Blogs from Guilin, Guangxi, China, Asia - page 7

Let the regiment begin: 07:30 – 08:10 Breakfast 08:20 – 12:30 Class (two 2 hour sessions) 12:40 – 13:40 Lunch ~14:30 – XX:XX afternoon activities. The students that already have some back ground in Chinese are quick to say that it’s an easier language then English. I believe for them they came make that distinction having a decent grasp of it as a second language but for someone with no grasp its hard to imagine any language being easier than the one you already full comprehend. I will believe when it comes to grammar it certainly seems more concrete in its rules over English, but for someone just starting to learn that’s a future hurdle. The immediate difficulty is pronunciation and vocab retention. The latter of which I would say is a particular weakness for me, ... read more

So I’m a few days in already but just for setup, I spending the four weeks between May 16th and June 13thin China on a study abroad program. Together in a group of eight students I will be participating in a cultural immersion visit. Through combination of academic lessons and daily expeditions outside our learning institute we will be engaging full time in leaning Mandarin. The highlights of our schedule are provided below and the travel map should reflect the path our journey will make. Guilin, China 3 weeks Yangshuo, China 2 days (weekend trip) Longsheng, China 2 days (weekend trip) Shanghai, China 4 days Beijing, China 3 days I am very excited to have started the program and after one day am very eager to expand my Mandarin skills so that I may begin to ... read more

Geo: 25.28, 110.28We made it! Just eight pieces of bamboo lashed together with a makeshift seat for two tied on top ... and a good young man with a very long pole. Now that is adventure.Mac bought me my garland of flowers and helped me on board and we were away for a leisurely float down the Yulong River. The scenery was spectacular. The little dams and waterfalls along the way provided a bit of variety and the stall holders floating in the middle of the river gave us a few chuckles.The most enterprising venture was the "photo booth" - these were floating in the middle of the river on the down side of the dam. Your raft is moored and you board a floating pontoon complete with computer screens, printers and laminators and you have ... read more

Hello, on est à guilin, on attend le bus qui part dans 1h pour une durée de 3h en gros... Les photos ça attendra... le wifi est d'une lenteur affligeante. Alors la journée : grasse mat dans le train (sauf pour Clément et Gabrielle qui étaient dans un compartiment de chinois), puis on est arrivés à guilin où on a cherché un bus. Il partait 2h plus tard, en ayant marché un peu, pris un autre bus pour arriver à Sanjiang. Il commençait à être un peu tard, mais on a quand même trouvé un hôtel et trouvé un restaurant très typique où on a mangé une délicieuse soupe de mouton...... read more

‘Someone’ decided it would be a good idea to go out for a few beers last night even though we knew we had to be up for 9am today. ‘Someone’ then also thought it would be a good idea to stay out drinking until 3am, resulting in two tired and slightly hungover Scots this morning. Thankfully we had the sense to pack the night before for a change, so we only really need to roll out of bed and get dressed. Apart from a slightly sore head, we’ve managed to fair pretty well considering, and are ready for our 10 hour bus journey across China into Guilin. It’s quite exciting but also quite daunting at the same time as we have absolutely no idea where we are going, and don’t speak the language. But hey, that’s ... read more