My experience learning Chinese has been absolutely wonderful. In middle and high school I took Japanese, for about 7 years total, but I seriously never found any use for it. Since I had a lot of Chinese friends in high school, when I came to college I decided to take Chinese as my foreign language. It has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I have been able to talk to tons of people in Chinese, and being a white American student, it really shocks native speakers. It also makes a wonderful impression on them. Since I am hoping to study finance and international business, I think this is going to be the most useful language that I could possibly learn. With China rapidly becoming the number one country in the world for US and foreign investment, I can't possibly think of a better business language to learn. Besides simply practical applications, the class is simply a joy in itself. Tseng Laoshi is one of the best teachers I have ever had. While her class is extremely challenging and very demanding, everyone still maintains an A or B in the class. In fact I have fallen so in love with the language due to Tseng Laoshi's efforts that I am going to study abroad in Shanghai this summer for nine weeks. Overall, I have to say this has been one of the best classes I have ever taken and I highly recommend this class to all incoming first years!