My experience at UIC in China

During my time in China, I have learned a lot of Chinese both in Putonghua and Cantonese. I have met a number of new friends from around the world expanding my horizon. What I like about UIC is the WPE course. I took the course called Emotional Intelligence where I got to learn Taichi, meditation and how to be in control of my emotion. It is different from a normal PE course that I have had before as the main focus of this course is your state of mind. Tachi is also very fun and interesting as I have only heard about Tachi in the Chinese textbook. Another memorable experience for me is the UICC club. I joined this club at the beginning of the term and we went out to a small school in Tangjia area to teach children English. I have always wanted to be a teacher so this experience was so amazing. I was afraid that our language barrier would be a problem for the children to learn English, but it was not. I found out that the more I taught them the more I am confident to speak Chinese. I have found out that teachers play such an important role for children’s motivation in studying.  I have realised that adaptation to different cultures helps people to open their hearts and minds. The most important tool to understand one’s culture is empathy. I have seen and encountered with many unexpected situations which those difficulties helped me to become a stronger and a better person.