Calling Tianjin Home - 天津是我家

8 weeks into my year in China and writing my first blog post feels like a lifetime ago. It’s as if time moves at a different speed here. We’ve been adjusting well to things in China and the feeling that our time here is a holiday that we will be returning from in a couple of weeks has disappeared. Having Chinese sim cards and Chinese bank accounts allows us to use Wechat which is one of the most powerful apps I have ever used. I can pay for anything by scanning a QR code, order a taxi, unlock one of the thousands of Mobikes across the city, split any bill and transfer money to my friends at dinner, and of course, keep in contact with everyone online - both in China and at home wherever I am and at any time.

When I first arrived here I spent a lot of time decorating my room to make it feel like home and now, finally, my room is finished! I have lots of photos on my wall and a Scottish flag that our new international friends have signed.

We are in the full swing of classes now. At first the routine was very hard to get used to. Of my many classes, three start at 8 o'clock in the morning - this was a big shock to the system at first! My classes are very hard but I really enjoy them and they are very rewarding. We get a lot of homework but I have noticed such an improvement in my ability to read Chinese since I arrived.

We have also spent time trying to explore the city of Tianjin. We visited Ancient Culture Street - an attraction that transports you back to ancient China, Italian street which is an area that feels like Europe and I have cycled to the river many times. It is very beautiful next to the river and it is my favourite part of the city.

At the start of October we had our first holiday. We had a week of no classes to celebrate the Chinese National Day (国定假日National Holiday) so we decided to go away for a few days. We went to Jinan (济南) in Shandong Province (山东省). We booked very last minute so the only trains available were a sitting train at 5:33am and a standing train home at 11:36pm - both took about 5 hours. The trains were quite an experience! In the end, surprisingly, we preferred the standing ticket as we were all together and we could sleep more comfortably lying on the floor than we could sitting in a seat on the way there! Our tickets cost about 50 yuan each way which is just over five pound. Our accommodation also worked out well, we were surprised to find that our hotel was four star. We enjoyed a little luxury during our stay which was not to be expected with the budget we had!

To show what my routine is like at Tianjin Foreign Studies University (天津外国语大学) the following is what a day in the life was like a couple of weeks ago. This is by no means what everyday is like - each day something different is always happening.

Today I woke up at quarter to seven, drank my morning coffee and ate breakfast at the canteen. For breakfast I normally have something which is like a savoury pancake and has lots of different vegetables inside. This meal is only 3 yuan and I can eat it on the way to class.

I walk to the teaching block on campus which is a two minute walk away and is where all my classes are held.  Yesterday was a very smoggy day so today didn't seem as bad. The weather has cooled down a lot since we first got here and the smog has become increasingly bad. I have started wearing a smog mask because a couple of days ago I was quite ill because of it. It was also raining today which is quite rare for the weather we have been having.

The majority of my classes are held on the ninth floor of the teaching block. I always walk up the stairs as it is quicker because the lift normally stops on every floor.

My first class today was intensive reading which is one of my hardest classes because we have a lot of characters to learn. Normally we have 30 characters to learn per chapter and we cover a chapter every 2-3 days. I really enjoyed today's lesson - I have started to see a lot of progress in what I can understand which is very rewarding.

Each class lasts an hour and forty minutes so after my first class we headed to the cafe on the seventh floor for a twenty minute break before our next class.

My next class was conversation class which is a lot less reading-based and focuses more on learning about more casual Chinese conversation.

My conversation class finished at twenty to twelve and I headed back to my room. It was raining very heavily on the way back but luckily it was only a short walk because I haven't bought an umbrella yet!

When I got back to my room I did some chores like putting up my washing and tidying my room. I had a coffee and talked to the other scholars while they did some work. As we all have roommates it is rare that you will be alone when you are in your room, there is always someone around for a chat.

I normally wait a little while to go to the canteen for lunch because it is always very busy straight after class.

I ate lunch with the other scholars in my room then gathered my things and went to the library. I learned the characters from chapter 4 which was vocabulary about developed and developing countries. I use my tablet to write out the characters many times and test myself. I worked there for three hours and felt really motivated in the library as everyone around me was studying hard too.

After I left the library I came back to my room and started the homework we had been set for tomorrow. I didn't manage to finish it but I didn't have class until 2pm the next day so I finished it in the morning.

At six o'clock I went to taekwondo. It was my first class with my new uniform which was really exciting. A couple of the other scholars came for the first time and they really enjoyed it too. We were worked hard this lesson and I could definitely feel the consequences the day after.

After taekwondo I had dinner in the canteen. I tried peanut noodles which were delicious. I had never had them before but they had been recommended to me by many of my friends. This meal cost me 7 yuan.

After dinner, myself and a few other scholars decided to go on a cycle down the river towards the Tianjin Eye. It was a very clear night and Tianjin looked beautiful. It was nice to go for a cycle as it can be very easy to stay on campus because everything you need is there.

Cycling down to the river was a really special moment. The city was absolutely beautiful and I felt so lucky to be able to call the city home.

