Our student Cristian Francisco Perez from Bachelor in International Business, shares with us his experience at Guangdong University South China Business College of Foreign Studies (GDUFS), Guangzhou, China.
When you entered Uni did you know there were international programs? international programs?
Yes, and I was impressed by how many options there are to apply from all over the world. all over the world.
When you started your career, did you think you would go to live and study abroad? abroad?
More than than believing it, it was just a dream that at that moment seemed distant and complicated to achieve. to achieve.
Have you ever lived or studied outside of Mexico before?
I have never I had never left the country before, this experience was my first.
What prompted or motivated you to study in another country? country?
The opportunity to broaden my horizons new language and a new culture, as well as the importance of China for my career, as well as the China represents for my career, as well as getting to know different points of view in the professional professional point of view regarding international relations.
Why did you decide to study in that country?
Because it represented a great personal challenge, to face a place where no one understands you, where they think so differently from think so differently than you do and things that sometimes seem simple, like buying something, become a constant confusion. simple, like buying something, become a constant confusion.
Likewise, many good Chinese friends I have met at Celaya at the University of Celaya have encouraged me to choose China as my study destination. destination to study.
How did you feel when you arrived in the new country?
A shock. It is the constant sensation of not belonging to the environment, it's traveling to an unknown world where you have to learn little by little how to live in it.
You miss a lot your family, your friends, your space and all the comforts you usually live with. you usually live with. At the beginning, many times I questioned if the decision to go to China was the best one. to go to China had been the best one since I didn't fit in and I didn't understand anything that was what was going on around me.
How have you been received at the university where you have you arrived?
Excellent, both the directors and the students of the university are excellent people, very helpful and very helpful and willing to help you in everything. They make your adaptation process and at the end you end up becoming a part of their family and creating a family and creating bonds with them forever.
What will you miss most about Mexico?
I consider that four months of exchange are not enough to miss Mexico too much, when it takes time to get to know so many things about China. Without sometimes you do miss a hug from your family, a drink with your friends or the food. friends or food. Especially in times of togetherness like Christmas or New Year.
What about the Uni?
Definitely my colleagues and friends. I wish all of them had been with me on the trip trip to share together, yet I come back with many anecdotes to share with them. with them.
What is the most exciting thing you have experienced experience so far?
Definitely definitely won the Chinese language proficiency contest filled me with excitement and happiness. happiness. And to know that all my friends were there to support me and to celebrate overcoming one of the most difficult challenges of this exchange; the language.
And the hardest part?
Having have to say goodbye to all the people I met on this great trip. It is very hard to say goodbye to someone who was your family for a semester.
What do you expect as a person and as a professional from this program?
As a person, prove to myself that I can be independent, learn to take care of myself, and learn how to and know how to solve problems faster.
As professional I hope to be able to achieve better negotiations with people from this country, by knowing their language and culture you make them be more open and they give in to better conditions as a conditions as a thank you for caring about their culture.
These opportunities offered by Uni, do you recommend them to your colleagues?
Definitely, make you grow in every way and make you see life from a different angle that you can't see in your comfort zone. which you can't see inside your comfort zone. Besides, what a college student stage lasts a short time, so you have to make the most of it, and an exchange is to make the most of it. You enjoy and value your youth to the to the fullest.
