During school I was never sure of what I wanted to study, or if I wanted to study at university at all really. I was very interested in different societies, languages, and cultures, but didn’t really know what to do with this passion. I never had the financial means to travel the world like they do in the movies; so, when I heard that there was a scholarship specifically for Scottish state school pupils to study in China, I knew I had to apply.

When I heard about the Confucius Institute’s Chinese scholarship, I had been taking some Mandarin lessons as an extra class during my final year of high school, but I could only say a few words (probably pronouncing them wrong) and could never imagine actually moving to China. I never expected to be awarded the scholarship and when I received my acceptance email, I was so scared I tried not to think about it until I had to leave. I have to say, my mum was pretty stressed when I was packing the night before leaving…

The time finally came, and I moved to a city called Tianjin with 21 other Scottish state school pupils. The scholarship funded our accommodation, tuition fees and we were also given a monthly allowance – cool right? We stayed in Tianjin for 10 months, living in university accommodation and taking Chinese language classes together with students from all over the world. During the Chinese New Year festival, we had around two months off, during this time a lot of the scholars decided to travel in China and the surrounding countries and others took the time to go back to Scotland. Moving from such a small town in Scotland to Tianjin straight after leaving school was most definitely the scariest thing I have ever done; however, I also made lifelong friends and memories I still cherish today.

After returning from China, I started to study a degree in Chinese and Spanish at the University of Edinburgh and I am currently about to start my final year. Of course, COVID has impacted my degree, as it has with many students, as I did not get to experience any time abroad during my third year. Which of course is disappointing, but also makes me all the more grateful for the time I spent in China before starting my degree. Studying Chinese and Spanish at university has been a challenge but I have loved my experience and I am looking forward to my final year. I am still unsure about what I want to do when I graduate, but as I learned when leaving high school, sometimes not knowing can lead to the most exciting things!

If you are making choices soon about what to do when you leave school, college, or university, wishing you lots of luck. 加油加油

By Ana Scougall

Member of the China Futures Society, University of Edinburgh