Like many students here at UC Davis, I’ve been putting off my Bachelor of Arts foreign language requirement for way too long. With graduation coming up, I knew that I needed to get started on (and hopefully finish) my foreign language requirement by spring. However, the thought of having to go to class five days a week in the morning, actually learn a language, and devote a lot of time into a class wasn’t something I was quite looking forward to.
For some context of my background, I’m ethnically Chinese and South Korean, though my parents were born in and grew up in South Korea. Growing up, my parents predominantly spoke English (and a bit of Chinese) at home, and I know an extremely limited amount of Korean phrases.
Culturally, I grew up with primarily Korean heritage as opposed to Chinese. Our dining tables were filled with traditional Korean foods, like bulgogi, tteokbokki, galbi, and samgyetang, and my parents taught us how to play games like gonggi. All this to say, I grew up in a predominantly white community, so much of my cultural upbringing was pushed down and ignored, rather than celebrated by those around me.
Since foreign languages are small in class size (up to 25 students per class), I knew that seats for a Mandarin would fill up quickly and that I would need to sign up ASAP. Luckily, I was able to snatch a seat (though I’m not sure if being a fourth-year versus a first-year was really a battle of who had the quicker draw on class registration). After looking over my schedule, I quickly realized that languages met every single day of the week. This caused me to panic, since most of my classes I’ve taken throughout my entire undergraduate experience have only ever met 2 to 3 times a week.
This being said, thinking about having to commute to campus every day of the week at 10 a.m. was definitely something I was dreading. As much as I enjoy the UC Davis campus, I could not imagine having to wake up in the mornings in the freezing winter weather, making the trek onto campus, and then actively participating in class.
When the first day of winter quarter rolled around, I clicked snooze about a hundred times before finally forcing myself out of bed. Everything in me wanted to drop the class and stay home, but I knew that I had to just make the plunge and go. After finally getting out of the house and onto the bus, I made my way over to class. The closer it got to the start of class, the more I wanted to run away and never step foot into the classroom.
Coming into the class, I was embarrassed about my white-washed Mandarin. I didn’t know how to read or write simplified characters at all, and I didn’t really get a firm grasp on concepts taught in high school largely because of the pandemic. After being interviewed by the instructor who cleared me to take this class, we were dismissed. From here, I began attending class every day. The environment was sweet and welcoming, yet the expectations were extremely high, and we had quizzes and tests 2 to 3 times a week. As someone that seems to learn a lot more under pressure, I felt like taking this foreign language gave me the courage to try and speak more, to connect more with students around me, and to ultimately learn more about my culture and heritage.
Learning in a college environment definitely isn’t easy, but it taught me a lot about myself, my learning abilities, and my heritage. This course helped me grow as a person—it allowed me to feel more comfortable speaking in front of other people, and I developed my reading and writing abilities. As someone that once felt so out of touch with her culture, who couldn’t speak or comprehend much, if not anything, to her relatives and family around her, I began feeling more comfortable and confident in my Mandarin Chinese abilities.
I began picking up on more conversations when I went to supermarkets, implementing what we were learning in class in conversations with my parents, and I started feeling so much more in tune with myself. Being able to celebrate and make a poster for Lunar New Year, connecting with classmates with a similar interest in the language, and, most importantly, finding the time to deep dive into a language that felt so close yet distant, helped positively shape me into the person I am now.
As I’m writing this, I’m officially over halfway through my first quarter taking Chinese, and needless to say, I’m so glad I didn’t end up skipping class during my first day back from winter quarter. I’ve learned and grown in so many different ways, and I’m excited to continue doing so until I’ve graduated!