More than 30 university students from China are starting new lives in Tucson as freshmen at the University of Arizona. They are taking part in an exchange program through Yangtze International Study Abroad. The students have been learning English most of their lives and as part of the program, they took 15 college credits while in high school in China prior to their arrival in Tucson. They are here as international students, pay out-of-state tuition and hope to graduate in about 3.5 years.

David Yin, Karen Tian and Xiao Li are studying pre-business. They say they really like Tucson and find it to be much quieter and spread out than their native city in China, with many more trees and birds.

Scott Bird is the associate program director for the organization that set this up and he says this is a win-win for everyone involved since the students get a great education at at United States university, learn about new people and cultures, and teach others about their own country, customs and language. The goal is to get more participants involved, to include more Americans going to China as part of their education.