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Student Stories

Finding Academic Success and Community Support: Rejoice’s Student Story


  For Rejoice Mashiri, the decision to attend Wenzhou University was an obvious choice. Though Wenzhou is nearly 10,000 km away from her home in Zimbabwe, Rejoice came to love the university, the surrounding city, and all of the people she met. From the academic opportunities to her own personal growth and success, Rejoice’s experience at Wenzhou University is sure to propel her toward a prosperous, exciting future, no matter where she goes.


“There is never a dull moment for me at Wenzhou University,” she says.


Undergraduate Experience

Rejoice enrolled at Wenzhou University in 2017, and she completed her bachelor’s degree in Law. Her program emphasized practical experiences in addition to theoretical coursework, which was something she prioritized when choosing a school. She considers the degree and her academic experience a blessing in disguise because of the opportunities the program opened for her. She was able to secure a full ride scholarship for her master’s degree at Wenzhou, which she is completing now, and she was also able to find a part-time role at the university.


“I’m someone who loves learning, and I never want to be limited in continuing my education because of finances,” Rejoice says. The scholarship opportunities and the affordability of both tuition and living expenses in Wenzhou were both key factors in Rejoice’s decision to attend. Wenzhou University allows master’s degree students to have a part-time role to help cover living expenses in a place that has a reasonable cost of living.


Rejoice works as a community assistant in a residence hall, and during the COVID-19 outbreak, she sprang into action and assisted the medical team in taking temperatures of each student in her community twice per day and delivering groceries and other supplies to students who were in quarantine.

  

           


Campus Life

Another factor that helped Rejoice decide to attend Wenzhou was how at home she felt from her first day visiting the campus. The temperate climate reminds her of home in Zimbabwe, and the city immediately felt friendly.


“The campus is extremely beautiful. I love it. And maybe it’s just because I grew to love the city so much, but I find it even better than other cities,” Rejoice says.


Because Rejoice is an international student, she wondered if she would ever feel like she was the only student coming to Wenzhou from far away. Luckily, that was not the case. “We have a lot of international students at Wenzhou, and it feels like home because you see a lot of foreigners, especially in comparison to other cities where you might be one of only a few foreigners,” Rejoice says. “Here, you never get lonely. There are always different kinds of people around, and I feel very comfortable.”


Rejoice says the university does a fine job of helping international students enjoy their time on campus through various extracurricular activities and sports, including basketball, football, volleyball, and netball.

  

Chinese Culture

Rejoice developed a love for Chinese culture and cuisine while living in Wenzhou. She took weekend trips with her friends and learned to cook fried rice, noodles, and dumplings the Chinese way. “I also enjoyed the dragon boat festival where I had the chance to watch dragon boat racing on the river that passes through campus,” Rejoice says. “I tried paper cutting, eating moon cakes, drinking Chinese tea, and even acting in a movie in Hongdian wearing the beautiful Han costumes.”


It wasn’t long after Rejoice arrived on campus that she began to adapt to a culture that was unfamiliar at first. “I’m open-minded, and I like learning new things and exploring. I enjoy learning from other cultures,” she says.

  


Looking to the Future

As Rejoice completes her master’s degree in International Law she reflects on her time so far at Wenzhou. Though she is excited for this new chapter in her life, she misses her friends who graduated and moved on to new opportunities. Some of these friends are Chinese students who moved to other cities in China, and others are international students who returned to their home countries. “No one tells us how lonely it is to leave your friends behind. I miss all the fun that we shared together – studying together, going on vacations in other cities together, and eating together as a family,” she says.


At Wenzhou, Rejoice says she fell in love with schooling and learning. She has a piece of advice for future students: “I encourage you to take your studies seriously so you will succeed academically.”


If Rejoice’s story so far is any indication, academic success will likely bring personal success, too.



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