Tour of Tianjin
This month, we decided to switch things up and share our experiences of exploring Tianjin through writing, rather than a video. We took many photos along the way and now that we are becoming more comfortable with our Mandarin skills we are more confident in venturing farther from the university and discovering what this incredible city has to offer.
After we settled in we decided to push out boundaries by using the subway for the first time. The station is around a 20 minute walk from the university, and with Alipay all set up we used the scan-on scan-off ticket system, meaning we could now (semi) confidently travel throughout Tianjin! Despite some initial nervousness, the process was surprisingly straight forward and we finally had the small victory of riding the subway 坐地铁) to Nankai (南开)!
Once we arrived we had a wander around the mall which had a very westernised feel to it as it could almost be mistaken for an American Mall with brands such as Lulu Lemon, Sephora, and Dairy Queen (Our personal favourite pitstop) Because the malls are commonly full of international shops, the prices are usually similar to home, however we all agree that the clothes are infinitely more stylish. We also came across a Chinese bookstore (中文的书店) and although the books were all in Mandarin we found some simple children's books to help us study (yes we are THAT committed) and we even found copies of Harry Potter with both an English and Chinese translation! It was a fun way to immerse ourselves in the language while enjoying something familiar.
Later in the month, we visited the famous (有名) Tianjin Culture Street (天津文化街), and it was truly an unforgettable experience, especially for Eve and I, as we’d never seen anything like it before. The street was stunning, and beautifully showcased Tianjin's traditional architectural influences in a way that wasn't as obvious in the more modernised areas of the city. The street was lined with an eclectic mix of stalls and stores selling everything from elegant traditional Chinese dresswear, aromatic street food and even statues of Chinese mythology. We also came across a small museum (博物馆) and that offered us a deeper dive into Tianjin’s rich cultural history. We visited a small shop that had walls lined in gemstones, each a bracelet holding crystals that are believed to have different symbolism and healing properties according to Chinese medicine. After having a long look around we all decided to buy matching bracelets to commemorate our trip to the Ancient Culture street. The highlight of the visit for all of us was how much the street gave us a space to immerse ourselves in authentic Chinese culture. It felt like we had open access to a world of tradition that we could explore at our own pace and this gave us a more in depth understanding of the local traditions and history, whilst also enjoying some good food!
On the topic of good food…the most recent adventure offered a stark contrast to the ancient culture street. With a blend of European charm and Chinese influence, the Italian street offered us an insight into the perception of Europe through a Chinese lens, we were able to walk along the streets of ‘Italy’ and even got to indulge in a taste of home with some well needed pasta bolognaise after weeks of unfamiliar (yet still delicious) Chinese food. We stumbled across a library that looked like something straight from Harry Potter (Harry Potter Mention Counter = 2) and it made us motivated to one day be able to understand a world of knowledge that lies in the books that we cant read. Each of us found books that we thought we might be interested in and we will definitely take a trip back once our proficiency greatly increases.
After nearly two months of living in China we can confidently say that not only has this experience improved our language skills but also our strength in ability to navigate through a culture that can sometimes be confusing and scary, yet inherently beautiful. Sometimes it is hard to see past the fear of traversing an unfamiliar city, however the reward for putting yourself out there is infinitely greater than anything we could have imagined.
Thank you for reading this months written vlog! See you next month!