Students who apply to go study abroad in Wenzhou, China may be questioning what they will see or encounter. Sometimes studying abroad can be overwhelming when students do not know what to expect.
From the Kean University at Union, N.J. to Wenzhou, there have been many students who took a step on the other side of the world.
Students go in groups and they are always assigned a friend when they arrive in Wenzhou, so they do not feel lonely during their semester or year there.
"Wenzhou was very interesting because it was a mix of the village but it also had a modern touch when you went to certain areas. The school was beautiful -- very modern and a lot of space everywhere. There were a lot of comfortable places for the students to hang out or do homework," said Maddie Gomez, junior graphic design major. "The students usually participated in sports and different types of clubs at school. Sports was a big thing for the guys, almost everyone played something or was in some sort of club. My favorite things [at Wenzhou] were the clubs and just being on the campus in general. The weather isn't like here [in Union]. It was a lot warmer when I was there so it was common to hang outside or [out] on the balcony in our rooms."
Wenzhou is surrounded by mountains and most notably, the East China Sea. Most of Wenzhou is mountainous, while the other parts are water and farmland.
"Wenzhou-Kean is located in the country[side], which is far away from the downtown. The campus is relatively quiet with beautiful landscape around. I often go to the college town to have some delicious food during the weekend, which is convenient because it's about 2 minutes away," said Xinyu Zhang, junior marketing major and student from Wenzhou. "Mountain climbing is a good choice, in my opinion, too."
Some say the Wenzhou-Kean campus looks similar to the Union campus, but others say they are completely different. The area is full of nature, so it has always been a great place to take picture, go sight-seeing and just have a refreshing view of landscape each time.
Fengrui Yang, senior English major, is from Wenzhou-Kean and began to study abroad at the Union campus.
"Wenzhou Kean is the second Sino-American University in China and it provides all the courses in English. Our professors are from all over the world, including United States, United Kingdom, Taiwan, India, Japan, Korea, Australia, etc. The variety of faculty provides us the world vision, and it helps us broaden our horizons." Yang informed. "We have accounting, finance, English, computer science, global business, graphic design and marketing major[s] now. All of our students need to complete a few general education courses before major courses, which I think is necessary and reasonable."
Yang explains Wenzhou-Kean is located at Li'ao, the suburb area of Wenzhou, so the environment is very good because it is surrounded by many mountains.
"The transportation to the downtown Wenzhou and large shopping mall is getting more convenient than the first two years. I like staying at [the] dormitory for weekends or hanging out with my friends [in] the shopping mall or downtown to have some treats. My favorite thing to do at [Wenzhou] is to walk with my friends after dinner," Yang shared.
For transportation, there are certain railways to get to other cities so students do not have to feel stuck at the campus. There are four districts, two cities and five counties.
There are so many things to do at Wenzhou, andthe study abroad program at Kean makes sure that students enjoy all their experiences.
Just look at all the fun pictures students who went there took, and think about how joining in on the fun can add to the college experience.
