Alessandra Zoia is 27, studies Asian Languages and Civilisations at Ca’ Foscari and spent six months in Qingdao on the Dragon programme, with a family with two girls aged six and nine. She had been studying Chinese for almost ten years: she left in order to stop only studying it.
Why she left
“To finally immerse myself in the language and the culture I have been studying for almost ten years.” Her expectations: “to get to know the real Chinese culture, the one beyond stereotypes and textbook notions, and to unblock myself in speaking the language”.
Her experience in China
I left with a lot of anxiety and a lot of hope, and luckily my experience turned out extremely positive. It was not all roses, of course. There were hard moments, alternating with moments full of joy and calm — but that is life. My family was always kind and available, and my little girls, six and nine, grew attached to me and I to them.
“Getting used to life in a country so different from mine took time, but after about three months I finally stopped counting how many days had passed and how many were left: I started living my everyday life with enthusiasm and a lot of happiness. Months later I still miss the world I had built there. I left a piece of my heart in China, and in Qingdao in particular.”
The best moment
“I spent Chinese New Year entirely with the family, hosted by the paternal grandmother and surrounded by uncles, great-uncles, cousins and family friends. It is a unique memory I will always carry with me.”
The hardest part
“I am not someone who likes confrontation, but living with a host family it is inevitable to face misunderstandings, or simply to have to talk about your own limits. Thanks also to the follow-up calls I managed to face my anxiety about confrontation and always talk calmly and constructively with my host parents and the rest of the family.”
She is clear-eyed about living together: “fitting into a family balance that already exists can weigh on you sometimes, and I think that is normal. Like everything, there are good sides and bad sides: what matters is that the good ones outnumber the bad, and for me they did”.
The moment she carries with her
“A few days before I left, the girls were starting to understand I was going away. One evening, while we were playing, the youngest said: “I will miss you. Will you miss us too? If you do not miss us, that is not okay!”. It still brings tears to my eyes. And I do miss them both, so promise kept, I would say.”
How it changed her
“This experience really showed me what I can do on my own. I have always been very independent, but there were situations that made me anxious and made me doubt myself. After China that changed a lot: now I am much more confident.”
She recommends Nice Exchange “because the experience it offers, together with the continuous support before and after departure, is unique among this kind of experience abroad, especially in China”.
Quick questions
🍜 Favourite Chinese dish
西红柿炒鸡蛋 and grandpa’s 饺子, plus 奶茶
🏙️ The place that stayed with her
The shopping mall downtown, where she spent her days with friends
🎯 The most important thing she brings home
The cultural baggage and the bonds
😊 One word for the experience
Unique!
🈶 A Chinese word
爱情
❤️ Best memory
The last evenings in Qingdao playing with her little sisters
She chose 爱情 “because love describes everything I lived: love for a culture and a language I have studied for years and could finally live; the love of the bonds built in my host family and with the other au pairs; and love for the people back in Italy, who never left me alone despite the distance”.
