Pumpkins and Dumplings

After a busy month of exploring & studying, I can now take time to sit down and remember how fantastic the month of October was in China. At the beginning of the month we had our first chance to travel for a while during Mid-Autumn Festival. A small group of us travelled to Jinan in the nearby Shandong province. The trip overall was a success and we got to see some beautiful sites such as Hot Springs and the 1000 Buddha mountain. Not only did we have a fantastic time but we also learned never to book standing tickets for a 5 hour long train journey.

We are properly in the routine of University now and have recently sat midterm exams. Although daunting at first, we managed to focus and produce successful results. The exam consisted of a speaking, reading and listening paper. Over the years in high school I never enjoyed public speaking, like most of us, but classes in China really help you overcome that worry. Every lesson the teacher will make you contribute several times and I am very thankful for that as I don’t really get nervous anymore. This method of teaching is very useful as it helps your communication skills significantly.

During October the university also organised a trip to the Tianjin pass of the Great Wall of China. We went on several buses for 3 hours or so to the other side of Tianjin (Yes, Tianjin is that big). It was so beautiful and much more rural than the Beijing section we visited last year on the immersion course. We were also given free bags of apples and Hawthorne fruit as a gift. It was a funny sight to see 200 university students carrying around plastic bags filled with fruit all over campus.

As the end of the month creeped around the corner we began to prepare ourselves for Halloween. Halloween is widely spread all over the world, especially in the UK but not so much in China. Our local 7/11 sold a couple of witch hats and glowsticks so we made the best out of our situation. Instead of viewing Halloween as something we were missing out on, we viewed it as the most unique Halloween we were ever going to have. I would have never imagined when I was a young trick or treater on Halloween that when I was 17 I would be walking in the streets of China dressed as a mermaid.