Nissa Berle OC ‘24

Shanxi Agricultural University, China (2024-26)

Nissa Berle (they/any) ‘24 is an Oberlin Psychology major and Linguistics minor. They are from the small town of White Bluff, TN, where they grew up on a hobby farm raising chickens and ducks, playing soccer, and enjoying the outdoors through scouts. At school, they are part of the Flaming Blades fencing club, are an instructor for FenceCo, and are conducting an honors research project in positive bystander intervention. They studied abroad in Sweden and enjoyed learning about Swedes’ values, which led to their desire to live abroad long-term. They took Mandarin in their first two years at Oberlin, which ignited their interest in Chinese culture, and they enjoyed the opportunity to participate and share in the festivals as part of their classes. Their love for teaching began through the Language Pedagogy course and continued into being a Writing Associate. Given their rural background and interest in cross-culture comparison, Nissa is excited to visit the farming museum at Shanxi Agricultural University and connect with locals to learn about rural life in China.