Studying

大家好！

This is Leah and Mati reporting back from a new month of adventures in China. This month we started a new semester of classes, which means new teachers, new classmates and harder material!

All is well and fine, but getting adjusted to the new level can take a lot of effort, as we jumped from HSK3 to 4, not to mention getting used to the amount of homework we receive from some teachers…

Despite the hard work, this new semester seems promising, as we have different classes where we are learning about words borrowed from other languages (外来词), Chinese cartoons and movies, how to make traditional Chinese prints and several other interesting typical things.

This new semester, we have no free classes and, as we start improving our Chinese level, we have opportunities to join extra classes outside of the curriculum too, such as a HSK5-6 class, a martial art class, a tea culture class, handwriting and calligraphy class and many more. This is not mandatory, but it is encouraged as it broadens your understanding of and love for China.

A new semester also means new students, which in turn makes for a lot of new friends. For example, in our class we now have students from America, Armenia, Kenya, Thailand, Laos and many more. The important thing is to be open and nice to everyone, whether you’re speaking Chinese or English, and include the new students in the outings with your friends.

It is now March, so the 天津weather has started getting warmer and sunnier. This is great to get back into habits even as simple as sitting outside and listening to music, chatting with your friends and, of course, taking some fresh air while studying. We are all very excited to see the cherry trees start to blossom, the ice on the school lake melt, and the fish swim again – as well as not having to wear five jumpers to get to class.

We have also taken the opportunity of warm weather to explore 天津 a little further, this time trying to find hidden gems like cute coffee shops to study in, live music pubs and good restaurants that we have yet to explore in the past six months.

As we are now used to China life, we have finally built our routine: after class, go to the school canteen for a quick lunch, then back to the classrooms for some self study 自习. After doing our homework and revising our vocabulary, we like to do a mix of things such as go to the gym, play team sports in the fields, play card games with our friends or have outings in 和平 district. The evenings consist of a relaxed dinner, planning for the next day and sometimes a cheeky game of pool.

The more time goes, the more our Chinese level improves. This means that we are ambitious to complete our HSK exams in the next few months and come back home with a precious cultural and language baggage.

See you next month! 再见！