A day in the life
Kallan
Kallan, when do you wake up in the morning?
I normally wake up at about 7am? Get ready for class and then I go get a coffee from the post office and breakfast, usually I will have pork bao buns from the first floor in the canteen.
What time do you get to class?
Usually I get to class at about 8am, I like to be nice and early, although my classmate Sheng-Yi always beats me to it and is always there when I arrive. I like to revise my notes for a while before listening to some music to relax and be in the right mindset before class starts. Usually all the Scottish students arrive before the other international students, who always seem to arrive right on time at 8:30.
What do you do during class?
Lets pretend its a Wednesday: on Wednesdays I have our Elementary Chinese Teacher 季老师, this is our main general teacher that we have about 4 times a week. She is so lovely and usually we learn about 20-40 new words a week in her class, and then practice them with some games and listening exercises. After a short break we then have 玉老师, who is our speaking and listening teacher, we usually go through a listening textbook with her and then repeat back passages in mandarin, however I find her class most useful and interesting when she talks to us in Mandarin about a random topic and we talk back to her with the best of our abilities.
What do you do after class?
Usually I'll go and get lunch at the canteen. Most of the time I'll get rice, chicken, and tomato, and then I'll go back to my room. I like to watch Youtube videos whilst I eat my lunch and then I'll study until about 3pm. Then (on a good day) I'll go to the gym for about an hour to an hour and a half, and then come back home and shower. Sometimes we will go for a walk after dinner, but I like to come back home and revise a little bit more before winding down for the evening.
What is your nightly routine?
When I finish studying for the night I like to get changed into my pyjamas and then ill do a quick tidy of my room before going to my friends room to hangout for a while, we like to sit and watch either a movie or a TV show, (usually a TV show that one of us has watched and is now forcing the others to see) and we chill out after a day of studying and hard work. Then when I get back to my room I brush my teeth and take my makeup off, before reading some of my book before bed.
Eve
So Eve, when do you wake up in the morning?
Well, when I wake up in the morning it's around 8am, I get ready and before I leave I double check I have my keycard, then I normally do a little Wu-Mart trip to get myself a coffee and a croissant to eat in class.
What time do you get to class?
Erm like, just after 20 past? I will usually sit and relax a bit before class starts, sometimes I'll sit and reply to messages on my phone and sometimes I'll look at yesterdays classwork before class starts at 8:30.
What do you do during class?
It depends on the day and the teacher, usually I have 董老师 (Teacher Dong). We learn lots of new vocabulary with him and do a mixture of reading and writing as he is our main teacher, we have lots of ‘mini tests’ and normally he makes us copy any new vocab out multiple times because it helps get it in our heads. Our other teacher is 流老师, she is our writing teacher, she normally speaks in Mandarin and teaches us a wide range of characters and radicals. Sometimes in our class we play games to help us memorise these characters.
What do you do after class?
After class I normally go back to my room and nap for about an hour. Sometimes me, Lana, and Kallan will stumble across 7/11 to get some ‘study snacks’ and then we'll go back home. I'll maybe go on my phone for a while and then study until dinner time for my upcoming exams. Normally for dinner I go with my friends to the canteen and we usually frequent the third floor. I really enjoy getting sizzling noodles. Then after dinner, if it’s not too cold, we will sometimes go for a walk around campus and people watch outside 7/11, or if we have packages to pick up we will go to the post office.
What is your nightly routine?
Normally after dinner I'll have a shower, and then dry and straighten my hair, then usually I'll either go to Kallan or Lana’s room, or they will come to mine and we will watch whatever our current hyperfixation is on Netflix. We normally hangout until about 10:30/11:00ish and then I wash my face and brush my teeth and if I have time I'll phone my parents for a bit before getting ready to sleep.
Erin
When do you wake up in the morning?
For me, most days in China follow a pretty simple routine. I usually wake up quite late, around 7:30 or 8 and stop by Wumart (my favourite shop ever!!) to grab a yogurt drink before class.
What do you do during class?
I have two classes everyday from Monday to Friday at 8:30–12, and the classes change depending on the day, like 听力 (listening), 阅读和写作 (reading and writing), and HSK class.
What do you do after class?
After class, I head to the canteen for lunch. Since I’m vegetarian, I almost always get 番茄鸡蛋面 (egg and tomato noodles). Before coming to China, I was nervous about the food, as I thought I would struggle finding vegetarian meals, but the canteen always has many vegetarian options for me. When I get home, I usually like to take a quick nap, then go to the gym.
What is your nightly routine?
In the evening, I’ll have supper either in the canteen or at the 夜市 (night market), where there are so many different 天津菜 (Tianjin dishes) to try. Recently though, my routine has been pretty chaotic with 考试 (exams), studying day by day instead of having classes, and we’ve also been travelling, so no two days feel exactly the same!