Nov 7, 2019
Study Abroad With Scholarship
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Study Abroad With Scholarship
Departure day
I was woken by my roommates leaving at 4am this morning. Two of them were getting the 5am shuttle to the airport. I didn't really mind as I was then able to use the wifi to check in for my London - Belfast flight. The wifi works so well when 80% of the study china group are asleep. My preflight nerves seemed to have upset my stomach again. I couldn't eat breakfast until around 9am. Honestly thought I was gonna throw up on the shuttle bus. The bus stopped first at terminal 1 (I was terminal 2) so we had to say goodbye to a few people. When we arrived at our terminal my flight was already up for check in so I then had to say goodbye to everyone else. It was pretty sad. At the check in desk I only had my ticket on my phone. It was either this or the fact that I'm western, that resulted in my bag getting searched and them holding my passport. When they finally realised I'm not a Mexican drug lord disguised as a small white British girl they let me have everything back. To be fair they are just doing their jobs. I didnt even try to make my suitcase lighter- i just packed everything and accepted I'd have to pay for it. The virgin Atlantic scales however measure it at 22.2kg so it's apparently fine! Security was fine, I just regret bringing my laptop as it's so much hassle. Plus I didn't even use it once on the programme! At the gate I was able to watch planes take off. It still amazes me that something of that size and weight is able to create enough force to fly. I seriously love the virgin media entertainment system. The English man beside kept watching the same movies as me? Not sure if that's a compliment to my movie choice. Although I felt each and every hour tick by on the flight. It dragged so much compared to when I was arriving. We landed an hour before we were scheduled to. I needed the extra hour so badly. I was able to navigate the terminal shuttle train well as I remembered bits so I knew I was heading in the general direction. This meant I was through security at the other terminal within an hour. So I nabbed a sandwich and then headed to my gate. I was genuinely falling asleep on the runway so I put some headphones in and played up beat music. It worked and kept me awake. The one thing I did find amusing was that when we cruised over England the sky was crystal clear. But when we arrived in northern irish airspace we were greated by great big dirty mountainous brutes of clouds that looked like they would engulf the plane. And of course it was pishing. Nice to be home.
Day 18
We still had to attend class this morning. Our teacher at first tried to get us to learn some new words but the majority of the class were having none of it. So instead we took photos, ate moon cakes and gave small gifts to both the teacher and our student volunteer, Jewel. Again we rehearsed our performance. I had chicken and rice for lunch, it didn't seem to upset my digestive system too much which I was grateful for. I started to pack after lunch, I'm about 60% done, the other stuff I need before I leave. I also managed to check in on the dodgy wifi for my first flight tomorrow. The second check in isn't available until 8pm UK time (which is 3am here) so it'll have to be done in the morning hopefully. My shuttle bus leaves at 7am (even though my flight is at 11.40am I'm getting the earlier bus cause the traffic here is bloody mental) so I should be at the airport around 8.30am. We have to check out half an hour before our bus leaves so this means I have to be ready to go at 6.30am. Yay for early mornings. The closing ceremony was quite sad. They had a montage video of the last 3 weeks (it featured some awful shots of me) along with speeches and then of course our class performances. Ours was just ok, I found it super cringey. I got my roommate Becca to film it for me on my phone. After the ceremony we got a Class 5 photo with our teacher and volunteer Jewel (both who helped in putting together our performance) and took a few selfies. We then headed to the elusive campus shop to buy more stuff to increase our luggage weight. I got a rather lovely top and a keyring both with ECNU on them. Finally I decided to head to tescos to nab some Pocky before I depart.
Day 17
We had our writing exam this morning. Most of it I found to be alright but the multiple choice section threw me a bit. We find out tomorrow how we did. After class our group had agreed on another rehearsal for tomorrow's closing ceremony (I can hardly believe it's 3 weeks since I stepped on a plane). We've decided to sing twinkle twinkle once in English then twice in Chinese with the second chinese bit being to faster music. I bought more bready stuff at the shop along with some vitamin water (I know from these past few days I'm severely deprived of nutrients). This afternoon we had a lecture on a Chinese internship. The lecture was good from the fact that it gave pointers for our CVs, but in reality all we wanted to know was what the internship entailed. There was zero information given with regards to cost, length and content. A bit silly if you ask me. My friend Lucy and I then decided to explore more of the gardens. We found an awesome little area out of the way that looked like it belonged in a tourist attraction. It was seriously beautiful. A few of us watched a film that lead up to dinner. We went to the local shopping centre again. I risked my stomach and braved some plainish rice. It had scallions, mince and egg in it. It didn't taste too bad. Hopefully I can eat normal food tomorrow. The closing ceremony apparently lasts 3 hours. That's gonna be fun!
Day 16
My oral exam was over within 5 minutes. I know I messed up on the dialogue. I mistook the word for "tomorrow" for the word for "yesterday" and so I told her the wrong date. I did rectify it though so maybe I'll get half marks. Reading the pinyin was alright. I tried to keep to the tones but I fear I just read it like English. I knew a lot of people messed up at some point so we're all in the same boat. I bought a lot of not-french-toast-but-kinda-tastes-like-it bread for me to live on for the next 3 days. We had taichi this afternoon. I can sum it up in two words- hard and embarrassing. The fact that the instructor laughed everytime he looked my way was a great confidence boost. Oh well. Guess I'll never make it my day job. My arms were killing me by the end. I went over stuff for our written exam in the afternoon. I always think writing exams are less stressful cause you're not put on the spot as such. I had french toast for dinner in my room as the others headed to the canteen. I really wanted some beef noodles but I know I'd better not risk my stomach. I'm hoping tomorrow goes well as I've worked harder for it than I did today.
Day 15
Trust me to get sick the day before exams start. Since my GIT wasn't playing ball this morning I had to skip class. I ended up lying in bed feeling sorry for myself and cursing whatever I ate. Around 10ish I eventually got up, showered and tried to make myself look more presentable. I also tried doing some revision but when you're ill and doing revision it's like trying to climb a hill with an elephant on your back. At lunch time one of my roommates came back from class and she walked to the nearby shop with me so I could buy some plain food. I settled for a bap and some salted pringles. The smell of the street food being cooked was nearly enough to make me hurl. The motion from the lift wasn't too pleasant either. She also gave me some of her paracetamol tablets for my headache as all mine have caffeine in them which isn't recommended when you have a dodgy tummy. I ate pringles and my bap during the afternoon. The bap had weird raisins and creamy stuff in it so I avoided those bits and just ate around the outside. Our class had a rehearsal this evening for the closing ceremony. We're singing twinkle twinkle little star in Chinese. In our rehearsal we were an absolute shambles. We've another rehearsal on thursday right before the ceremony so hopefully we'll have improved by then. Everyone is freaking out about the oral exam tomorrow. I've kinda just accepted whatever will be will be. I felt too sick earlier to do proper revision so I know I'll probably end up with a lower mark. Can't be helped though. As long as I pass that's the main thing!
Yesterdsy in front of Chairman Mao. He's our regular meeting spot.
Here are the two textbooks we learn from. The written one is made by ECNU. We've been given them to keep but I doubt I'll be able to bring mine due to weight restrictions. I bought too many presents.