​Co-op in China

During this Spring semester I had the amazing opportunity to Co-op with the JCI program in Chongqing China. I was a teaching assistant with three other American TAs and four Chinese TAs. I had never been out of the country and I had never been on an airplane. I got to experience a radically different culture while there. We tried some crazy food- tripe, brain, and duck intestine for example. The university culture there is also very different to me. We assisted students in their engineering courses as well as their study for the TOEFL. We were able to celebrate the Chinese New Year and travel during that time. We visited Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Xian. I learned to ride the subway in any city even if I don’t know the language. If I have a map of the lines and the name of my stop I can get there eventually. The first class of JCI students will be coming to UC in the fall and I can’t wait! I am excited to show them around and I also have a class with some of them. This was an amazing co-op for the cultural experience and the new friends.

​This video is a time lapse of a meal we had with our coworkers. I chose this showpiece because it shows the relationships and the sharing of culture that we had throughout the trip.