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.