Harbin

December in China is very different to back in Scotland. The weather is far drier, windier and colder. Temperatures dropped to what felt like -15 degrees Celsius but no sight of any snow or ice. Christmas here is purely an opportunity for businesses to sell more products and if it hadn’t been for chatting to friends and family back home, I probably would have missed Christmas all together.

One highlight from this month was going to Harbin. This is a city with approximately 10 million inhabitants located in the very northeast of China.

We spent 10 hours on a Chinese sleeper train where three bunk beds where positioned directly on top of each other (6 beds per cabin). On the way there, I was in a carriage with five of the other scholars. However, on the way home I was in a carriage with a Chinese family – perfect opportunity to practice my Mandarin! I started getting changed 30 minutes before the train arrived since I had over five layers to put on. I felt like a balloon and could hardly move.

The city is situated very close to Russia and therefore has a lot of Russian influence. I enjoyed tasting various Russian chocolates, ice creams and breads. Although they were all delicious, they were not as tasty as some of the crickets and maggots I tried…if you had told me 1 year ago that I would spend the weekend before Christmas haggling with a Chinese man on getting the best deal for 2 maggots and 2 crickets on a stick in -20 temperature weather in the very north of China I don’t think I would have believed you.

During my 3 day stay I visited Russian architecture, the Russian village, the streets of Harbin and various events from the annual ice festival. The snow sculpture event was my personal favourite. This is a village where the most famous landmarks in the world are recreated completely made from ice e.g. the Colosseum and the Disneyland castle.

For me, this was a once in a lifetime trip. For a start I have never been to a place as cold as this. Russian influence in a Chinese city is unique and beautiful. The amount of time that goes into creating a village made purely of ice was very impressive. Therefore, I highly recommend a trip to Harbin although don’t stay for longer than necessary as you may turn into an ice cube.

Over the festive period we were still expected to attend classes. However, this didn’t stop us from having a great week of celebrations. Our teachers understood that Christmas was an important day for us and therefore kindly allowed us to take to the day off. On Christmas morning everyone had a present to open from a secret Santa. Some of us then went to a church nearby and then stopped for a brunch between Costa Coffee and a bakery called Paris Baguette. Christmas dinner was my highlight of the day. We took a break from Chinese food and ordered in a ton of burgers, chips, chicken, pizza and lots of other ‘feel good’ foods.

The day after Christmas day was my 18th birthday. We performed Scottish dancing to the rest of the university. I then dragged the group to the bowing alleys where I received a card and croissant. The busy week of celebrations concluded with my roommate Ross’ birthday on the 28th, Abi’s on the 30th and then finally New Year’s Eve.

Studying Mandarin in a Chinese university is an extremely demanding but rewarding task. Determination and hard work is required every single day. Finding the right balance between improving your Mandarin level and truly experiencing what China has to offer while also giving yourself enough time to eat, sleep and rest up is also very difficult. In my opinion this forces you to change and develop as a person. After having completed my end of Semester 1 exams I am very happy with the progress that I have made and feel like I thoroughly deserve my month and a half break to go and discover south east Asia.