Meeting Nicola Sturgeon in China

One of the best experiences from my time in China was meeting the First Minister of Scotland in Beijing. It is something I never imagined happening and truly outlines the amazing opportunities that come from this experience. We all traveled to Beijing together and met Nichola Sturgeon at the British Embassy. Once we arrived we were seated in small groups around several tables, some of the scholars made a presentation on a few topics such as language learning, student mobility and international collaboration. After the presentations the First Minister made her way around the tables and spoke to us all in smaller groups, this was a great chance to share personal experiences and opinions with the First Minister and each other. Nicola Sturgeon spoke about how much this experience must have changed and helped us grow over the last 8 months and that the scholarship in her eyes is worth every penny. After our day at the Embassy we were treated to a lovely meal by Fiona and Fan.

The next day there was another event in Beijing for the launch of a new global campaign. The start of the night began with a few mishaps for us as we missed our train and then got stuck in Beijing’s crazy traffic, however we arrived at the hotel just in time for the First Minister's speech. The event was focused on showcasing the growing relationship between Scotland and China and encouraging people from around the globe to live, work and travel in Scotland. The evening also included some food and drink which I think we would all agree was an improvement from our usual 10 yuan (£1) meals from the canteen, so we all thoroughly enjoyed eating fish and chips and meeting Scottish people that have links with China and vice versa with Chinese people. Many people were interested in us, I think mostly because of how young we looked, so we all had agreat night meeting and chatting with people about the reasons we are in China.

The days we spent in Beijing left everyone feeling very proud and privileged to be Scottish ambassadors in China and not only our day with the First Minister but all the experiences we have had here in China are memories we will cherish forever.

Thanks for reading.

安莱