First Week at Peking University: Unfiltered Thoughts | LifeinChina ep 4
Summary
TLDRIn this candid video, the creator shares their first week of studying abroad at Peking University, China, during the Moon Festival break. They discuss the challenges of learning chemistry and math in a non-native language, the time-consuming nature of lab reports, and the struggle to keep up with native Chinese speakers. Despite feeling overwhelmed and tired, they remain hopeful about adjusting to the rigorous academic environment and look forward to sharing more about their international student experience.
Takeaways
- 📚 The speaker is a student at Peking University in China.
- 🌕 They are experiencing a 3-day break due to the Moon Festival but had to attend classes on Saturday.
- 📝 They have a lot of homework and assignments to catch up on, especially in chemistry.
- 🧪 The chemistry lab is time-consuming, involving pre-lab reports, experiments, and unfamiliar Chinese chemistry terms.
- 📈 Math is the most challenging subject, with a focus on proving concepts rather than just solving problems.
- 📱 The student uses an iPad and the Notes app for note-taking to avoid carrying physical notebooks.
- 📅 They have a busy schedule, with classes from 10:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. on some days.
- 📉 The student feels overwhelmed and tired, struggling to keep up with the pace of studies.
- 🤝 Despite the challenges, they have made friends and are hopeful about their experience.
- 🎥 The student plans to edit and share vlogs about their life as an international student at Peking University.
Q & A
How long has the student been in school before the video was filmed?
-The student has been in school for about one week before the video was filmed.
What is the reason for the 3-day break mentioned in the video?
-The 3-day break is due to the Moon Festival.
Why did the student have to attend school on Saturday?
-The student had to attend school on Saturday to make up for the classes they would miss on Monday.
What is the most time-consuming task the student is dealing with?
-The most time-consuming task is the chemistry lab that includes pre-lab, lab report, and answering final questions.
What is the main challenge the student faces in chemistry lab?
-The main challenge is unfamiliarity with Chinese terms for chemistry and lab materials.
What is the student's previous experience with math?
-The student has taken calculus, AP Calculus, and IB math analysis HL from 11th and 12th grade in the US.
What is the difficulty level of the math course the student is taking in China?
-The math course is more difficult than what the student has experienced before, requiring proofs and understanding of concepts like limits and epsilon-delta proofs.
What tools is the student using to assist with their studies?
-The student is using an iPad with a free notes app and a traditional planner to keep organized.
How does the student feel about their current academic performance?
-The student feels drained and tired, struggling to keep up with the academic workload, especially in math.
What is the student's goal regarding their classes?
-The student's goal is not to fail any classes, as failing is quite common even for mainland students at Peking University.
What does the student plan to do with their vlogs?
-The student plans to edit and publish their vlogs to show what life is like for international students at Peking University.
Outlines
📚 Adjusting to Studies in China
The speaker discusses their experience studying abroad at Peking University in China, focusing on the challenges of learning in a new language and the academic workload. They mention a 3-day break for the Moon Festival, but note that they had to attend classes on Saturday to compensate for missed classes. The speaker is currently engaged in a chemistry lab, which is time-consuming due to the need to understand new terms in Chinese and write detailed reports. They also highlight the difficulty of their math course, which is more abstract and challenging than what they have experienced before, involving proofs and concepts like limits and epsilon-delta definitions.
📈 Overwhelmed but Hopeful
The speaker expresses feelings of being overwhelmed and tired due to the heavy academic load, particularly the difficulty of studying in Chinese at a college level. They describe their long days of classes and the need to catch up on work during breaks. The speaker is concerned about keeping up with their studies, especially in math, and mentions a friend who failed the course. Despite the challenges, they remain hopeful that things will get easier over time and express a desire to share their experiences through vlogs. They also discuss the use of their iPad for note-taking and the importance of making friends to help navigate the challenges of studying abroad.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Studying abroad
💡Moon Festival
💡Homework
💡Chemistry lab
💡Language barrier
💡Math
💡Abstract
💡iPad
💡Planner
💡Vlogging
💡Acclimatization
Highlights
The speaker is a student studying abroad in China at Peking University.
They are experiencing a 3-day break due to the Moon Festival.
The student had to attend school on Saturday to make up for missed classes on Monday.
The student is using the break to catch up on homework and assignments.
Learning new subjects in a non-native language is challenging for the student.
The chemistry lab is the most time-consuming part of the student's studies.
The student is unfamiliar with many Chinese chemistry terms and materials.
The student has to translate chemistry terms into English to understand them.
The student finds math to be the most difficult course, especially proving concepts.
The student has a background in calculus but finds the current math course challenging.
The student is not used to the abstract nature of the current math course.
The student uses an iPad and the Notes app for note-taking to avoid carrying physical notebooks.
The student's schedule is hectic, with classes from 10:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
The student feels drained and tired from the workload.
The student is struggling to keep up with native Chinese speakers.
The student is concerned about potentially failing math, like a friend did previously.
The student is determined to do their best despite the challenges.
The student plans to edit and upload Vlogs about life as an international student.
The student acknowledges the difficulty of the beginning of the academic year.
