When David started his first semester at SFU in Sept 2005, he didn’t have any special training in either Computing Science or Chinese language. 

After 8 months at SFU including 5 Chinese language courses, David arrived at Zhejiang University (ZU) in Hangzhou on May 8, 2006 (as one of the ten SFU students enrolled in SFU-ZU Dual Degree Program) for one summer of intensive Chinese study,.  After the summer, he and his fellow Dual Degree Program students will spend two years studying Computing Science at ZU, along with the Zhejiang students participating in this unique program.

Hangzhou, located 150 km from Shanghai, is known in China as "paradise on earth" and attracts numerous tourists each year.  Zhejiang University, named after the coastal province of East China, is ranked the 3rd best among all of the Chinese universities.

Two months after his arrival, when asked about his experience, David was proud that when going to marketplaces, "I was having fluent conversations with almost all of the sales people."  Another student in his class commented:   "The first thing that I was actually proud of was asking one of the servers in the canteen how to order food, understanding what she said, and then doing it. I even took a picture of the bun and change I got back because I was so psyched." This student also pointed out that "There are lots of establishments nearby for whatever our needs may be, so there has been no difficulty and the experience for me has been very enjoyable." 

What suggestions would they have for the other students interested in this program?  "Sign up! The experience is just great and the skills you’ll gain will be a tremendous advantage in your future life!  Plus, the prices here are really cheap!"

For more information on the Computing Science Dual Degree Program at SFU and Zheijiang University in China, please visit: http://www.cs.sfu.ca/SFU-ZU.  

Written by Yan Jin