My first two semesters of taking Chinese has been a wonderful experience. I started taking this class because I already know how to speak a little bit of Cantonese, but I wanted to be able to read and write and speak Mandarin as well. So far, I have learned a multitude of new words and I can now read and write basic Chinese. I have found that there are many similarities between Cantonese and Mandarin, which makes the class even more interesting. We also have an excellent teacher, Tseng Laoshi, who is always very enthusiastic. I find that I have learned a great deal from her, not only about the Chinese language, but about Chinese culture as well. In the class we even celebrated the Chinese New Year by eating some Chinese candy and by listening to traditional Chinese music. I would highly recommend this class for anyone who is willing to dedicate him or herself to learning this language. These courses do require a lot of memorization because there are many words to learn, but it is not too difficult of a task. Even though writing Chinese characters looks daunting, it is really not as difficult as it appears because we have a lot of practice writing. Overall, Chinese 101 and 102 are very enjoyable classes, and I think that anyone who takes Chinese will find it as rewarding as I have.