When I got back to campus I had a quick Facetime with one of my friends from home for a catch up.

After cycling down the river I was still a little hungry so I went to the 24/7 Seven Eleven. I bought Pejoy which is a snack that I have loved since I have been here and is popular with the other scholars.

In contrast, one of the days we were in Jinan was, most definitely, a not-so-typical day.

On the second day of our trip we spent a day at Tai’shan which is one of the five great mountains in China. They say that if you climb to the top of the Taoist mountain you will live to 100 years old. It is a world heritage site that is located to the north of the city of Jinan. The mountain has been worshipped for at least 3000 years and is a sacred place that was frequented by emperors to offer sacrifices and a place to meditate in the Zhou Dynasty before 1000 BC.

We woke up early and headed to the main train station in Ji’nan which we walked to from our hotel. We hadn't booked our tickets in advance so we had to queue to get our tickets. When we were in the queue we met a man who could speak good English, so he helped us book our tickets.  We were in a rush to catch our train after getting our tickets. In China train stations are like airports: you have to go through security and find your gate to get the train. This was the first time I had been on a bullet train and I was very impressed! The train was very modern and hardly felt like it was moving, even though the train was travelling at more than 300km/h! On the train there was a Chinese family sitting next to me so I tried to speak a little Chinese and introduce myself. They offered me some of the nuts that they were eating which tasted very strange but I was grateful they wanted me to try them.

When I got off the train I met the other scholars who came on the trip. Ana had spoken to a young student on the train who was studying in Tianjin. They spoke on the train and he had to phone his mother for her to believe that he was actually speaking English to a foreigner! He helped us get a taxi to the bottom of Taishan which was very useful and saved us a lot of time.

After a half hour taxi ride we ate lunch at a Chinese restaurant. I had one of my favourite foods in China, and it only cost me 12 yuan.

After lunch we started walking up Taishan. Taishan has a total of 7,200 steps. The walking was very hard and took us a long time. At first we were very hot as we walked up but as we got closer to the top we noticed a big difference in the temperature. I was surprised to see the amount of small businesses selling things as we walked up. There were a variety of ages walking up Taishan, from adults carrying babies and helping toddlers walk to elderly people who were putting us to shame! It definitely seemed like a family affair - we hardly saw anybody walking by themselves.

Close to the top we arrived at a temple and stopped to admire the view. At this stop we were asked to take a lot of photos with people. I had almost forgotten what this was like as where we live in Tianjin there are lots of foreigners so taking pictures with people doesn't happen as often. It was very busy in the spot as everyone had a rest from the long walk.

Because of the time we weren't able to walk the rest of the way up so we took the cable car. It cost us 100 yuan which seemed like a lot of money to us at the time but it was definitely worth it because we were able to see the amazing view from the cable car and it allowed us to get to the top of the mountain.

Once we arrived at the top we realised how cold it was, which was such a contrast from the walk at the start! At the top there was a small village full of hotels and restaurants. It was also very foggy which made it seem as if we had been transported back in time - this feeling was complimented by many of the ancient buildings. We had a look at the Confucius temple and then we walked a little further to the peak. It was an amazing feeling, finally making it to the top. It was such a special moment. We also realised we still had signal at the top so Joe Facetimed his parents which was very surreal.

We started walking down after realising that we didn't have much time to get down to make our train home. We tried to walk fast but we had to be careful because the steps were very old and steep. It was quite scary walking down as you had to keep your concentration to make sure you didn't fall! It started to get warmer as we walked down. We made it to the bus station and took the bus to the bottom of the mountain. A typical thing to do when visiting Taishan is to walk up and stay overnight then wake up early to see the sunrise. Unfortunately we weren't able to do this but I was so happy that we managed to get to go see Taishan because it was all a very last minute trip!

We managed to call a taxi through a Chinese app called Didi which is like Uber. When we got to the train station we had dinner, I had dumplings and a KFC ice-cream which was a nice treat as western food is a lot more expensive compared to Chinese food. We got the train back to Jinan and got a taxi to our hotel. Our taxi driver tried to take us a detour to our hotel so that we would have to pay more money. To avoid taxi drivers taking advantage of our limited Chinese and knowledge of the city I use the maps app on my phone so I can tell where we are. We knew immediately that the taxi driver was taking us a long way so we said at the end and the price was reduced.

Once we got home to the hotel we went up to Joe and Sam’s room for a chat with the other scholars and we all dressed in our dressing gowns that were provided with the hotel. We were enjoying the life in a four star hotel before it was back home to life as a poor student!

This day was one of the highlights of my time in China so far. It was so nice to be able to do something so exciting all by ourselves. Standing on top of the mountain puts into perspective just how lucky I am to have such an opportunity. Although studying Chinese demands many many hours of studying, I am constantly motivated by the city of Tianjin, the international friends we have met and the new Chinese friends we have met recently. The ability to travel with our new skill would not be possible without the hard work in the library.

I love living in my new home in Tianjin, China.

Ailsa X