Fantastic resource beyond classroom

Despite her major in Spanish at BU, Feyerabend chose to learn Chinese, because, as she put it, "it was a difficult language and she wanted to challenge herself."

Standing out for her excellence, CICO picked Feyerabend to participate in Chinese Bridge, or the Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign College Students, for three times, from which she obtained two opportunities to study in China.

The second time she participated in the beginners round in the United States in her sophomore year, she won first place and gained the opportunity to go to China to study Peking Opera at NACTA for a semester.

That unique experience laid a solid foundation for her Chinese Bridge contest the following year and Peking Opera performing.

"Going to NACTA and being able to study with those teachers and using those new skills in the upper level competition the following year was really a nice progression for me. I could feel myself growing both in my speaking and in my stage presence," she said.

After she won the senior level round in the United States, she went to compete in Changsha, capital city of central China's Hunan Province.

There she won the Confucius Institute scholarship, which she ended up studying a year later at Xiamen University, a time-honored comprehensive institution of higher learning in southeast China's Fujian Province.

According to Feyerabend, learning Chinese culture has not only facilitated her interacting with Chinese people, but also helped her connect with people from all over the world.

"It's definitely an interesting starting point of conversation, especially with Chinese coworkers and people that I've met since I've been in this position," she said.

"I personally try to live by a guideline that you can't judge a book by its cover. You never know what's lying underneath," she said. "The only way to know what's lying underneath is to have conversations with people, get to know their story and get to know their background."

The Confucius institutes in the United States are a fantastic resource for students to go beyond the classroom, interact with Chinese teachers and learn about different aspects of Chinese culture, she said.

"That's something you can do only if you have a hands-on experience, and people who can offer these resources give you a chance and a willingness to take maybe a painting class or a Peking Opera class, or learn calligraphy," she said.

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