Of course, no fellowship trilogy would be complete without talking about, you know, the actual fellowship experience! But how can I condense two months of life-changing, language-enhancing, wanderlusting fun into a single blog post? I wish there was some vertically oriented way to organize a lot of stories and details really quickly so as to best explain exactly what kind of experiences the Light Fellowship covers.
ENTER THE LIST.
With my Light Fellowship from Yale, I was able to…
- Befriend language students from all over the country and people from all around China
- Eat lots and lots of dumplings and bao
- Relax on leisurely boat rides through China’s impressive lake parks
- Sing my heart out at karaoke clubs WITH MY TEACHERS!!
- Gaze upwards at beautiful cave statues in Longmen Grottoes
- Explore the vibrant Night Market of Wangfujin and try a scorpion (touristy, but, oh well!)
- Fly a kite on the Great Wall of China
Well, not all of them can be wins.
- Take third place in an inter-language program Chinese public speaking competition
- Listen to a live Chinese orchestral performance
- Dance my heart out at the Chinese Club scene in Sanlitun
- Win a Kung Fu competition at the Shaolin Temple
- Eat cold, fresh watermelon in the pouring rain
- Finally understand why Beijing is known for its Beijing Roast Duck
- Drastically improve my Chinese language skills in less than two months
In two months, I did all of this and much, much more, completely free—all because of the Light Fellowship. And when I got back to Yale, I even felt encouraged to take even more Chinese classes including a few really cool advanced seminars like “Chinese for Current Affairs” and “Chinese for Global Enterprises”
In fact, I had such a great experience that I will be spending the next year after graduation doing ANOTHER Light Fellowship. Thank you, Yale Fellowships for giving me the opportunity and resources to have one of the most memorable summers of my life. I can’t wait for next year!
