Second week as a Hànyu xuésheng.

Here is my second post and it will be less structured than the previous one since I will simply describe you that second week, with its subjects and my personal feeling about it. So take a peaceful breath and follow my voice in your head while reading this.

The second week was as intense as the introduction week, maybe even a bit more, composed by Chinese history with "China in the World", Chinese lessons with "Chinese for beginners", the Business Case (for my fellow classmates since I don't need to do it) and 6 different subjects related to "Bildung".

Which was absolutely not a problem to me, since as I mentioned in my last post, "Bildung" is the most spiritual assignment, we therefore had to exchange our personal thoughts on different subjects which would help us to know each other better, and to respect other people opinion on a particular topic.

However, on Monday, we had a guest and expert on Chinese culture since he often travels to China and is married to a Chinese woman.

The subject was naturally interesting, we got to know more about Chinese folk religion, their way of mourning in cemetery, their Gods, their New Year but it was poorly lectured unfortunately to my opinion. The lecturer naturally knew his subject but he only waited the end of it to make it interactive with the students through a sort of quizz about his slides... Needless to mention I did not win that game.

Later that day, we had to wait our second "Bildung" subject, after the Chinese language lesson to really interact with the professor. The class was named: "Ethics and Technology".

The subject was so natural and the exchange easy, that we were having debate a bit off-topic but still really interesting to have. The teacher introduced us to important philosophers and their different theories on how to behave or make a decision in a difficult situation, such as: Kant who focused more on the consequences a decision could have and Aristotle, who extolled decisions taken based on virtuous qualities.

We then shared our views on how technology influences our daily life.

The following day morning was quite similar because the class, still related to "Bildung", was called: "Ethics & Integrity". The teacher introduced us the same dilemmas as the previous subject, which is the reason why we could answer more "easily" (even if having the choice to kill one person or 3 while saving all the passengers of a train is never really simple).

Even if the class took place early in the morning, the exchange was still friendly and open.

On Wednesday, we even started earlier with our fourth subject related to "Bildung": "Identity and Global Citizenship".

I expected a lot from that subject since "Identity" and more particularly "Global Citizenship" are 2 important terms to my vocabulary. Indeed, as all teenagers, I got an identity problem but mine occurred earlier.

I was born French by African parents in a mainly white community. I quickly had to realize how life could be different from my friends'. If I take a moment to really think about it, that could be the reason I first wanted to leave France so soon. Which resulted to be a great thing since I developed my ability to adapt myself and to be at ease abroad and outside of my comfort-zone, far away from "home". My identity developed itself, I was not just French anymore but African, Dutch and Spanish too. Those beautiful people I have met in those countries helped me to become who I am today, that's why I am a bit of them likewise.

This is exactly what I explained during that important class.

The last class of that day was "China in the World". We went on the lesson we stopped last time and had a debate about Chinese loss against the Western World, especially about the notorious "Opium War". I have already had a debate in a class of Ethics, back in 2013, during my first Erasmus, and I had the best grade but that one, even if we "won' with the group, was too structured since we had to follow the teacher's way of debating.. Which was new and intriguing but I was uncomfortable.

The last day, on Friday (because we did not have class on Thursday), we all had to give a presentation in front the class, the teacher and the head of the minor about our first 2 weeks of "Bildung". Which subjects did we like or not, why, how do we plan to better ourselves as a person etc.. The presentation was followed by questions by the teachers and classmates. It was truly lovely to see how each person handle that personal interview and feedbacks from everyone because it was a real moment of truth and honesty.

We finally finished our intensive week with another Chinese lesson. Language that I aim to speak more and more because I really like its structure, it says a lot of the Chinese culture or way of thinking.

To conclude, it was another exhausting week, since I have to study my 4th-year subjects on my own and after my IBMS classmates. But I feel lucky to have another opportunity to learn another language, to meet new friends with different backgrounds that mine while strengthening my general knowledge about a beautiful country and continent.

Will Asia be my next "home"?

