Nobody said living in China would be easy

Nobody said living in China would be easy, especially for the first month. We've been here for a month now and at first things were a real challenge. You'd think that the first issue we would have is not being able to speak Chinese, but it was actually trying to get out of the airport! It took us 6 hours to get out of the airport and onto the bus from Beijing to Tianjin, but thankfully two representative students from TFSU were there to help us reach the university. 

The first few days were perfect for settling in as classes didn't start until 5 days after we'd arrived. Tianjin really is a beautiful city, and the differences between Scottish cities and Chinese cities are fascinating. China is extremely diverse; on one part of the city there are giant skyscrapers and just round the corner there are run down shack-like buildings where people live and work. The contrast is immensely high, you can see in the picture on this post just what I mean! Apart from that, Tianjin is filled with many wonders such as cute dogs, amazing food, great views and of course...people spitting - which is quite a common thing in China, yet it never ceases to make us laugh hearing the sound.

The classes in TFSU for the first week and a half were extremely challenging, but it has been the best way to help us learn Chinese. There are many difficult levels of classes and only the very beginner class has English to aid the teaching. Beyond that - it's completely in Chinese! At first I found it difficult to grasp what the teacher was saying and most of the time I was clueless as to what was going on which led to some funny situations, but a month in its smooth sailing! I still can't understand every word but for the most part it feels seamless to comprehend the spoken Chinese, as well as reading it and being able to speak. The speed of learning has been so fast and I never imagined I'd learn this quickly. It's still difficult, but that's the fun part; there's always a challenge. It’s not just in class that you are challenged, you need to speak Chinese everywhere you go! Students at TFSU come from all over the world so the common language between all of us is Chinese. Using Chinese we have been able to make friends with many other students of different nationalities. I've even been able to make friends with many Chinese students too which has helped me learn Chinese; especially casual texting lingo as we often communicate over WeChat.

The university has offered students trips to go to popular sights in Tianjin such as the Italian Style Street and Culture Street. We also went to a Chinese opera performance which was offered to the students. This covered the story of Confucius and his life. The acting and costumes were amazing and really let Chinese culture shine through. Apart from the trips that have been offered, we've managed to make our way around Tianjin with some of the convenient transport methods. The one I enjoy the most is called Ofo, which is a bike sharing scheme and is extremely popular in China. There are Ofo and Mobikes everywhere and I really do mean everywhere! You can download the app for these bikes and scan the bike's QR code to unlock the bike which only charges you money if you ride over a certain amount of time. So far, I've never been charged for it which is a bonus. The Tianjin subway (地铁）is also extremely convenient and cheap. At each station there is a train at least every 5 minutes. 

With all of that, I'm really beginning to feel at home here in Tianjin as I'm getting used to everyday life here. I can't wait to see more of what China has to offer and share it on my blog!