Day 1 - Landing in China!

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Greetings from Beijing!
My goodness, it feels like I have been here for weeks already! This is the first of me finding time to myself, so apologies for not being in contact sooner.

I am sitting in my bedroom just now at my giant desk. It is clear that Chinese students work extremely hard, hence the gigantic desk! A group of us went for a walk last night (Saturday) around campus and there were still lights on in the University, where they were studying away. We also saw Chinese boy’s weight lifting on a basketball court. It’s not the sort of activity you would see in Fife/ Dundee on a Saturday night! Have a look at the size of their library and that’s for a student population of just 20,000!

Any way …….. I arrived here on Saturday afternoon. The flight wasn’t as bad as I expected, although I’m still slightly jet lagged. I arranged to meet a girl I had spoken to on facebook at the airport (Jodie), who is now my weird and wonderful room mate. There were 7 students from the Study China Programme on the Edinburgh-Paris flight and we all bumped into each other at the airport. Jodie has travelled a lot so it was really reassuring to have some one to keep me right!

There were about 30 students on the Paris-Beijing flight. Some one had designed a Study China hoodie so it was easy to spot students from the Programme, just look for the bright red!

The flight was about 11 hours, which wasn’t as long as I thought it would be and a great relief. I would even go as far as saying I enjoyed the flight! The cabin crew were hilarious and were cracking jokes with us all the time. They were also very generous with the free drinks trolley! The flight was like Fresher’s Week with a difference - the fact that conversations were taking place flying over Mongolia and where ever else! It was so surreal but a fantastic start to the trip and helped calm a lot of nerves. I also watched Slumdog Millionaire on my wee television, it was so good.

We were transported from the airport to our accommodation at (wait until you hear what it is called!) Beijing Normal University. I quickly learned that the rule about transport in Beijing is; there are no rules! That includes traffic lights and stopping for pedestrians. The journey to our student accommodation was such an eye opener just from looking out the window. The divide between the rich and the poor was visibly clear from the different living conditions.

When we arrived at our accommodation we literally only had time to dump our bags, change our clothes and then we were out for a campus tour. The only way I can describe the campus is by comparing it to the film “The Truman Show”. Every feels really passive and calm, but at the same time you know that every one is watching you. A lot of the Chinese students were taking photos of us; they had obviously never seen a westener walking around their campus before. The Chinese student volunteers apparently have to “audition” to help with the Study China Programme. They really go out their way to help and are keen to improve their English.

Later on that evening a group of 16 of us went out for a meal, it was an absolute nightmare! None of us were fully aware of how big the language barrier is and the people in the restaurant didn’t speak a single word of English. It took us about half an hour to order a meal and none of us even knew what we had exactly ordered. We ended up with about 12 food dishes, which went on this turning circle and we all shared. Well, that’s a wee bit of a lie …. I probably ate about 5 grains of rice; to say I’m a fussy eater would be an understatement! I have been trying very hard though ever since and my chop stick skills are improving! There is this pancake stall place on campus which I quite like. All you need to do is say “chicken” and they cook you a wrap thing made from egg right before your very eyes! Paying for the bill on Saturday night was an even bigger nightmare. The Chinese don’t accept tips and we couldn’t sort out or change. That took another good half an hour! It was good to gather some first impressions of Beijing and immerse myself in such a different culture.

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Comments

[Ashleigh]

God that library is massive!!! Heaven! Glad you got there okay!