At the school of Chinese language there are 4 levels. Total beginners are placed in the 100 class. People in beginner to intermediate are placed in 101-102, people in intermediate to low advanced are in 201-202. People in advanced are placed in levels from 301-402 (they have to study classical chinese and chinese history, in additional to other language classes).
I am currently in the 201 class. My friend Zoe is in the 301 class which is challenging for her, but I am sure she will be fine. Nearly all of my classmates are Korean (by far the majority of foreign students here), but there are also two Japanese women, and one Chinese-American woman. I am the oldest in the class and feel rather ancient, especially since every Korean I meet asks me how old I am (I guess it's just a custom they have so they know how to properly address people). The classes are entirely in Chinese. There are four classes: listening, speaking, reading/writing, and newspaper reading. Unfortunately, unlike my Korean and Japanese classmates, I find reading and writing to be extremely challenging. So I would say that my speaking level is probably a bit better than some of my classmates, but my reading and writing skills are much lower. This frightened me at first and made me wonder about doing an easier class. I went to go check out a 102 class, but it was far too easy....there is no happy medium I guess. So I have just decided to take the harder class and try my best to improve my reading and writing as quickly as possible. There is a lot of homework too, so I hope I can keep up. Wish me luck!
Here is a picture of one of the classroom buildings I go to. It's the blue building in the foreground, not the tall one in the background. On fridays all of my classes are actually in my dorm building, so that makes things nice and convenient.
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