#alifeofalanguagestudent

[lifeofalanguagestudent]

Hello lovely people! 

I apologise for the delay! I cannot believe that a week has flown by nor that I have been so utterly busy for every waking minute of each day.

Wednesday － 周三

It has been hectic! On my first morning there (wednesday) I was still pretty cold and as I was still on my own I felt a wave of “get me out of here now, what have I done?” for a good half an hour. I asked at the desk a few times about my electricity and on the third time the receptionist was able to tell me I’d have electricity sometime in the afternoon. There is only wifi in the lobby of the accommodation buildings so that morning quite a few of us met each other there due to trying to connect with home. I met an Australian called Lisa, an American called Anna and a guy from New Zealand called Jos (pronounced ‘yos’). We ended up going for a walk around the campus together and getting lunch at one of the canteens. The food was pretty good!! It’s self-serve so you pick as many dishes of a selection of fish, meat, vegetables, and rice and pay for them accordingly. Ningbo is said to be famous for their seafood but everything was really tasty. It was also so fantastic to meet new people and chat and be social. I love it. Everyone so far is really friendly!

The Yellow River flowing nearby the city centre! :)

By then the registration session had started so we headed there and met another bunch of international students. There are quite a few French and Canadian people, as well as a Danish guy, a few from Finland, four girls from Ireland, and two Koreans (and this wasn’t all of them!) The registration process was a bit of a hassle because if our payments for the accommodation hadn’t come through yet we had to go to an office on the other side of campus to show them proof of payment in order to return and complete the process. I had to go back and forth a few times because I had left my phone to charge in my room so I didn’t realise I’d need proof of payment until we had shown up at the finance office. It probably took me almost two hours because I chatting to various people as I went.

The rest of the girls from the UK arrived too so I was helping them sort out anything that I had already done. Beana has moved into my flat and Molly and Juliet are across the hall in another. Once we finally completed registration we headed back to our residence to see many other students waiting outside. They were headed to town so we decided to tag along! Once we got to the bus stop we realised no one actually knew which bus to take! So Lisa and I asked a couple of Chinese students coming out of the gate and they told us where to go. So off we wandered and eventually got on a bus!

This journey took longer than expected. It turns out the campus is in the bottom south-east side of the city which is about twenty-five minutes by taxi away. The journey, in the end, took us about an hour! We went in search of food and a couple of the guys asked some people if there were any bars and where they were. (Typical westerners hehe) We ended up in a place called “Munich Brewery” which was a shame because it was western food but the upside was we got to walk along the river going through the city! There were a few fountains alongside it and a lot of the buildings were lit up so it looked really bright and pretty. By eight o’clock that evening we were falling asleep on the restaurant’s table so caught taxis home. 

Thursday － 周四

The following day we had a campus tour and a series of introductory talks throughout the afternoon. It was pretty thorough and informative. The gym/sports centre on campus is free!! Thus I have no excuse to play badminton as much as I can and do some exercise during this semester. Following all that we found ourselves heading to IKEA to get a few basic things for our rooms. The prices were pretty similar to other countries but it wasn’t extortionate at all. I ended up following the pink theme as I bought a baby pink bin, pink blanket and . I mixed it up a little with a small orange rug and also got a black analog clock. Now I am very snug when I get into bed at night without needing the heater on constantly. The IKEA here is massive. I know they are meant to be huge warehouses but this one never seemed to end. I think it was because they had about double the amount of showrooms with no shortcuts throughout the store. I wonder whether this is because IKEA wants to advertise a lot of ways of how to make the “rooms” look spotless in order to be able to sell even more to the Chinese population. But then again, they do that in every IKEA anyway.. Hmm..

Friday – 周五

One of the best days so far!

We started the day early again to go on a day trip organised by the student society ‘Vís-a-Vís’ to introduce us to the city. A short journey later it seemed we were on the outskirts of the city and going into a series of traditional style Chinese buildings called ‘Tiangong Villa’. It was beautiful! We spent a few hours there learning a few arts and crafts such as ‘Chinese knots’, trying different teas, making origami flowers, and building and decorating our own Chinese lanterns. Lisa and I paired up and made one and it was pretty awesome!! I wrote our Chinese names and painted the tree, she painted the cute little fish and the sea. We also had lunch there and it was a proper sit down meal in the middle of an open courtyard. It was the one day that was warm and sunny so it was soooo lovely. We ate a variety of dishes but the most impressive was the last they served. When the dish was put down on the table it looked as if they had just served us mushrooms but oh no! These were buns filled with pork that had been made to look exactly like mushrooms!! We have no idea how they managed to go into so much detail and even make the top layer look authentic, but they did and the mushroom buns were delicious!

