My first 2 Months in China
Time flies by, I have already been in China for more than two months, but I didn't feel like writing an update on my life here so far, because it is almost impossible to find the right words to express what I am experiencing here.
If i was told to describe my daily life here by using only one word it would probably be: adventurous.
Every day here is an adventure, full of new challenges i have to face: how can I manage to learn 50 new chinese characters a day? Where can I buy stuff and how to get there? How to tell the house keeper that the keys are broken? Where to get on the bus when there is no actual busstation ? Will I be able to read the menu tonight? ...
During the week a normal day starts with going to class and after that having lunch together with all the international students. Its very easy for me to remember which classes I will have the next day because it is always the same: language ! At the end of the Semester I will have exams in 6 different subjects: oral chinese, intensive reading, writing, listening, business chinese and cantonese. Although some of the classes are really intense I still enjoy going to uni every day. But not only university keeps my life busy: there are a lot of events on the campus and since we are more than 20 international students living in the same dormitory there is always someone who comes up with an idea for an exciting activity. And if it is really the case that I am only sitting in my room, my crazy but lovely roommate Mimmi would always come up with something to entertain me and make me laugh the whole evening. She really makes my life more colorful and shows me how to just let go and not take life to seriously. Sometimes we also play badminton or rent a tandem bike to cycle around the island in the evenings.
At the weekends I try my best to discover as many different places in Guangzhou as possible: Art district, parks, pearl river, shopping malls, street markets, tea market, etc. Sometimes it is even enough to just take the bus to the city centre and get off at any station to discover a whole new world.
I love to have a walk in one of the parks or along the pearl river at night and watch people dancing, singing or playing games. People here are so warm and welcoming they are happy about anyone who wants to join. Even if they don't know each other they are enjoying their time together the feeling to be part of big community. I feel that people here like to socialize a lot more than people in northern Europe. When people here go out for dinner, the food is actually a minor matter, it is all about talking and laughing and spending time together. Getting to know that chinese way of life and peoples' habits and thoughts are the reason why my stay here is so exciting and interesting and why I can't get enough of China.
