Peter and George, two exchanged students from Czech write on exchange study to SAU, China.

When we were selected to students of Shenyang Aerospace University, we ran around excitedly telling everyone that we were going to Shenyang China.

The responses we received ranged from ‘what part of China is that in?’ to ‘is that where a city near Beijing?’ but most popular question was ‘why China?’.

After our encounters with slippery ice and living in constant fear of homesick, we started to ask ourselves that same question. But after making some good friends with students at SAU and learning Chinese language and culture, we quickly fell in love with the city of Shenayng and the country as a whole.

In our first classes, we felt a bit unfamiliar with other international students but soon we made friends and the insight they provided into the customs here helped me to avoid making a fool of myself in a few tricky situations.

During our study here, we tried to immerse ourselves in Chinese culture. We tried the Toufu (taste like brown cheese which was quite intriguing), went on a hike up a mountain and even tried to learn some of the language (which the locals found rather amusing).

We think the highlight of our stay was the day we gave a presentation on our home country Czech. It seemed that other international students didn’t quite know about Czech, however we were wrong, they know Nadvade, the soccer hero of our country, and they are fond of Skoda cars, which is a symbol of our country. Before leaving for Czech, teachers held a party for us. We raised glasses in praise for the friendship and our stay in SAU, ultimately making it my best experience overseas.

We would like to say ‘Děkuji’ (thousand thanks) to SAU and the International Education College for giving us the opportunity to study at a fantastic institution and to live in beautiful China. It was truly the happiest month of our lives.