Source: Office for Overseas Promotion
Written by: Qiu Jingping, Xu Ye, Cui Qianmin
Edited by: Wang Dongmei

Dominique Chea and Lauriane Muller, two exchange students from Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3 in France, are studying at Sun Yat-sen University this semester. Before arriving in China, their impression of the country came from movies and internet research: large population, long history, and crowded cities. Studying and living here has exposed them to a wholly different China. Below you can find a transcript of their recent interview with fellow SYSU Students Xu Ye, Qiu Jingping and Cui Qianmin.
I. Coming to China

I (Interviewers): When you arrived in China, how did the reality that you encountered differ from the China in your imagination?

DC (Dominique Chea): Chinese people are really warm-hearted and helpful! This is what we never expected before coming here. For example, when we traveled in Beijing and got lost, a gentleman was so kind to help us and helped us find our hotel. Here in SYSU, there are also many students ready to help us.

LM (Lauriane Muller): Actually we chose Zhejiang University as our first choice. We had thought that people in Guangdong province all spoke Cantonese and we wouldn’t be able to understand them. We now know that they also speak Mandarin and that is a real relief.

I: You mentioned that you traveled to Beijing. How was that?
LM: We went to Beijing on 20th February and
stayed there for 5 days. We visited a lot of tourist attractions, like the Great Wall, the Summer Palace, the Forbidden City…It was Chinese New Year and there were people everywhere!

I: Do you find any differences between traveling in France and in China?

LM: I think there are quite a lot. Take transportation for example. We went to Badaling Great Wall by bus and I stood on that bus all the way for 3 hours! This is not allowed in France except for some short-distance buses. In France, you must have a seat and fasten the seat belt.

DC: It cost us 12 yuan to get to Badaling Great Wall by bus but only 6 yuan by train when we went back! The train was much more comfortable but cheaper than the bus. We didn’t quite understand that.

II. Studying at SYSU

I: Talk about the academic atmosphere here at SYSU? Is it different from studying in France?

DC: I think the largest difference is the teachers. Here in SYSU teachers are close to their students while teachers in France are more formal and serious.

LM: You can even become friends with your teacher on WeChat (a popular instant messaging and social media platform), seeing photos and knowing what he or she does during the weekend and so on. In France, impossible! Also the class attendance policy is more strict in China. In France you can skip every class and no one cares.

I: So, will you skip classes?

LM: No, we are good students. Some students will upload the exercises and teaching materials to Facebook so for some students, they don’t need to go to classes.

I: What interests you most as for studying in SYSU?

DC: I really appreciate the Tutor System in SYSU! Every foreign student has a student as a tutor from TCFL(Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language). They teach us Chinese and we teach them foreign languages. It is perfect. My French friend in Beijing doesn’t have this Tutor System and neither in France.

III. Life on Campus

I: Do you live in the campus?

LM: No. We rent an apartment outside the campus with four other French students. We pay 850 yuan per month, much cheaper than renting an apartment in Lyon. There are no on-campus dormitories in France. The government will build some apartments outside the campus and students can apply for those. Or you can even commute from home every day. Dominique lives with her parents in Lyon and I rent an apartment with my brother. In France, the campus is much smaller than here because we don’t have supermarkets or swimming pools or playgrounds in the campus. And canteens you have 5 here while we only have one, which just offers lunch.

I: Do you have meals in our canteens?

DC: Usually we have lunch in the canteen and we order the same food almost every time because the menu is written in Chinese.

LM: Sometimes we have steamed buns or dumplings. And we also go to the restaurants outside the North Gate.

I: What do you order in canteens?

DC: Rice, vegetables mostly. A lot of meat dishes here are spicy! Some French people like spicy food, but it’s a bit much for us.

LM: That’s right. My mom loves spicy food but I hate it.

I: Do you cook French dishes or Chinese ones?

DC: Ingredients for French dishes can be hard to track down. Sometimes just instant noodles.

I: Do you find any other things that you are not used to in China?

LM: Maybe foreigners are not so common in China and my skin color is special, so there are always some people staring at me on the road.

DC: It is different in France. France is a mixed society with people from different races, like black people, Asians, Europeans.

DC: Our first Chinese friend is Collen. She is a volunteer from ISO(Office of International Students’ Affairs). She picked us up at the airport and helped us a lot after that. We also went out together to go sightseeing in Zhuhai. A Chinese student I met in France told me that he thought French people were not as warm-hearted as Chinese people. Now I think he is right.

I: Do you think that Chinese students are a little serious? Some people think that Chinese students study all day and all they care about is GPA. Do you tend to enjoy your life instead of just studying?

DC: It depends. Some Chinese friends of mine also know well how to enjoy their life. It is true that Chinese students like studying more than going to parties or bars. Some French students like going to bars and always get drunk.

I: Many Chinese students want to make friends with foreign students, not only for practicing languages but also for knowing different cultures. They are sometimes shy. Do you have any advice for them?

LM: I am very glad that Chinese students want to make friends with us. Please tell them that we welcome the new friends so just come to us！