Transcripts
today I'm going to be filming a very
unfiltered video of my current thoughts
in China and how my Studies have been
going we're about 1 week into school and
we have a 3-day break because it's like
the Moon Festival and everything but
it's not really a 3-day big break
because I actually had to go to school
on Saturday to make up all the classes
that I'm going to miss on Monday so yeah
it's okay but I mean at least I'm going
to have these 3 days to catch up on all
the homework and assignments and things
that I've been like trying to understand
but have been struggling to kind of like
process because obviously learning
something new in a new language or in a
language that's not my first language is
extremely difficult but I can kind of
show you guys what I've been up to so I
well for for for those of you who may be
new here I am currently studying abroad
in China at pcking University and yeah
so um the most
time intensive thing right now I would
say is the chemistry lab that I'm doing
because we have to do a preab a lab
report and then like final questions and
thoughts and answers and there's a lot
that I have to read through because
obviously there's going to be a lot of
steps in the chemistry process and when
you're doing an experiment and the issue
for me is that I a lot of like the terms
in Chinese for chemistry and for like
any of the materials that we use like
beaker flask graduated cylinder all of
that any of the chemicals like oxyc acid
um basically everything I just am not
very familiar with so it's been very
hard like this is like the first
experiment that we're doing and I've had
to like read through everything and kind
of write down the English definition so
that I have an idea of what I'm actually
reading because otherwise I would be
extremely confused and lost so that took
like a good one or two hours to kind of
finally get through and then after that
we have to like write a report on it and
just kind of like go through each task
and explain the steps and what the
purpose of the experiment is and
different things like that and it's just
been very hard and very time intensive
but I've written it down in this little
report book that they gave us as well
and here's like a glimpse of my report
or that was like oh I definitely did not
accidentally skip a page uh wait no
sorry that's the end the end part that
I'm finishing with like the questions
but I hope I'm not boring you guys but
this is just kind of like the stuff that
I've been doing and then math is
definitely the most difficult course
that I've been taking right now because
like in in the US I took in the US I
took calculus I took AP Calculus well I
took IB calculus but I took the AP ab
and BC test those are obviously combined
if you take take the BC cuz they give
you an AB subscore but yeah I took those
and I did IB math analysis HL from 11th
and 12th grade but this is a different
on a different level I would say because
like before for example we would be
learning how to solve limits and now
we're having to prove limits why does
this limit equal zero I don't know but
yeah it's just been very very difficult
I would say because I'm definitely not
used to this type of math and we also
started learning about like n Epsilon n
language to prove certain things and
that is something that I never really
been exposed to I guess like little n
Big N little n is bigger than big n and
Delta all of these random variables that
I had never heard of or heard of but
never actually had to use so it's just
been very difficult and I feel like the
math is quite abstract I would say
because like proving things is obviously
typically harder than actually solving
the problem so I've just been trying to
get used to it and it's starting to make
a little bit more sense but it's still
there's still a very long way to go I
would say until I am finally able to
understand what exactly is going on but
um other than that we've also been doing
some chemistry and there's this is the
chemistry book where there's a bunch of
like questions that we have to answer
and we got homework assigned for the
weekend as
well and then over here we have the
general chemistry textbook where we have
like the lessons and stuff that we go
over and then there's a bunch of slides
I've also been using my iPad to take
notes on the free Notes app because I'm
not yet ready to invest in an actual
like subscription based not taking app
on my iPad but I am honestly loving my
iPad it's been helping me so much like
prevent me from having to carry around a
bunch of notebooks and also just like
keeping everything organized and stuff
and
obviously I do have a oldfashioned
planner that I keep my to-do list in but
everything has been pretty chaotic for
the first week and I've been extremely
tired cuz on Monday I have classes from
10:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. so it's that was
in yesterday it was Saturday so I was
making up the Monday classes so I'm very
dra very tired I've been catching up on
all this work this entire day and I just
like my Rin can't really take it anymore
so I'm just filming this video to kind
of update you guys for anybody that may
be interested in and I just want to say
that learning in Chinese is definitely
very difficult especially at the college
level when you're surrounded by so many
people that are intelligent and smart
and have been learning in Chinese their
entire lives and are used to like this
way of teaching and the education system
and how everything works it's very hard
to keep up and so while some people may
be out spending the holidays like kind
of enjoying their lives and hanging out
with friends and family I'm just been
studying and I because I am several
steps behind so I think that I'm just
using this opportunity to hopefully get
my stuff together but I think that it
will get easier eventually it's always
it's always the beginning that's
extremely difficult I'm just going to my
goal is not to fill any classes cuz
actually filling classes in pecking
University at Thea is quite common even
for Mainland students so we'll see how
that goes but right now I'm honestly
very drained and very tired I feel like
I'm just talking in circles right now
but there are just so many things that I
don't know and I'm having to like
translate a lot of things into English
to actually fully grasp it and like on
my iPad some of the notes I'm like just
translating directly cuz I just don't
have the patience to go through each
word but for the chemistry lab I was
doing that and it just took so much time
and I just feel so behind and I don't
know if this is like sustainable
honestly and I'm feeling like I'm going
to fail math because I have a there's a
I have a friend that is a couple years
older than me and she is also from
America and she unfortunately failed her
math class for semester so and she's an
extremely intelligent person so I'm not
sure how it's going to go for for me but
I'm just going to do my best because
that's all I can really control and the
rest is kind of like up to fate so to
speak I just can't believe it's only
been one
week very tired but I'm glad that I've
been able to make friends and I think
that it is going to be very fun but also
extremely challenging but I knew that
going in and I do have a bunch of videos
planned out like a bunch of Vlogs I have
been vlogging consistently
I just haven't had the chance to go back
and actually edit those Vlogs because
I've been so busy with accommodating
like getting accustomed to school life
and learning in Chinese and trying to
figure out this abstract math that I'm
not used to so my life is kind of all
over the place right now but I'm hoping
to start editing those Vlogs soon to get
those out cuz I do think that will be
something that you guys enjoyed to just
kind of see what life at pecking
University is like for international
students and study abroad because it is
definitely very different
but I hope that this video has brought
you some entertainment or whatever just
like I hope that you enjoyed this video
and I will get those Vlogs to you guys
as soon as possible let me know if you
have any questions Down Below in the
comments and I'll see you guys next time
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