The next stop on our adventure was the ‘Tianyi Library’ which is an old house with lots of beautiful gardens that dates back to the 11th century. The reason it is called a library is because the man who owned it collected over 70,000 books and kept them there.

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After the library we were dropped off at a shopping mall called InCity in which I bought a big cardigan from H&M and a coat from uniqlo. It’s not terribly thick but it acts as my inner layer to the big waterproof coat I have. Then I joined the others in the supermarket to buy a few drinks. Luckily I found Eric wandering around and managed to get him to tag along with me to the alcohol section. He ended up carrying my basket and following me around the shop telling me where to get the few bits I needed such as tissues and food. He’s a gem!

Friday night was amazing. We all went to the Irish girls’ flat to pre-drink then out into the club to an area called Lao Wai Tan which is full of bars and clubs. It was most of our massive group who went which was incredible! We ended up staying in a bar called Candles for the entire night which was playing pretty good music and had a snooker table. Shots were 10¥ (£1ish) of which I only had one! So a lot of people were going for it! 

When we left the club I was starving. I’m so used to having McDonald’s after a night out in Nottingham and old habits die hard. I spotted street food on the other side of the road so we crossed and I had a kebab (not like a donner kebab at all!) and the boys had noodles. We got home at about half four to find ourselves locked out of a accommodation building having forgotten about the newly installed system of using our cards to open the doors. However our cards didn’t work either because we hadn’t been told that we had to activate it! Luckily the receptionist who was sleeping in the room behind the desk woke up and let us all in.

The weekend was pretty calm compared to the first few days which was nice. I went on an adventure to Ningbo Train Station with Lisa then we went shopping in WanDa Plaza. Other than that I just spent time with Juliet, Molly and Beana and other internationals we met up with!

Oh, I should explain the title: 中国通 is translated to ‘a china hand’ in English. The meaning of this is that a 中国通 is someone who is an expert on Chinese culture and on being Chinese. I am far from being that at the moment… but step by step I may succeed in becoming one!

All my love.

Xo.

Year Abroad #China: Becoming a 中国通 – part one. Hello lovely people!  I apologise for the delay! I cannot believe that a week has flown by nor that I have been so utterly busy for every waking minute of each day.

[lifeofalanguagestudent]

Year Abroad #Madrid: christmas is coming!

christmas in madrid

This a quick post just to share the beauty of Madrid with you – Christmas style. When I saw Emily and Emma on the last weekend of November, we walked about the centre of Madrid to see all of the beautiful Christmas lights. The best places to go when the lights are up:

Puerta de Alcalá Plaza de Cibeles Gran Vía Puerta del Sol Plaza de Jacinto Benavente Plaza Mayor

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[lifeofalanguagestudent]

Year Abroad: philosophy

The saying “everything happens for a reason” doesn’t mean the fate is pre-determined, that we only have one Tree of Life that grows branches in certain directions to climb up. But rather, that everything we do is based on the choices we make, and that involves swinging from tree to tree constantly. For reasons we don’t understand – even if it could be explained to be something as simple as, “the…

[lifeofalanguagestudent]

In November last year, Jessie and I had promised to see each other in the new year of 2017, aiming for the end of March. In January I found myself on Flybe’s website booking a flight to Newquay airport in Cornwall after working out that it was cheaper to catch a train to Manchester Airport rather than drive myself [for five hours omg] or catch many trains for 7-8 hours with awkward journey times. I couldn’t believe I was going to go to Cornwall!

Soon enough, Sunday 2nd of April arrived and I was heading to Nottingham Train Station to catch the 11:44 train to Manchester Airport. Jessie moved down to Cornwall a year ago to pursue her dream of living in a place she has spent her life going on holiday to with her family and got a job at one of the local and top brand hotels in north Cornwall near Newquay. I admire her for making the move to somewhere new and taking on the challenges of adulthood face on. I boarded the little plane that would leap across the British isles to my destination and found myself considering the topic of adulthood and what it entails. I seem to keep coming across articles or things that talk about us ‘twentysomethings‘ and our lives here and now. Nevertheless, I let those thoughts dance away and attempt to emanate relaxed vibes instead.

