The Campus as a Meeting Place

Studying abroad is like a magical journey. As the famous saying goes, ”Life is elsewhere”, and living at a campus in a new country has helped many students enrich their life experiences. Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, a melting pot of international students from over 30 countries, and native Chinese students, is a fantastic place to start your life journey. On the GDUFS campus, international students encounter their Chinese friends by different means and they share many precious memories. We interviewed three international students and they painted a picture of their life with their Chinese friends.

“It’s nice to be treated.”

Mika Ejima, a Japanese graduate student, has been studying Literature and Art at the Faculty of Chinese Language and Culture in GDUFS since September of this year. Her classmates were almost all Chinese, so she made the acquaintance with many of her Chinese friends through the class. In order to contact her Chinese friends better, she began to use WeChat. “I am very grateful to my Chinese friends. They showed me around Guangzhou, going shopping with me and send me gifts on my birthday”, she told us excitedly.

Mika Ejima (right) on top of Baiyun Mountain with her Chinese friends

Her best friend LI is always with her. They are so intimate that they share happiness and sorrows … and even secrets with each other. And she recalls that she was invited to her best friends’ birthday party. They went to the KTV and it was the first time for such an experience since Ejima came to Guangzhou. “She also invited a lot of her friends and we just sang and chatted together. It’s a really nice experience for me.” In her eyes, Chinese people are warm-hearted and friendly. She mentioned that the idea of the “treat culture” among her Chinese friends was rather surprising. “We just go fifty-fifty in Japan but my Chinese friends insist on paying the bill for me. They are really so nice and kind.”Ejima said.

Ejima and her Chinese friend

“I took part in the Global Society.”

Emilio, who comes from Mexico, is in his first year of the exchange program. When he first came to Guangzhou, at the airport, he lost his luggage. He found it difficult to communicate with the staff there because they can only speak Chinese. Fortunately, a Chinese man who can speak English gave him a hand. He helped him retrieve his luggage and brought him here to our school. To express his gratitude, Emilio invited the man’s family to have dinner.” He was the first friend I met in Guangzhou and I have wanted to make friends with more Chinese people since then “he said.

Emilio took an active part in all kinds of activities and he became a member of the Global Society, a community established to foster relationships between international students and Chinese students. Though they got along well with each other, he still felt some gaps between himself and the Chinese people. He exemplified that, when a Chinese meets him, he just shook hands … with some small space left between them but, actually Mexicans greeted each other not just by shaking hands, they met, shook hands, pulled and hugged together, to be as close as possible. Although he felt a sense of distance between himself and Chinese people, he still had good impressions about the Chinese people and culture. “They are funny, and I am trying to understand their lifestyle ” Emilio explains.

Emilio (middle) at a Global Society meeting

“The Chinese are collectivistic.”

LIN Lihui and LIN Lida are twin brothers coming from Malaysia. It’s the third year of their Japanese studies at GDUFS. The twins’ mother tongue is English and Chinese, so they had no difficulties talking with Chinese people. They like sports, especially badminton, through which they made the acquaintance of some Chinese friends. The twins saw their first film called Godzilla in Guangzhou with their Chinese classmates. They were surprised by the fact there were so few people in the cinema, because in Malaysia the cinemas are always filled with people. When asked about the theme, they talk with Chinese, in Chinese. The twins replied that in China, the Chinese seem to have fewer themes to talk about, perhaps, as they are more conservative. In addition, they said the opinions of Chinese people almost always show the collectivistic culture of China, saying; ”The people here are less selfish and they usually see things as a whole.”