INTRODUCTION
My name is Joan Felix, aged 24, and I am currently in my final year at CHINA UNIVERSITY OF PETROLEUM, specialising in Petroleum Engineering of oil and gas. My study experience in a foreign land has been exhilarating. I get to explore different aspects, such as multicultural conduct, meeting new people, learning new languages, and specialising in some excellent courses.
EXPERIENCES
HOMELAND FREEDOM 🇹🇿
My experience in China has made me note the difference of what it’s like to be at home in your home land and being in a foreign land; some of the rules and regulations out there made me understand the freedom that is present at home, for example; you can’t own a car even when you can afford it and getting a licence there is kind of not easy compared to Tanzania.
You need a valid work visa, and it’s illegal to work without one. I’ve encountered people who got deported because of an expired “visa” I could always book my ticket flights months in advance for holiday seasons to go home and spend time with family. It’s always been that I love my country, MUNGU IBARIKI AFRICA, MUNGU IBARIKI TANZANIA.
This could sound like a leisure type but on an honest note it is some of the good things you fail to live in even when they seem normal to everyone else, also applying for visa to do a lot of stuff like living there and there are penalties for being late like it could even lead to being deported.
LIFE IN CHINA 🇹🇷
China is one of the best places with unique features, their language is not too common as English, it’s filled with characters I had a little problem with my Chinese classes to be honest their foods are health based foods, everything about their food is fresh and healthy, well if I’ll be honest it is sweet too depending on which food you ordered, due to their friendly environment, China has attracted foreigners from different parts of the world and that’s the good part when African meet African, Arabs, Americans, Russians, interactions were at its best point to the point that there are some places where Chinese residents haven’t met foreigners so they’d be so surprised to see you around and would want to have a picture with you or some would just be scared I can say.
CULTURE
The most incredible things that I happened to enjoy in China was multicultural explorations, people from different parts of the world would share their conducts of their culture, their dress codes in various occasions, the best part that is food, well I loved the Ethiopian food and coffee like it’s too beautiful without forgetting the Yemen’s tea, it’s like green in color with a fantastic taste but served hot, I managed to encounter some good fashion like that of the Papua New Guinea, they are just amazing and all of that combined.
LEADERSHIP 👑
Being in China, as a foreign land, we needed representatives to stand for us. It’s not an easy task, as it involves a collective of responsibilities that you share with your fellow leaders. On different occasions and events, you need to stand in your place and position, with integrity and participation in both good and bad times alike.
One of the most exciting and most tiresome events was when some of us were graduating, and we had to organise everything on our own without their involvement.
Some of my senior leaders were assigned to the location, including food and total costs (the entrance fee and buffet). It was tiring since everyone had their kind of lifestyle with a different level of affordability, but in the end, it was all made up.
I enjoyed moving around seeking for a good place, taking pictures, deciding and reasoning out to why we think the choice was a good match, I enjoyed calculating the costs and trying to sum up everything, it was too amazing and when I attended, I felt happy to see smiles on people’s faces and life in the party, it was so amazing.
I also remember the cultural event that I had to finish my class and rush to our country’s stall because we lead by example, it was just outstanding. I could say that personally, I enjoy serving like it feels too good to help others, to stand for others, to work for the sake of their happiness, which feels great.
SCHOOL LIFE 🎓
As a petroleum engineer, I’d say it’s an excellent course. Still, you need to be ready for it, doing everything as required and on time. We learn a lot of things, including the basics of petroleum production, how it forms, how it is drilled out of the ground, and various calculations, which can involve some simple arithmetic. Still, many people are visiting labs to see what your written work looks like in real life.
I happen to have a best friend of mine who was a monitor, I could see how life as a monitor and a student sound like but we were of no significant difference because we were both leaders and scholars at the same time, I could help her around with the monitor duties which was also fun.
I managed to collect my assignments on time, going to classes that start early at 8 am. Some would end at 9 pm, and I felt like I was employed. The best part was that the best students would be awarded an appreciation award, and I thank God that I was not bad at my grades, so I managed to attain the prize twice, until COVID hit us, making it no longer available. Still, all in all it was a fantastic experience on campus, making sure you are a “good student”.
WEATHER EFFECT 🍂
Living in Tanzania, especially being born in Dar es Salaam, where life is simple and the weather is just hot, cold days aren’t deadly cold made my life difficult the first few days in China, my first time was during the autumn ends heading to winter, the cold wasn’t favourable, I felt like I was in a freezer for the time.
I hated school at that point because it was extremely cold. I wasn’t a lover of it; I suffered from the terrible flu that I will never forget. Praise God, a friend came through with a remedy for it. Still, with time, I eventually got used to it, since heaters were everywhere, in taxis, at home, and at school. It was helpful, especially during the summer, as it gets too hot, but again, I’m from Dar es Salaam (not originally, but I was born there). Hence, it wasn’t much of a problem to me and I enjoyed it especially when spring starts and you know my favourite weather is on its way.
The first time I experienced snow was during my physics final exam, and I didn’t even know what to do because I was sick. I needed to head home. I lived off campus, and it wasn’t a good experience, despite how many would hype it. However, with time, it was just like any other rainy day.
CAMPUS LIFE🏢
In the first two years in university, I lived off campus, well, it felt like a grown-up who’s independent, I’d go anywhere, at any time and at moment.
I am not going to lie but it was somehow safe for night walks in China so it was so much of freedom that I never had back home in an African family until I’ve fully grown up as I am now, I was never a going out person like I’d appreciate being in my room all day, but my friend would sometimes opted we could catch up on a movie.
We could go to some restaurants, like McDonald’s, which was my favourite place among many, and many more new places. Until my third year, I moved to a campus dormitory, where life was too much under restrictions. We had a given time to be back on campus, we had locks with face ID entry doors, and we had to be vigilant every moment we were off campus because anything could happen. You’ll stay outside until you have your ID with you, but if you have friends outside, then you’re lucky. Still, one of the most terrible behaviours I faced on campus was laziness, like I was close to my classes, so waking up early wasn’t my thing no more compared to off campus, and I’d still make it on time.
The good thing is that I was able to do my homework late at night, as I was close to classes. It was just on the ground floor, so at some point, it wasn’t a bad idea on campus.
CONCLUSION: Life in a foreign land helped me understand the feeling of being in need of help and being the help to those in need.
I highly value leadership, not because it’s a position of power but a position of dedication, a position of putting things into practice, leading is more than just having a good office to chill and order people around, it’s a position of humility and acknowledgement of the level of people’s dependency on your ability and capacity to bring change, leaders do make mistakes too but a mistake is a learning point to greatness and I’d encourage a great demonstration of what you are made of as a leader of your life, a company, family, institute and all that you’re leading on , aim at bringing change and a movement.
谢谢你