At 17:30 I arrived at the tiniest little airport I’ve ever seen. It was one building the size of a town hall and the baggage reclaim was the size of a lounge in a standard semi-detached house. As I had no luggage, I was in arrivals in about 39 seconds. Wow. :D

Ten minutes later Jessie and I found each other and we were soon zooming down the winding country lanes talking about her car as it’s very similar to mine! Seat Mii / Skoda citigo cars are obviously the cool trend at the moment… :D

Mawgan Porth Beach, Cornwall

We stopped at Mawgan Porth beach, removed our shoes to feel the sand between our toes, and walked out towards the crashing waves and the sea beyond, sharing our most recent updates and tales. The water was rather icy and a bit of a surprise to our little toes but that couldn’t ruin the 360 view that surrounded us. The sun was low in the sky, warm light cascading down over the green coast that disappeared into the distance on both sides of where we were standing. It was one of those moments where no cameras are used, where you really take it in and experience it 100%.

Once back at the car, Jessie drove us to where she lives in St Eval and gave me a little tour of her three bedroom home that she shares with her 19 year old brother. I think if I lived with Harry, we would drive each other mad… Nonetheless, their house was lovely, cosy and the pet hamster was a cute extra housemate that loved to loudly chew the bars on its cage. In the evening we went to a

Polzeath Bay, Cornwall

pub by the famous beach in Polzeath called the Oyster Catcher for a drink and some light food. Given that I was by the sea, we decided to share two starters: moûles frites and prawn skewers. Yum.

I made it my challenge to eat as much seafood as possible during my forty-eight hours in this Cornish land. By hour four: we were back home, relaxed on the sofa, and planned for the next day…

At 10:45am, hour seventeen, we arrived at the Headland Hotel by Fistral Beach on the south side of Newquay for a relaxing few hours in the spa. We donned big plush dressing gowns and complimentary flip flops and made sure to make full use of the facilities. :D The swimming pool area had different shower areas, one had different settings such as “tropical storm” which douses you in cold water to eventually add hot water to give you a “refreshing” experience. My response to that was just pure shock at the water temperature. I hope I never get stuck in a real tropical storm… There was a relaxation room which was the best part of the spa facilities with big loungers, fluffy blankets with complimentary sweeties and tea. We had lunch at 13:30, hour twenty, and I kept to my challenge, having battered seafood, which meant I ticked squid, white fish and more prawns off my seafood checklist. Double yum.

Headland Hotel, near Fistral Beach

Headland Hotel, near Fistral Beach

Headland Hotel, near Fistral Beach

At 15:30, hour twenty-two,  we sadly gave back the robes and got back in the car to head to Padstow, the home of Rick Stein, which was a lovely little port dotted with shops and a panoramic view of a channel running inland from the sea. After ducking and diving into the little local surf shops, seeing three pasty shops sitting side-by-side [talk about competition, eh?], we decided to get scallops from Rick Stein’s take-away fish and chips place, go to Tesco for ingredients to make a salad and head home for a feast. My list of seafood eaten was going well, and I am so proud. I also feel like my body was thanking me for it as fish oils and omega 3 are good for us!

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By hour twenty-eight, the fresh sea air and good food had me in a sleeping slumber that I haven’t had in a long while… On Tuesday, we woke to a rather gloomy looking sky, but unperturbed headed out towards Port Isaac to the north. It is the site where the TV series Doc. Martin is filmed so I definitely had a picture in front of the Doctors house!

We had a lovely wander up through the narrow steep streets and admired the colourful houses that sit in the side of the sloping cliffs and those that are also standalone. We had lunch in a pub with a table looking out over the dock, and I finished my seafood list with a mackerel pâte and sourdough toast. Triple yum! 

We ended the trip as we started, walking onto Mawgan Porth beach, where the sun had once again broke through the clouds and lit up the blues in the sea and golds in the sand. 

Hour forty-seven: the little building that is Newquay Airport came into view. 

Although Jessie and I only ever manage to see each other a few times a year – if that – it is great to just settle straight into easy conversation and giggles. True friendship just makes the world go round. <3

And with that, my 48 hours in Cornwall have been the first mini-break with an adult touch involving spas, good food and wine. I hope I’ve given a good impression of the stray section of land that makes up the British Isle.

Thank you to Jess for a fantastic two days. Here’s to more adventures everyone! 

Xo. 

beaches and views: cornwall in 48 hours & a reunion In November last year, Jessie and I had promised to see each other in the new year of 2017, aiming for the end of March.