Hello, and welcome to my portfolio! I am an undergraduate student at Penn State majoring in Chinese and International Relations. When I first came to Penn State, I was only planning to major in Political Science. I had always been interested in politics, and it just seemed like the natural major for me. To fulfill my foreign language requirement, I decided to take Chinese, because I figured it would be useful. However, I never expected to fall in love with the language the way I did. The very nature and structure of the language fascinated me, and as a result, I became very interested in Chinese culture, which also led me to make friends with Chinese students at my school. Now, I have decided to duel major in both Chinese and Political Science. As of April 2011, I am spending my summer studying Chinese in Shanghai. There, I will take four hours of Chinese classes a day, which will be the equivalent of one year of Chinese. Apparently, I'm the first Penn State student to ever do this program. I can't wait to spend my summer in Shanghai, and I'm eager to improve my Chinese as fast as possible.
Looking back, it was foolish to only major in Political Science. An appropriate duel-major I think is necessary in order to supplement your knowledge, and to distinguish oneself from the legions of political science majors. Chinese I feel is a perfect supplement.
Looking back, it was foolish to only major in Political Science. An appropriate duel-major I think is necessary in order to supplement your knowledge, and to distinguish oneself from the legions of political science majors. Chinese I feel is a perfect supplement.
