Hello From Beijing!

Hello! I hope everyone has been having a great summer. I have just arrived in China, and will be blogging my experiences here! First, I think I should explain my motives for working in China this summer.   Following my junior year, I knew that I wanted to find a way to combine two of my passions: computer science and Chinese. To me, the choice was easy: what better way to do both than to work IN China? Cryptography has always been a field that I am very interested in, and so accordingly, I emailed Professor John Steinberger, a cryptography professor at one of the China’s most prestigious universities, Tsinghua University. Located in the heart of Beijing, Tsinghua offered me an ideal situation: I got to study under one of the experts in the field as well as improve my Chinese and experience life in the heart of China’s capital. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous prior to my arrival in Beijing. China was, after all, an environment nothing like I had ever experienced before. In addition, the Chinese language is known to be notoriously hard to learn: a reputation I can agree with, having studied the language for 8 years. I was worried that my language skills would not be proficient enough to get by, as English is not spoken commonly on the streets of Beijing. Lastly, I was very nervous to venture out and live alone for six weeks in such an unfamiliar place: this trip would mark the first time I was living for a substantial amount of time outside my home. Nevertheless, I was excited about my summer ahead, and decided to view it through a broader perspective, and realize that China has both its advantages as well as its disadvantages. From the limited glimpse I’ve gotten of China since arriving at Beijing International Airport, I can already tell that this summer will be full of exciting, and at times, challenging experience. I can also already tell that it will be extremely fulfilling as well. I can’t wait to share my experiences with all of you!

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