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Application sent! How I applied to a PhD programme in Finland
Last year I wrote about my big decision to apply to a PhD program in Finland. I just sent in my application last week and wanted to take the time to write down my experience from the idea to actually finishing up that research proposal. After all, most of my blogging “career” I’ve been writing about my studies. In October I had just started to find out if it would be possible for me to apply to a PhD program and do it remotely from Guangzhou. Via Facebook, I got in touch with a university lecturer from Helsinki University who had expertise in China and the Chinese language. He shared…
What makes someone motivated to learn Chinese?
My story My own journey of learning Mandarin Chinese is perhaps not the most usual one. My parents lived in Beijing in the 1980’s for a few years when my mother was working at the Finnish Embassy there. During their…
Why I’m not traveling to Finland anytime soon?
Last time we visited Finland and saw my family was in August 2019, it’s been over 2 years now that I’ve seen my parents and my siblings. My niece is already over 1 year old and I have never seen…
Taking a big step and pursuing further study
Since 2014 September I’ve been working as a Chinese language teacher and experienced the highs and lows of teaching a foreign language as a non native speaker. First year being unsure of my own capabilities while I was still a…
After a year of silence, covid is back in Guangzhou
It had been a year without a single covid case in Guangzhou, we all thought the pandemic was behind us and we could just continue living our lives here in the bubble. But somehow late May the virus escaped and…