My balls, my balls, my mental balls" Lola the Russian Week 3 in Sanya was characterised by... illness and bus trauma. BUT, we finally have all our classes sorted! With the typhoon little more than a distant memory, Belle and I set off for the town centre, navigating the way (for the first time) all by ourselves. As the laws of the universe seem to dictate, something must always go wrong when you don’t speak the language. This time, the bus crashed. I have been waiting a while for this to happen as the roads in china are mental. As I cross them, I whisper prayers to every god imaginable and screw up my eyes so as to not witness my own imminent death. This time the bus driver wasn't going too fast as we were ... read more

So.... no facebook in China Although there seem to be countless ways around this particular problem, a part of me appreciates it being blocked, as I don't feel the pressure to talk to everyone all the time... it also gives me a chance to really write a proper blog, and by proper I mean writing it when I’m actually in the country. And with all this new found time I'm writing about, I've yet to complete this post and I have already been in Sanya for 2 weeks. But, as I am in the midst of a typhoon, and I missed the beginning of the film that everyone is watching because I fell asleep, I've finally sat down to start writing... and boy is it windy outside. The plane journey to Beijing was uneventful, the flight ... read more

Ich bin eine Berlinerin.. On the train, at some point between Manchester and Bolton, on the way home from Berlin, I heard the loudest sneeze ever, even louder than my dad's. And that's not the only reason I've considered myself lucky this weekend. I was very appreciative to be asked to go to Berlin and experience a very time honoured German tradition; Karneval. It's not every day that a non-German has this kind of experience, an experience very much through the eyes of a local. The wanderer in me cannot ask for much more from a foreign country and its people, to be taken under their wing, to be accepted and for them to share their traditions and local customs. With that in mind, I set off apprehensive, but quietly energised, about the experience in store. ... read more

Dusseldorf I was in Dusseldorf at the beginning of the year for a typically cheesy European celebration. Yes, that of Eurovision. I didn't, however, see much of what the town has to offer, so it was a pleasant feeling to be back there once again several months later. The first time I was here, I saw a lot of the train station, the football ground, and many ecstatic Eurovision fans. That's the best thing about Eurovision in my eyes... it's a chance for Europe to get together, and be silly together, and to make fun of ourselves and others. It's a shame that both times I visited there were major building works going on. It can really wreck the atmosphere of a beautiful city. But without allowing this to affect my visit I wandered on down ... read more