Goodbye Scotland... 你好中国。

Despite having been to China before it’s fair to say upon leaving the airport I just couldn’t contain my excitement. Travelling to the other side of the world sounds like a chore. However, with 21 other young students to chat to the whole way, the time seemed to fly by.

Exhausted, we arrived at the university at last and began to unpack and settle into our new home for the year. I was lucky have taken part in the summer programme last year so I already knew my roommate Harriet, and we began to decorate our room with pictures, lights and flags (a little bit of home).

Our first week consisted of making lots of new friends from all over the world, for example, Uzbekistan, China and Thailand. Trying lots of new food such as Hot Pot (which I think is now my favourite) and seeing new places such as the ancient culture street, the TV tower and the Italian style Town. What’s not to like?

Naturally, I was nervous to begin classes as I have never studied Mandarin before. Although, rest assured I have improved a lot already thanks to my helpful, patient teachers and fellow students. I am desperate to improve as I have made new Chinese friends and would love to be able to communicate with them in Chinese because at the moment a bit of Chinglish seems to be the only way.

There are many things I love about Tianjin, the buildings, the caring people who try so hard to help us everyday (谢谢）and of course the £1 dinners.
We celebrated the Mid-Autumn festival in style with other students from our university embracing the Chinese culture by listening to music, eating mooncakes and spending time with our friends. This was the perfect opportunity to share a little bit of Scottish culture, by teaching our new friends to ceilidh dance, what a laugh that was!

I can’t believe that we are almost a month in but as the saying goes “time flies when you’re having fun”. We’ve already booked a holiday to Xi’an and I’m about to start packing for the 19 hour train journey. Don’t worry, I’m bringing a good book. We will be sure to test our mandarin and see new sights such as the terracotta warriors. I can’t wait, more stories to come.