2 Different Countries, 2 Different Sides Of The World, 2 Completely Different Study Abroad Experiences

Some of the most popular questions I'm asked usually involve how often I had class, how hard were my classes, what did I get for grades, etc. Just like the title says, my experiences studying abroad at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and at the Beijing Institute of Education in China through CET Academic Programs were extremely different. If you think about it, it makes sense. I was learning Chinese through an intensive language program while in China, and had no clue as to what I wanted to do in life while I was at St. Andrews so I just picked some interesting classes and played some golf. I've tried to sum up my academic life in both countries as best as I could below. Before I get into it, however, I want to preface it by saying that I didn't necessarily learn more or less in either place, it's just that what I learned was different.

China Schedule

Daily Routine - I had class 5 days a week in China, so from Monday to Friday, my routine never really changed:

- 6:00 AM (dead serious) wake up, review characters and listening files, ate breakfast if I had time
- 8:25 AM - 11:30 AM Morning classes
- 11:30 AM - 12:00 noon Lunch in the cafeteria until I started getting tired of it
- 12:00 noon - 2:00 PM Afternoon classes with the possibility of resting for half an hour
- 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM Did something to sustain my livelihood (haircut, grocery shopping, stocking up on water and toilet paper, etc.)
- 3:00 PM - 6:00 PM Straight up homework time
- 6:00 PM - Dinner
- 7/8:00 PM - Review the new vocab for the next day at least once more
- 9:00 PM - 12:00 midnight Blogging

Class Schedule:

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
8:25 AM - 9:30 AM	Lecture	Lecture	Lecture	Lecture	Lecture
9:40 AM - 10:30 AM	Drill - 1	Drill - 1	Drill - 1	Drill - 1	Drill - 1
10:40 AM - 11:30 AM	Drill - 2	Drill - 2	Drill - 2	Drill - 2	Drill - 2
12:30 PM - 3:20 PM	Afternoon Sessions	Afternoon Sessions		Afternoon Sessions	Afternoon Sessions
12:30 PM - 3:20 PM			Language Practicum

Class Descriptions:

Lecture: Joint reading of previous night's text, short listening/writing quiz, basic review of the previous nights text, and introduction of new grammar and vocab.

Drill - 1: Review/reinforce new vocab, grammar, and sentence patterns.

Drill - 2: Small group discussions, interviews and short oral reports, listening comprehension practice, and movies/cartoons.

Afternoon Sessions: One-on-One or One-on-Two language tutoring.

Language Practicum: Trips to restaurants and/ or local parks, learning Chinese culture, e.g. wrapping dumplings, etc.

Grading:

Attendance - 6%, Class performance - 14%, Listening quizzes - 10%, Homework - 15%, Weekly exam - 15%, Mid-term exam - 20%, Final exam - 25%.

Scotland Schedule

Daily Routine

No need to make a short story long. In Scotland, I had class 4 hours a week. That's actually the norm for all 3rd and 4th year students - two 2 hour classes per week. Most weekends were spent traveling, and on weekdays that I didn't have to catch up on any reading, I either golfed, again did something to sustain my livelihood (haircut, grocery shopping, etc.), or went to the gym. Outside of golf, my life wasn't necessarily as easy as it looked (although I still had it pretty good). The conversion rate was horrible at the time, so whereas in China I can eat like a king for $5, in Scotland, I was happy if I could buy half a sandwich with the same amount. Not to mention, although extremely new and clean, my dorm was out in the middle of nowhere so walking to class, the library, or the grocery store could easily take 45 minutes one way.

Class Schedule

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

10:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Anthropology

1 hour lecture/ PowerPoint; 1 hour small class discussion

10:00 AM - 11:00 AM

Anthropology Practicum

Museum trips, basket weaving, movies, etc.

3:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Medieval History

1 hour lecture/ PowerPoint; 1 hour student presentations and class discussion

Grading:

- Medieval History

Two 12,000 word research essays, one 20 minute oral presentation (including Powerpoint, handout for class, and your own personal notes) - 40%, one 3 hour final exam - 60%.

- Anthropology

One 12,000 word research essay - 50%, on 3 hour final exam - 50%.

A few things to keep in mind about the work load at St. Andrews. Although it seems like I had no work, writing 12,000 words (for me at that time) took almost a week. You're given much more independence at a school like St. Andrews, but that means it's up to you to go to the library, read the sources given to you by your professor, analyze it and condense it into a coherent paper. It's not like Holy Cross, where if I was late passing something in or needed excessive amounts of help, my professors were very forgiving. At St. Andrews (yes, your professors help you there too) if you didn't get your work in on time, that was that. Basically, during the 3 or 4 weeks during the semester when I had a paper or presentation due, that consumed all my time that week. The other 8 or 9 weeks, I was out living the dream.