Nihao: The Introduction Week

Hello, my name is Kélian. I am 23 years old, I come from Fontainebleau (France) and I study International Business and Management Studies (IBMS) at Saxion University of Applied Sciences in the campus of Deventer.

As part of my studies, I have been asked to create a blog in which I could share my opinions about new subjects and experiments provided by my university.

That is the reason why, within this very first post, I will discuss about:

• My introduction to the programme
• What is the programme about and how the programme is structured?
• My feelings about it.

Enjoy the reading and do not hesitate to leave a comment at the end.

I/ My introduction to the programme.

As I mentioned earlier, I am an IBMS student from the MIM academy. As part of my studies, I come back from an entire year spent in Spain. I worked in a company as a trainee for a semester in Madrid before finally moving to Castellón de la Plana, near Valencia, in order to enjoy an exchange programme with an university partner.

Unfortunately, I had only pass 3 exams out of 5. Therefore, I am currently missing 12 ECTS I need to catch up. With my study mentor, Mr. Rietberg, and the help of Mrs. Holtkamp, we find an available seat at an interesting minor named: "Doing Business with China".

Through emails, I saw the different subjects provided by the minor and I got really excited even if I wanted to start learning Dutch this year instead of Chinese. Moreover, I have never been to Asia and getting to know Chinese culture, business etiquette, philosophy, language and history is an important opportunity to me to strengthen my own general knowledge.

II/ What is the programme about and how the programme is structured?

The minor "Doing Business with China" is aimed to reinforce students' knowledge about Chinese way of life in general. Which is very relevant if someone plans to visit the country, live or work over there or Chinese people. As an IBMS student, this minor can be crucial since I could be in touch with China in a near future if I want to penetrate Chinese market for instance.

The programme is composed by 4 main subjects: Chinese for beginners, China in the World, Bildung and a Business Case.

Each subject is full of content.

Our first class of Chinese, on Monday, was meant to introduce ourselves, get to know our name in Chinese and each other by preparing Chinese food. We truly started our lessons on Friday by introducing us to the basic sentences and Chinese sounds.

China in the World is basically the history o China. We need to know that Chinese history began B.-C with 10 distinctive dynasties. I truly love History, that is why I am looking forward to learning more about Chinese one.


To my opinion, Bildung is the most spiritual subject. It is taught in different ways and is composed by so many topics and people.
During the introduction week, we had a general PowerPoint presentation, Global citizenship and history, an Art Workshop and a fieldtrip to Nijmejen.


III/ Conclusion: My feelings about it. 

Even if I was not originally meant to attend the programme, i truly feel lucky to get involved in it.
As an IBMS student with 2nd-year retakes, I am really really busy but this is always nice to see my little Chinese class, this is just the beginning but we already had a promising start all together.

In our art workshop, we opened up ourselves through drawings by telling others how we see ourselves. Then, we got to know how others perceive us with the little amount of knowledge the got about us. Finally, we had to create a synergy among our respective drawings.. These exercices were a bit complex to me at the beginning but we managed to fix it as a group.

Global citizenship and history was really interesting to my opinion, because it was made of quick team games, original questions honestly answered by my classmates which help to understand each other's point of view and way of thinking.

Nevertheless, the incredible experiment took place on Thursday in Nijmegen. We all went to a museum destined to make us blind for a while. The visit was undoubtedly "eye-opening" (sorry for the bad pun) and meaningful to me. As I confessed to Miguel after the visit, since I was little, I had always been curious to experiment how it is to be blind for a few weeks in order to realize the difficulty and improve my other senses dramatically ( I watched too many animes and mangas).

Now, I am curious to know how it is to be deaf and mute.. In a nutshell, throughout this minor, I am sure I will get to know myself a bit better even if I already feel "completed" somehow due to my travels, profound discussions and beautiful meetings around the world. 

This is my final year as a student, I am highly motived to make it work and enjoy any opportunity to grow emotionally, spiritually and intellectually. With "Doing Business with China" and my international classmate, I truly think this is something feasible.