of the exchange. This will be something that I will cherish for the rest of my life.

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