Send Christian Cohn one step closer to his dreams.

Christian Cohn Start Date: Jul 8, 2014 - End Date: Nov 4, 2014
  • TEFL/Teach Abroad
  • Vacation/Personal Trip
  • Cultural Exchange
  • Qingdao, China

My Travel Story

by: Christian Cohn Start Date: Jul 8, 2014 - End Date: Nov 4, 2014
  • TEFL/Teach Abroad
  • Vacation/Personal Trip
  • Cultural Exchange
Hello! I'm very happy that you have chosen to view my profile.
I am very passionate about learning new languages and also simply wish to see the world before I die, one location at a time. At the moment, I do not have the funds to do this on my own.
I have been studying Mandarin Chinese on my own for 7 months now. I have mainly studied from various books that I managed to find at my university's library but I have also been lucky to have found friends both in my university and in China who were willing to help me practice my Chinese. However, even though I feel that I can continue to learn a lot from these books and my friends. I can only think, that if I were to live in the country where the language is spoken, I could learn so much more, so much quicker. There is also the one thing, that I feel is very important that I can never learn from a book. That is, culture. In my opinion, the best way to learn culture is not to just read about it, but also, to experience it.
For the trip I am planning. I intend to stay in China for 1 year and in that time I hope to become fluent in Chinese. As for why I have chosen Qingdao over any other locations. I only have 2 reasons. The first is that I have contact with a Chinese professor there who has agreed to help me find work teaching English. The other is simply that there is someone in that city, who I absolutely must meet. This person has also agreed to help me find housing in the city.
Since I expect to be earning some sort of income during my stay, I only asked for enough to last me a few months. The rest, I hope to earn on my own.
  • Qingdao, China