My initial plan for my year abroad was to study in the intensive language immersion program in the fall, and then take the non-immersion track in the spring. Essentially, that meant I’d be intensively studying only Chinese in the fall; in the spring, I’d be taking content courses taught in English and continuing my Chinese studies non-intensively.

This was all fine and dandy until I started thinking about the kind of progress I’ve made so far during my intensive language study, and how easy it is to slip behind and lose all that progress. When I went on vacation for a week to go climb Huangshan, I came back and one could obviously tell that I had lost some of the improvements I’d been making, particularly when it came to my speaking ability. And this was only after a week, and I had been speaking Chinese in Huangshan!

After this discovery, I started to worry. What would my language ability be like after winter break (aka over a month without studying Chinese)? Would I be able to improve my language skills at the rate I have been in a non-intensive environment? Should I opt out of taking the content courses and continue the immersion program? Would I be able to graduate on time if I decided to do that?

I did some research and talked to a lot of people, and this is what I’ve come up with:

• If I continue the immersion program next semester, I will be able to graduate on time. Somehow. I’m not really sure how it all manages to fit, but it does.
• As an immersion student, I will not be able to do an internship in Beijing. (This is an option for non-immersion students.) Internships are really valued in my field of study, so… this is a minus.
• Even if I took immersion next semester, I would have the option of taking one content course as long as it did not clash with my immersion schedule. This is a DEFINITE PLUS. If I could take a content course that would count towards my major’s graduation requirements, that would ease a little bit of my courseload for senior year.
• This one is kind of obvious, but I’ve only got one shot at such a fantastic opportunity to learn a language. I’m not sure if the English language content courses can compare with that kind of opportunity. But interning in Beijing might be able to compare…

Now that I’ve figured out the pluses and minuses for both choices, it’s time for me to sit down and really figure out what I want and what is best for me. I’ve got a little time to figure it out, but I want to make sure that whatever decision I make, I won’t regret it. If only someone could tell me what the right choice for me is!