The Great China Adventure

Arrival

After a long 13-hour journey from across the globe, on the 3rd of September we finally set foot in China, 中国! For some (including me), it was the first time visiting 中国, which still feels unreal. I immediately noted some differences; Beijing Airport is so big that everyone has to take a train between the gates and the arrival, and the queues are very long. However, when we finally arrived at our building 楼 and our room 房间 we immediately felt more relaxed. Me and my roommate Bethany were quick to decorate the room with pictures, fairy lights and a map to make it feel more like home. Also, our view is amazing!

Tianjin 天津

Between our arrival and the start of the semester we had 2 weeks off, which we have taken as an opportunity to explore Tianjin 天津. It feels like we have already seen so much, but in fact we still have a lot of landmarks to tick off because 天津 is so big!

As I mentioned, our window view is directly on the Tianjin Radio and Television Tower (天津广播电视塔). This is in fact the 8th tallest freestanding building in the world, and it's crazy to know it is right outside our window! The Tower is surrounded by a little park on the Weijin River. At night, children activities are often organised there such as rollerblading or dancing, and during the day many people fly their kites.

The Western Style Avenue, 五大道艮园广场 or as we call it “The Colosseum” is another area we have explored. Most of the Heping District is built in western style, with the amphitheatre in the middle. Inside the “colosseum” there are many stalls with a variety of food, jewellery and even little rodents. There is also a running track, where many challenge themselves to run as fast as they can between all the people walking!

We have also visited the Italian Style Town, 天津意式风情街 which was created according to the former Italian concession where the Kingdom of Italy controlled this little part of the city. Today, it totally feels like being on a Mediterranean holiday: there are many restaurants with typical Italian food and stalls which sell everything from food to souvenirs. Even the roads themselves are made of cobble, which brought back many sentiments of Italy in me.

China 中国 is like one big shopping centre. We have visited so many already, but every time we’re outside, we keep discovering new ones. The ones closest to us are Lunan CC Plaza and Joy City. Lunan Plaza is situated beside the Radio Tower and it’s only one subway stop away. We were very fascinated by the big Angry Birds themed play park. However, what’s even more fascinating is the underground floor which has its own name: Power Town. The whole floor is stylised as a train station and you can find many restaurants and food stalls, as well as hairdressers and even an arcade!

Joy City is three subway stops away. There are two Joy Cities in Tianjin, however this one is the bigger one. The entrance is ice cream and sweets themed (it changes every month, now it's an apartment themed entrance!), a perfect place for pictures. As you ascend the escalators, each floor has a different “entrance”: from a sequin wall to a book wallpaper. Joy City also has an underground food area, which is so busy that it feels like a normal street outside. Again, there are tons of shops with adorable things, and most importantly adorable teddy bears, where I have adopted Polly who is going to join me in my Great China Adventure!

To get to all these amazing places we have mainly taken the subway. The system is extremely simple, you select the stop on the ticket machine, and it works out how much your ticket is depending on the distance. So far, the maximum we have paid is 3 yuan, which is £0.35. The tickets are also little green tokens which have a chip inside that lets you get through the gates.

Culture

We were lucky enough to arrive in China 中国 just in time for the Mid-Autumn festival. This is celebrated when the moon 月亮 is seen at its biggest and roundest in the whole year. To celebrate this festival, locals gather with their families and eat lots of mooncakes 月饼! We also followed this tradition and sat together to enjoy these little sweets.

Speaking of food, during our stay we have already tried so many tasty dishes! My favourite has to be jianbing 煎饼, dabing 大饼 and dumplings 饺子. As for sweets, Chinese culture doesn’t have many sweet foods and they use red bean or sweet potato paste to add the flavour. So far, I’m in love with red bean pastry cakes. As much as China has a very meat-based cuisine, it's not very hard to find vegetarian options and many dishes have a lot of delicious vegetables in them.

To pay for all this delicious food many Chinese people don’t use cash, but Wechat 微信. 微信 is a social media platform which is a substitute for our Messenger, Whatsapp and even Instagram. It has a “Money” option, where you can scan a code, put in the amount and it goes straight to the merchant. Through 微信 itself you can also search and pay for flights, trains, movies… basically everything!

Recently we have also set up our bike-sharing app. For as little as 12 元 yuan a month, one can access the bikes unlimitedly. Bikes are very popular in China 中国 and they even have their own lane on the road. Although cycling along cars was very intimidating at first, the bikes are a very convenient option.

University

On the 16th of September we finally started university. Surprisingly, I was very excited to sit behind a desk again and learn a completely new subject. Because I am only a beginner, I am in F class. Classes run from A to F, and each class has its own classroom.

The subjects we have in F class are:

-Comprehensive Chinese Language, where we mainly focus on reading and grammar, but also writing and pronunciation.

-Oral Class, where we practice our tones and sentence structure

-Listening Class, where we learn how to recognise different sounds and sound combinations in the Chinese language

-Character Writing (my personal favourite!), where we learn how to write Chinese characters and combine them with other characters to learn new words.

It has already amazed me how much I have learned in only two weeks, as I am able to recognise more characters on the street and order my own food (which was a massive challenge the first few days!)

Another exciting part of our classes was receiving a Chinese name. As my name is very long and difficult to pronounce in Chinese, at first our teacher called me 斯蒂芙, which in Mandarin sounds like Stef (SiTiFu). However, I have also received a true Chinese name: 孔爽途 (Kong Shuang Tu), which means bright road.

However, my favourite aspect about university in China is the number of international students we have already met. Even on our floor, where the 21 of us are the majority, there are Korean, Pakistani, Thai and students from many other origins. I have also met Polish students, which was especially nice, as I can now speak my mother tongue as well! The variety of nationalities and races definitely brings more colour to the school atmosphere and I cannot wait to meet even more students.

Hope you have enjoyed my blog and will follow and learn with me during my adventure. There is still so much to do and see in 中国! Feel free to also watch my video to truly enjoy the scenery and beauty of Tianjin 天津.

Goodbye, 再见!

Kong Shuang Tu,孔爽途