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One of the perks of attending an international university is the wide number of programmes that allow students to learn and better appreciate certain cultures by travelling abroad for a fixed term or duration. After all, nothing beats first-hand experience. Besides the intercampus exchange programme, there is also the short-term in-country language programme that lets students learn the language at the appropriate proficiency level, practice the language with native speakers, and travel and keep snapshots and memories of the entire experience. I remember a few of my former coursemates taking advantage of this opportunity and coming back with a lot of fond memories.

This time, I got in touch with the multilingual Lisa Ariffin (pictured). In her case, she picked Chinese and studied under the Chinese Intensive Language Programme (CILP) at Shanghai International Studies University, a university that is affiliated with the Malaysian branch campus of the Australian university she was enrolled in, as an undergraduate. According to her, before going on the programme, she had some basic knowledge of Chinese but wanted to learn to use it more effectively and saw the programme as an opportunity to refresh her memory and travel overseas. She confessed, “I wanted something I had some foundation of. Plus, I never had the chance to study abroad.” She told me, “My father thought it would be fun for me to learn from the natives and immerse ourselves in the local culture.” She went on, “If it helps, the cost of living in Shanghai (in China) is cheaper compared to Australia, and that made my parents happy.” She opened up, “My (elder) sister went on the exact same programme before I did, so I had an added advantage.”

Speaking of her fondest memories, “My classmates were mainly Australians from the campus in Melbourne as well as many Indonesians.” She continued, “What surprised me was how fluent my Australian classmates were as well as listening to them speak with their cute Australian accent.” Shedding light on the programme, Lisa said, “The classes were held full-day for six weeks, with one module lasting three weeks and culminating with a written examination where students were required to write essays.” She disclosed, “I did well for both modules.” From what she also said, besides some homework to be completed after class, there were also oral assessments where students had to partner each other and do a role-play in class.

On her living arrangements, while she was in Shanghai, she revealed, “The on-campus student hostel I was staying in had a lot of food as it was a student area.” She stated, “It was also easy to find Halal food and options given the large Muslim population in Shanghai.”  On coping with winter, she said, “China’s sweet potatoes were a saviour. I remember buying just one hot sweet potato to wrap my hands around while walking through the cold weather.” She explained, “They were usually sold by aunties who had a cart.” She said with a laugh, “I grew fat just by eating sweet potatoes everyday!” From her observation, “The sweet potatoes in China were long and fat, unlike the ones in Malaysia.”

Lisa, who is taking up the Korean language now, said, “There were arranged trips to the silk factory and other places of interest to let international students learn about the culture in Shanghai.” On the challenges she had to overcome, Lisa admitted, “At first, the writing aspect was really difficult, but as time went on, and with the pace of the programme, it eventually became easier.”

The Masters student, who is currently pursuing a course related to culinary arts and hospitality management, had this to say:

“Some might argue that six weeks is too short to learn a language, which is in fact, true. However, the point of the programme was to keep on practising, as students would already have gained the necessary in class.”

When asked about the outcome of the programme, to my delight, Lisa said, “I can in fact still read and write to this day.” Perhaps, this is helped by the fact that, “From time to time, when I am not as occupied, I do practice writing or test my memory with flashcards.”

These are some of her photos during her stay in Shanghai.

Look at the style of this building

The Yu Garden, just beside the City God Temple

Look at the number of tourists!

The Chen Yi Memorial, commemorating the first mayor of Shanghai

One of the miniature structures – found at the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Centre

A picture drawn on actual silk

Let’s take a wefie!

The Visual Art Exhibition, held at the Museum of Contemporary Art

A class activity going on

Lisa’s Indonesian classmates, most of them holding joss sticks, at one of the Chinese temples