Trip to Changchun

Slobodchikova Ekaterina's report on the study trip to Northeast Normal University

I was genuinely delighted by the trip to Changchun, mostly because of the thoughtful organization of it by Northeast Normal University. For the whole time we spent here, we had the full attention of the volunteers, who carried on their shoulders not only study, but the leisure time too. Teachers worked very harmoniously, the classes were interesting and energetic, filled with all kinds of activity. They had a really useful pragmatic way to teach language: we made phone calls, ordered food, went to the bank to make a credit card, etc. All in all, we practiced our active spoken language a lot.

         The greatest disadvantage was that lots of students in my group had no or very little experience in Chinese, that’s why the classes were boring for me at first. But later teachers started to notice the stronger students, and their classes went more interesting. The university organized a few trips for us, and we also went to Mt. Changbaishan. The city of Changchun is not really big and it has little to offer to the tourists, but the language of its habitants was really coherent, they were very talkative and welcoming. And the city itself was clean and calm.

Well, I guess I also have to add something about the dorms. There were difficulties: cockroaches, dirt, the smell, dirty bedclothes and other “pleasures”. The university had another dorm, but, unfortunately, it was far from the city center.