Grace Bingham – UW Intensive Chinese Language in Tianjin, China
Vitals: Junior, Chinese Language and French Language.
Goals: My main personal and academic goal is to improve my Chinese language skills while abroad. However, I also would love to gain a better cultural understanding of China in order to improve my conversational and translational skills with people of Chinese heritage. A more personal goal of mine is to become more independent and take more risks to push myself out of my comfort zone.
Motivation: I chose to travel to China primarily because I want to better my Chinese language skills for both academic purposes and translation purposes. However, more than that, I wanted to go somewhere I had never been before and push the limits that have been set by living in my home country.
Previous Overseas Travel: I previously went to France and Monaco for ten days the summer going into my last year of high school.
Cait Gibbons – UW Intensive Chinese Language, Tianjin, China
Vitals: Math Major, Chinese Professional Communication Certificate
Goals: First and foremost, I hope further develop my Chinese language skills and gain a cultural and social understanding of the country. Amongst classes and schoolwork, I plan to travel to different parts of China, and I am committed to not shying away from any new experiences
Motivation: I have been to China twice before and loved it more with each passing day. I can’t wait to spend a more significant amount of time in the country, and I am thrilled that I have the opportunity to go to a city I haven’t been to before to gain a new cultural experience. I love traveling abroad because there is so much to be gained from getting outside of the little Midwest bubble I too often get caught up in. I have learned so much about the world in my classes at UW so far, but nothing compares to going out to experience the world for myself.
Previous overseas travel: Japan, England, France, Iceland, China
Joy Nuelle – UW Intensive Chinese Language, Tianjin, China
Vitals: Chinese Language, Computer Science
Goals: I am eager to improve my Chinese and to connect with a culture that is so different from my own. I am also going to push past the barrier of being a Chinese American learning Chinese, and have an open mind ready to learn at all times.
Motivation: I am adopted from Beijing and staying in Tianjin (which is only 30 minutes away) is a great opportunity! I have also never been to Tianjin, and am excited to explore a new city this summer.
Previous overseas travel: China(Beijing, Guangzhou, Chengdu), Guatemala, Mexico
Elizabeth Somsen – UW Intensive Chinese Language, Tianjin China
Vitals: Sophomore Fall ‘18; Genetics & Genomics Major, Biology Core Curriculum Certificate
Goals: I hope to use my time abroad to become more comfortable speaking and writing Mandarin Chinese, while also figuring out how to fit into a culture completely different from my own. I want to end this program being as “at home” in Madison/English as I am in Tianjin/Mandarin.
Motivation: Chinese proficiency is a valuable skill, and one that I believe will be important as I enter the job market. I also think that my study abroad experience will be a really enriching time in my life, and I plan on taking advantage of everything China has to offer to learn more about its history and culture.
Previous overseas travel: I’ve never been out of the country before—this program will be a first for me in many ways!