From haggis and tatties to 公报和煎饼
你们好, on the 3rd of September I embarked on a 9 month trip to 中国(China) to study Mandarin at Tianjin Normal University. When I first arrived in China the main shock was the culture change. China is a very unique country and couldn’t be more different to scotland. The food in China is not like the Chinese food you would find in Scotland. The breakfast in China is mainly bread orientated, there is a famous breakfast wrap in Tianjin that has been my breakfast almost everyday in China, it’s called 煎饼(jian bing).
For dinner the first week mainly consisted of 公报（Kung pao) which is a Chinese dish that has chicken, vegetables and rice.
The other massive shock was the study of 汉语(Chinese language) which has been an uphill battle, personally I have no previous knowledge of Mandarin so the school work has really hit me hard. Although it has been hard it’s a very enjoyable language to learn, even if I have to spend all night writing out Chinese characters. Being immersed in China means that even when I’m doing my everyday routine I’m having to study by speaking Mandarin and interacting with locals; this has allowed me to improve my Mandarin skills at a very fast rate.
During my first week in China I had no classes which meant it gave me time to go around the city and really get a feel for Tianjin. On our first day to go around we stuck to the nearby area to try get used to where we were living, after hours of wandering around we finally got to tiantahu scenic area.
As you can see this is very picturesque and once we started to understand our way around we found out it was only 10 minutes walk from our university! On our second day we used the subway to get around as there is a stop 5 minutes walk from our accommodation, called 吴家窑. Public transport in China is very futuristic and efficient, to go around on the subway it can cost between 2-11 yuan and there is a subway every 5 minutes. For the first couple of weeks we took the subway everywhere, even when it sometimes caused inconvenience. Later on that week we visited the Italian Street, this was the first European food we’d seen for a week. Sadly as we’re students European food was out of our price range so I had to settle for a 煎饼. Even though this first month has been a massive change it’s been an amazing experience already and I know I’m going to savour every last moment of it.
The start of the second month in China couldn’t have started better as we had a weeks holiday where me and some of my fellow scholars decided to travel to Xi’an. Although we were very excited for the holiday there was a slight anxious feeling around it, as it was a 20 hour train journey there ! Some of you may be thinking 20 hours on a train isn’t that bad but you have not seen a Chinese train. The seats are rock hard and the aisle is filled with passengers that have paid to stand. This experience will definitely stay with me and not for the right reasons! Looking back on it now I do question how I managed.
The start of the second month in China couldn’t have started better as we had a weeks holiday where me and some of my fellow scholars decided to travel to Xi’an. Although we were very excited for the holiday there was a slight anxious feeling around it, as it was a 20 hour train journey there ! Some of you may be thinking 20 hours on a train isn’t that bad but you have not seen a Chinese train. The seats are rock hard and the aisle is filled with passengers that have paid to stand. This experience will definitely stay with me and not for the right reasons! Looking back on it now I do question how I managed.
Xi’an is a large city in central China that is surrounded by a city wall, although the reason why most tourists go to Xi’an lie outside the wall. Just outside the city wall are 秦陵兵马俑(the Terracotta Army) which is a self proclaimed eighth wonder of the world. This is a collection of sculptures of Chinese soldiers and horses, these were constructed around 240 BC and every sculpture is unique! To see them we had to wake up at 5:30 am and rush to the Xi’an train station, while half asleep this is a challenge. From here we took a bus, even though I was tired this flew by due to the excitement running through my veins. When we arrived at 秦陵兵马俑 we rushed to get tickets and get in as it is one of the busiest tourist attractions in the world. Even though we were inside by 930 you were almost unable to move while in the viewing rooms.
Although it was this busy it was hard to tell cause we were all so entranced by the pure beauty of it.
The experience was breathtaking and the detail on every sculpture is truly amazing.
Although this was the main pull factor to why we chose Xi’an there is plenty other tourist attractions throughout the city. On one of the nights we hired bikes and cycled round the city wall which was 16 km! This was a great way to get to see the city and was really 漂亮(beautiful) at 晚上(night). We also ended up just walking around Xi’an and going to street markets and many mosques.
Other than going to Xi’an for a week we managed to squeeze in even more travelling into our second month. 14 of us scholars went to the longest glass bridge in the world for a weekend. Especially for people who are scared of heights such as myself this may seem like a nightmare come true, but as it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity I decided to push myself. This may end up being one of the smartest decisions I’ve ever made as it was amazing to see something this unusual and unique in person. To get the bridge (that is in the middle of nowhere!) we had to take a 5 hour bus journey. When we arrived at the hostel we quickly dropped our bags and made our way to the hill. One detail of the trip that was left out when we booked it was the cable car for the mountain to the bridge had not yet been built so this meant we had to walk up a mammoth of mountain. We arrived at the bridge sweaty and tired after a 45 minute walk but the view made it all worth it.
This blog may have been dominated by stories of my travels but especially for me this was one of the main factors that drew me to China. This country has such a unique culture and has so much to offer people that want to see the world. The experience you will have here can't be had anywhere else and I really hope everyone who reads this will at one point experience China!
