Editor's Note
Palvanova Guljahan (English Name Molly), a Turkmen international student, is currently a first-year-postgraduate student from the School of Economics and Management. Initially, she came to China just for learning Chinese, but after two years, she discovered her true passion and decided to challenge something new. SEU then became her choice, where she could use what she learns in the next two years to launch her own career for international trade between her native country and China.
I am so proud that
I can speak Chinese
Hello, my name is Molly, and I was born in Turkmenistan, a country located in the heart of Asia. It is without much exaggeration to say that I was born to know four languages, namely English, Russian, Turkish and Turkmen under the influence of the surrounding language environment. Majoring in Russian Language and Literature, I served at a high school as a Russian teacher after graduation from a university in Turkmenistan. Everything seemed progressing smoothly.
After working as a teacher for two years, I found that even though I have gained a lot, this teaching job could not realize my best self, so I decided to challenge something new. As I was once a language-major student, why not start from learning a new language? It was at that time when I thought about learning Chinese. In my country, multilingual skills especially Chinese proficiency is a huge competitive advantage enabling you to stand out from any job interview. Although I thought Chinese the hardest language in the world to learn, I have made my mind to try something really different from my past life.
Thus I came to China almost three years ago. In order to get the best linguistic environment, I spent one year in Xi'an, another one year in Tianjin, and a short period of time in Beijing. During these two years and more, I passed HSK-5 exam and traveled to many beautiful places; I took part in diverse activities, enjoying lots of precious memories. More importantly, when I was in Xi'an I found my Mr. Right who is also an international student, and we came together to Nanjing afterwards.
SEU
/ STORY
Now I can speak fluent Chinese,
what shall I do next?
SEU，the Next "Charging Station"
of My Life
It is also these years of staying in China that make me realize I can take advantage of my language skills to actually do something. I have a brother who is working in the banking industry, and his experience motivates me to know more about the business world. I am fascinated by the power of international trade and thought whether I could do something for my hometown through international trade.
Having spent almost three years in North China, I guess it is the right time for me to refresh myself in a different environment. My friend told me that Southeast University is a renowned university in Nanjing, so I tried to apply for it. Luckily enough, I got my CSC full scholarship which is really limited, and I was admitted to SEU as an international student majoring in international trade. My dream is really coming true.
My life here at SEU is more than just happy, it is also fulfilling. As a student, I take online classes every day, listening to interesting lectures given by well-experienced teachers. SEU provides us with many chances to explore Chinese culture, and I got to experience writing Fu with brush pen and drawing Peking Opera Mask. After two years of learning, it was not so hard for me to write Chinese characters, and I even made great improvement in practice.
During my spare time, I enjoy riding bike around campus and to the library. We have a big library on our campus, and every day I go there with pleasure, especially the foreign language book reading room on the fourth floor. I am really blessed with a quiet and comfortable learning environment, and I always go there to find some books about business and trade, as well as books for learning French. By the way, French is the sixth language I speak.
In addition to learning, I have made a dance group. It's not my first time being a leader of a dance group, so as always, I felt delighted to create a new group here in SEU. I made lots of friends. We practiced every day and enjoyed it. On December 17th, our dance group performed a Russian folk dance at "SEU Freshmen Music and Dancing Show" as representatives of freshmen from College of International Students, which was amazing. I like everyone in this dancing group and we have a lot to share. I also met my first Chinese friend in my dancing group, who is a student of our university. Her name is Summer. We shared many interests in common and sometimes we have dinner together. I really like her.
MY LIFE IN SEU
I feel so excited about the next two years at SEU, and I hope that after graduation, I can apply what I've learnt to reality, starting my own business and contributing to the international trade between Turkmenistan and China.
Source of Content: Palvanova Guljahan
Written by Sun Danning
Proofread by Melody Zhang
Edited by Luo Xinyi
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