By Alisa Chokshi (V)
This past summer, I was fortunate to receive a National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y) scholarship from the US State Department for a language and cultural immersion program in China. NSLI-Y’s goal is to help prepare American citizens to be leaders in a global world by helping students gain critical language skills and cultural knowledge to promote communication between countries. The Chinese language has always fascinated me with its complex characters and tones. As an aspiring polyglot, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to learn it.
I became part of a group with 27 other teenagers who turned into family over the course of six weeks.
The program offered the unique chance to communicate with Chinese people from all walks of life, such as the ones I met and befriended on domestic flights, my host family, teachers, peer tutors, the elderly, young children, shopkeepers, and waiters.
From climbing the Great Wall to swooning over cute pandas, from having a traditional farm lunch in the countryside to crashing Chinese weddings, I was truly immersed in the local Chinese culture, an experience unlike anything I could have imagined.
My excitement made my host family appreciate their culture even more. Wednesday was my favorite day of the week because we had morning language classes and then spent the rest of the day on a cultural excursion to usually do community service. I volunteered at a kids’ summer camp, helped out at senior citizen centers, and taught young children English.
On one particular Wednesday we went to Huang Long Xi, a famous ancient town that has a river flowing through it. There were hundreds of Chinese people playing around in the water, and my friend and I tried to stay away to avoid getting soaked. Unfortunately, this was not so easy. As my friend was taking a picture of me, a man came up behind us and soaked us with a bucket of water. We were annoyed, but at the same time, we realized we were getting the authentic experience.
Among my favorite times were the weekends when my host family and I would go on long road trips to a different cities, exploring their history and culture. Overall, I went to six different cities over the course of six weeks. In the end, I was in tears at the Chengdu airport. Saying goodbye to my host mother and sister was so difficult.
I have a lot to think about now that I’m back in America.
During the first week in Chengdu, I remember hearing a thought-provoking statement during our visit to the US Consulate. A representative had told us that the relations between two countries are built on people-to-people interactions more so than exchanges between media, government, etc., and I remember thinking that this concept was so simple yet so powerful.
After finishing my program, I can now say with certainty that the people-to-people interactions I had with Chinese people were the most rewarding part of my experience. Whether it was joking around with my Chinese friends, having meaningful discussions with my host family, or simply bargaining with shopkeepers in Chinese, I broke down many stereotypes and gained a true appreciation for China and its deep culture.