Lessons from my first term

So looks like the final blog of first term had arrived. I thought I would start this blog by appreciating what I've gained so far this first semester:

  • I have learned to budget when necessary. Here you can eat for a day on less than £2! 
  • I’ve learnt Chinese. Going to a class with teachers who can’t speak English and forcing youtself to understand what they are saying means all of our Chinese has come on leaps and bounds. End of term exams are coming which we're all nervous about.
  • I’ve made friends from all around the world, some of whom leave at the end of the month. However I know I’ll see them again. It feels like I’ve now got holiday homes all around the world.
  • And of course (drum roll please) I’ve learnt that if you eat Chinese food for long enough then you begin to miss and crave very strange foods and food combinations. I'm currently craving Uncle Ben’s golden vegetable rice with avocado. Sounds strange I know. 

In all seriousness I could go on and on about how much I’ve learned so far and I’m only half way!

A very important day for us just arrived and was celebrated. Unfortunately I live in China where it isn’t celebrated as a festival. I'm talking about Christmas! We were supposed to have a class today but our teacher gave us Christmas off! We kicked off the day with a lovely Secret Santa in the corridor. I bought my friend Ailsa a Secret Santa gift. Known for her studying capabilities but also her stress around exam time I centred my present around this. I bought various study materials and stationary.

For Christmas lunch our friend Emily organised a large group of us to go to a Hungarian restaurant. This is the first proper western made and owned food I’d eaten in a long time. There were 8 courses, each one with very small portions of food on a gigantic plate so I knew I was in a very fancy establishment and probably very underdressed. The stress of the century. And of course the night ended with meeting back up with the rest of the scholars to celebrate. It was certainly an unforgettable day!