Ribka Chen | Hainan Life & Study Guide

My name is Ribka and my chinese name is 陈诗云 (Chen Shi Yun). I am currently studying in Hainan University, China.

I’m here on a scholarship, it’s a full ride. I’m on a language program for a year, and I’m gonna start my major next year, that’s when I will be studying pharmacy(药学) taught in Mandarin.

Right now I haven’t started my major yet. I’m on a year-long program of studying Mandarin to get a solid foundation for my actual major. My major will be very academically demanding so it’s so important that I make the most of this year.

Learning Mandarin is something I do everyday now. 每天要学习，好好学习，天天向上。Back in high school, Mandarin was just a school subject. Now Mandarin is essential for my survival in China.

It actually does feel strange, I don’t feel like a real university student yet, it almost feels like I’m taking a gap year. But at the same time I feel glad I haven’t started my major yet, not only because I need to strengthen my Mandarin skills, but I also needed time to adjust to a new independent life far from home.

I’m not only learning skills for life, but I’m also learning to understand myself better and to regulate my own emotions. I guess this is part of the transition from being a teenager to an age that’s legally adult (but doesn’t quite feel like it).

As I’m writing this now it’s currently winter break. There are so many things that I learned from the first semester of living here. For me, one of the things I learned is to try to talk in Mandarin as best as you can. I studied Mandarin for 3 years, I know what to say, but sometimes I doubt myself. Imposter syndrome was heavy on me even until the end of the semester, I still feel it even after having an actual HSK 4 certificate. (Note: by imposter syndrome, I am not talking about the Among Us fever zsddfssd, go google it if you don’t know what that is)

I was thinking that my very first post should start with a self-introduction. Which is hard because sometimes I think I barely have a sense of self :’D

Sometimes I think life would be better if I were a dragon. 我很想成为一条龙。Dragons don’t encounter the same perils us human mortals have to face.

FUN FACTS ABOUT ME

Here are my random quirks:

1. My main hobby is reading!!! I mostly read fictional books. Fantasy is my favourite book genre.
2. I love quotes! I love pinterest and tumblr. There’s something so fun when you find someone describing exactly how you’re feeling. Or it could be something quirky that I like.
3. I LOVE BREADD!! I EAT BREAD EVERYDAYY! THE BREAD IN CHINA ARE SO GOOD. 面包很好吃😋

WHY CHINA

I always dreamed of studying abroad. I think it really does broaden your horizon. You get to experience a new culture and learn different sets of norms and customs.

It’s challenging, because it will be out of your comfort zone, but that’s exactly what you need in order to grow. The first few days here were… quite hectic. It’s a long story so maybe I’ll explain everything in a future post!

I remembered in December 2024 I wanted so badly to study pharmacy in China. I had that specific dream and my heart ached with yearning.

I just think that I’d get more job opportunities if I can speak Mandarin. I also had Mandarin as a school subject, and it would feel like such a shame if I forgot all about it after high school.

WHY PHARMACY

I know that pharmacy is hard, but it’s what I know I love. Since middle school I’ve always loved science.

In high school I started loving chemistry. It was very fun. 化学很有意思。

I think a part of why I’m drawn to pharmacy is because I liked the thought of helping people get better. Being a doctor or a nurse sounds way too scary for me, so pharmacy feels like the second closest thing.

I want to be the kind of pharmacist that works in labs to formulate better medicine. I hope I can work in a good pharmacy company one day. 我希望我的理想会实现。

I remembered in high school I thought, imagine if I grow up and it wouldn’t have anything to do with science at all. It sounds like a bleak future for me.

Honestly for now I don’t know if I’ll survive next year when I will actually start studying pharmacy😭, there will be so many challenges.

I have this crazy and delusional belief that I can do it. I think… the fact that I got the opportunity itself was a huge blessing.

People say that if you weren’t capable, you wouldn’t have the thought. And I did have a thought, which was a very strong desire.

And if you weren’t capable, you wouldn’t have the opportunity. I signed up for the scholarship not even hoping that I’d pass… but I did. And I think that should be a sign… that I could do it if I work hard for it.

I get through my days by being delusionally optimistic. Everything will work out, or at least it has to!!!

LANGUAGE PROGRAM GOALS

Before I got here my goal was to reach HSK 4 near the end of the learning program. That would be next semester. But little did I know that I reached that level sooner than I thought.

I took the test in November, which is two months after I got here. So currently I am studying HSK 5 when I feel like it, but I mostly learn new words casually from watching C-Dramas and WeChat Channels.

Other than that, I want to just get my life together and adjust to a life abroad. Building habits and staying disciplined is something I still sometimes struggle with, but I’m trying my best.

I’m not easily satisfied and sometimes I get sulky when I think I could have done better. I have high standards for myself. Someone said that discipline is the key to confidence, so I really hope to be more disciplined.

I’m learning things like managing my money and time. There’s a lot of trial and error but that’s part of life! There’s something a bit exciting in trying to improve yourself, it’s like levelling up in a video game. Doing new things is like collecting EXP points, except that you can’t directly see the progress bar, but it’s definitely there.

Ultimately, I want to grow into someone who’s secure. Sometimes I still constantly compare myself to others so I’m trying to be a lot kinder to myself.

WHY I’M STARTING A BLOG

Mostly it’s because I like to yap! I wanted a space where I can write all my thoughts down. I also hope that I can write useful information that people will gain new knowledge from. I hope I’ll help people by writing ^w^.

I want to write about my life as someone who’s studying in China. A lot of it will be about my learning journey, both in Mandarin learning and in my major in the future.

I want to talk a lot about my Mandarin progress as a whole in the future. All the way from high school to now. It’s quite a long and interesting story which might get written into a blog post.

I also have a lot of… other things on my mind that I want to write about, things I don’t even know what to classify as yet. Just things you think about as a girl who’s legally an adult but still can’t get around that fact.

I have so many things going on in my head. I swear it’s almost as if I have essays in my head. Sometimes I have topics I’ve been really thinking about and I have to write them in a notes app and dwell on it for some time.

If this blog has a genre it’s probably slice of life. When I’m writing this I imagine what I write as something I would tell my friends about. I want to keep this chill tone that’s easy to read but also informative.

It would be exciting to read back on this post four years later and see how much I’ve grown. This will also be like a mini diary documenting a bit of my life.

To summarize, here’s what you can expect in the future:

• Mandarin learning tips
• Slice-of-life stories
• Personal reflection
• Experiences in China
• Pharmacy journey (next year)

I’m not sure how often I will be able to post because I’m still struggling with time management, but I hope that every month I’ll at least have one blog post out.

Because at the end of the day, I’m just a girl trying to get through obstacles that never stop popping up like in a video game. I don’t want to pretend that I have my life together, I’m always learning every single day. 我希望每天成为更好的人才。