MY EXPERIENCE IN CHINA AS A GRADUATE STUDENT

These three years of my life as a master’s degree student in Anesthesiology has been a wonderful life time experience. When I first came here from Nepal, I had a mixed feeling of how I would survive in a foreign country with difference in language, food and culture. But as the time passed by I discovered Chinese people have a heart of gold. I am very lucky to have all good hearted Chinese friends who helped me to make my life really comfortable during my stay in China.

This place has helped me be a better independent person. This is my first foreign country that I visited, stayed and loved. It made me feel to be at home away from home. I have never been separated from my parents before, so during earlier days I was lost. Like all other foreigners I missed my home. The language was new and difficult and I could not even buy food for myself. But our school is very thoughtful and they arranged us Chinese classes in first semester along with other subjects. And in no time I was able to understand and speak Chinese. In fact, I loved to speak in Chinese as people started to understand me. Since I learned the language, the life in China slowly started to become easier and merrier.

Likewise, I started my residency training in my hospital, the third Hospital of Xiangya in the second semester. The subject I got scholarship for was also new for me and that time also I had some adjustment problem in the beginning. But my professor, Dr Huang Dong, was really a kind-hearted man and treated me like a daughter. He was very concerned about me. He always encouraged me to learn something better, either it be grasping anesthesiologists skills and procedures or learning pain medicine or Chinese language as well. Back home, I had heard foreigners are not allowed to touch patients in China, but I found it was so untrue. If you are a regular and interested to learn, teachers will not only allow you to touch the patient but also allow you to take whole charge of treating the patient. I remember in the first day of my hospital, one teacher in my department hold my hand and encouraged me to intubate the patient in operation table even when I was afraid to. That time I felt those were the rumors I heard that they don’t allow you to do anything. After that incident it inspired me to go to hospital every day and work and learn something new. The skills teachers possess are standard. So at the end of graduating days I am able to perform anesthesia all by myself.

Similarly, my dormitory has been a home for me for these three years. I met so many beautiful and nice people in this place. Some even became my friends for a life time and I will always thank China for that. The room that we live in is really comfortable and clean. They have even provided us with air-conditioner so that we can enjoy our stay here and miss home less. The teachers in our “office for international students” are really caring and always thinking about our necessities and safety. They have encouraged students to have good attitude on study, encouraged in having good academic records and also inspired us to explore Chinese language, culture, food and scenic spots. For this, they are giving honor awards from this year and scholarships grant for the excellent students. They have also arranged so many field trips in the scenic spots of China so that we can explore and enjoy the beauty and taste really good food. Beside this I really want to thank our teachers from our international students’ office for a humanitarian work they have done this year. Since I am from Nepal and we had a devastating earthquake this year which killed almost 8000 people and left many injured and homeless. Keeping these things in mind and being thoughtful of the mental health of all the Nepalese students studying in Xiangya, they called us for meeting and talked to us about our family and home. They also gave us some money for long distance international calls back home so that we can be sure of the condition of our family. Not only this, to prevent us from being traumatized by this terrible incident they planned a trip to Chenzhou so that we could refresh our mind and focus on our study. The teacher even told us “the better way to serve a country is by finishing what we came to do here and by becoming a good doctor”. Those were the words of inspiration which motivated us persuading the goal we came to achieve here. They also took all the Nepalese students to visit the exhibition of Chinese artist who was helping for fund raising for Nepal.

I really had nice time knowing my Chinese as well other international friends. My Chinese friends as well as my teachers have invited me to their home for dinner in different occasion especially Chinese new year. They made sure I don’t miss my home too much. They always treated me like a member of their own family. I recall last year one of my teachers invited me to her home for Chinese New Year and when she introduced me to her grandparents I nearly cried remembering my family. These are the moments I will remember forever. I never thought I will be able to make any Chinese friend earlier but I am proud to say that not only I have made some Chinese friends but those are the people who I choose to be friends with for a life time and we will always be contacting each other for the rest of our lives. Beside this, I met my husband here so I will always be grateful to China for showering me with love.

In addition, being here alone and not depending on anyone has made me a better independent and social person. I got a chance to do so many things that I always wanted to do and that I could not do back home. I joined gymnasium here, learned swimming and played badminton really well. Those were the things I loved doing when I had a free time. And one really funny thing I learned here is to cook as I have to live here by myself. I even learned few Chinese recipes that I will be cooking for my family when I go back to Nepal.

There are so many things I want to write and there are so many things that I preserve in my memory. As the days draw nearer for me to leave China I am starting to miss it more and more. I simply loved this place and this has really been time of my life. It is not that there aren’t any negativememories but those memories are masked by so many good memories that I treasure and will be cherishing for a lifetime. Lastly, I want to thank our international students’ office for giving me a chance to write my beautiful memories in words. Thank you Xiangya and thank you China for making me a part of your family.

Name- Alisha Shrestha ; Student number- 128319001 ; Country- Nepal ; Major- Department of Anesthesiology, The third Xiangya Hospital