Second GenerAsian #6: Memories from Abroad NBN Multimedia Presents...

Episode Notes
Episode Description: Summer’s over and we are officially back! Sophia, David and Hannah (along with special guests Carl Morison and Jakob Lazzaro) talk about studying abroad in Asia in the latest episode of Second GenerAsian!
Sophia Lo: Hi and welcome back to...
All: Second GenerAsian.
Sophia: I'm Sophia.
David Deloso: I'm David.
Hannah Julie Yoon: And I'm Hannah.
David: And for those of you who are new, this is our podcast where we talk about our Asian American identity...
Hannah: And also generally what it's like to be an Asian-American Northwestern student.
Sophia: So today, since this is our first episode back from the summer, we're going to talk about what we did over the summer, more specifically study abroad programs.
David: So for this summer, I studied abroad in Beijing, China through a Northwestern program. I was studying poli-sci and Chinese language. And it was one of the best two months of my life. So many awesome memories, I met so many cool people and it really made me interested about what other people's experiences have been like studying abroad, specifically in Asian countries.
Hannah: So we thought we'd gather some of our friends who have also studied abroad in Asian countries and have them talk to us about what it was like.
Sophia: So, David first question: Why China?
David: So I've been taking Chinese since my freshman year of high school and I've always just been really interested in the culture. And yeah, I just wanted to practice my Chinese, which I had mixed results with, but that's why I picked China.
Sophia: And what's your favorite memory from studying abroad?
David: The one-week break when we all went to Shanghai, or at least my friend group did, and it was great because we didn't have classes that week and we just kind of got to explore one of the coolest cities any of us had ever been in, and just really bond. We all stayed in an Airbnb and we had some amazing food. Shanghai has xiao long bao which are soup dumplings. They're very hard to find in the Midwest. I finally got to have some good ones, and it was honestly a life-changing experience because now all I can think about is when I'm going to have xiao long bao again, and it's probably going to be a while, but that was just a great time.
I think my biggest takeaway was just the fact that being in a country that you're not really familiar with, with other people who are also not that familiar with it is just a very amazing bonding experience. You really gotta stick together. And I mean, I was seeing the same eight or nine people every single day for two months, and by the end we were all so close and I still keep up with them now that we're back on campus. And I don't think that really matters what country you go to. Just being in another country with people is just a really great time. So yeah, I would definitely recommend this program or any study abroad program to Northwestern students or any students who are interested in doing something that's very different from being on campus and like doing the same like, you know, kind of daily grind stuff that you really get used to in college.
It was very, very different from my college experience, even though we were taking classes still. And yeah, it was just a great way to spend the Summer especially since it was the Summer after my freshman year, and I didn't have to worry about getting an internship or anything. Yeah. I really loved it.
Hannah: If you had to summarize your study abroad experience in one sentence in Chinese, what would it be?
David: 我的中文不太好 所以别的人都不会听懂我说的话. So basically that sentence was like, "Chinese people really didn't understand me". You know, no one really did. Luckily, there were a couple fluent Chinese speakers in my friend group who got me through the experience. Shoutout Allison, shoutout Ginny. I realized my Chinese that I learned in school was really not where I wanted to be. But yeah still great experie