Midshipmen 1st Class Peter Guidera and Logan Spiva and Midshipman 2nd Class Samuel Calaway lived at the International Culture Plaza on the Northern Campus and were paired with Chinese roommates. The semester included a combination of language and culture classes, opportunities to travel around China and interaction with Chinese students, particularly their roommates.

‘‘This provided an exceptional glimpse into modern Chinese culture and a special chance to improve our linguistic skills,” said Guidera. ‘‘Living abroad for just one semester in China has had more impact on our Chinese abilities than any amount of class time back in America could ever have.”

All three midshipmen took three courses during the semester, adding up to about 15 credit hours. Chinese language classes met every day for two hours with a test every other week and character quizzes and homework every day. They also chose elective courses such as 21st Century Beijing, Environmental Politics, and Chinese Philosophy.

‘‘These courses enabled us to understand the political and cultural aspects of Chinese society, in addition to learning the language,” said Spiva. ‘‘Coursework in all the elective courses required exploration of topics within the community, affording us the opportunity to interact with locals, in Chinese, on our topics of research.”

Some of these classes included field trips in and around Beijing and other parts of the country. The mids attended a traditional opera and acrobatics performance, went to the 798 Arts District in Beijing, and spent a weekend in the towns of Xi’an and Yanan. As part of the class in environmental politics, they heard China’s leading environmental activist, Dai Qing, speak, and went on a tour of the Miyun Reservoir north of Beijing.

They also traveled to a Buddhist monastery north of Beijing for a lesson in meditation and had the opportunity to teach migrant students in Chinese.

Outside of the classroom, they had the chance to travel around the country, visiting places such as Shanghai, Hong Kong, Macau, Lijiang, Guilin, Deqing, Tianjin, Xian, Yanan and Chengdu.

‘‘The diversity of these regional hubs exposed us to a more authentic and historical China outside of modernized Beijing,” said Calaway. ‘‘We sampled the local cuisine and attempted to converse with the local dialects. But with all the fun tourist activities we were also exposed to a more sobering aspect of life in China. Pollution and urbanization are unbridled in inland China.”

Despite this, the mids recognized signs of China’s recent progress.

‘‘Since the Maoist era they have brought millions out of poverty, substantially raised the standard of living, and are moving quickly toward a free market economy,” said Guidera. ‘‘We now see China as not only a country to be reckoned with in the political and economic arenas, but also as a society to be respected.”

In their interactions with their roommates and teachers and the local population, they found that their interest in Chinese culture was matched by the Chinese interest in them, but in a different way.

‘‘We wanted to know what they thought about politics and China’s place in the modern world while they were interested in what we did for a living, how much money we made and how to obtain our culture, not our politics,” said Spiva.

Regardless of the topic, conversations with the Chinese helped improve the mids’ cultural understanding of a country very different from their own.

‘‘When studying abroad, not only do you acquire what is taught in the classroom, but you also acquire a knowledge of the cultural meanings behind what is said as well as a feel for how normal everyday people speak the language and express their ideas,” said Calaway. ‘‘Armed with this new cultural knowledge, we can begin to understand more than just what is said; we can also begin to understand the mentality and the mindset of the Chinese people.”