Today we want to share with you the experience of Rafa, a Spanish student at the Jiading campus. Rafa lived in China for a year and a half and has now returned to Spain, where he works as an engineer in Barcelona. He recalls his experience in China as unforgettable and wonderful and shares some details about filming the documentary below:
“One day, a Chinese television channel invited me to participate in this documentary that tells the story of an international student in Jiading. The truth is, they chose me as a candidate because I enjoyed moving around a lot and interacting with all kinds of people, going to the center, participating in events, I wasn’t doing badly in my studies, I had gotten a job as a youth soccer coach at a bilingual school near the campus, etc., and, what’s more, I was the captain of the international student soccer team on campus!”
The documentary shows how a foreign student becomes familiar with Chinese culture by visiting places like the Confucius Museum, eating at traditional restaurants, explaining his experience at the university there, his relationships with local students, and so on.
Rafa tells us that the only drawback of Jiading is its distance from downtown Shanghai, but that, nevertheless, not being able to always go downtown forces you to stay on campus and socialize with other students, both local and foreign. “I was very fortunate not to interact with any Spaniards on campus, which allowed me to socialize much more with people of other nationalities. The campus itself lacks nothing.”
Looking back, Rafa tells us that this experience was very enriching for him, both recreationally, socially, and academically. “There, I was able to complete my Master’s Thesis in collaboration with some Chinese classmates who were studying the same thing as me, and they reserved an office for me in one of the labs to work there.”
