Dreaming In Chinese: The One In Which I’m Soppy| 4 min read

Seeing as we’ve entered the last week and are all leaving to our placements I feel like I have a perfect excuse to be all sentimental. Though knowing myself I’ll probably end up rambling a bunch of random thoughts as per usual.

So we’ve entered our fourth week and there’s an obvious presence of both small and big annoyances throughout the group, which I think is more than normal when a group of 52 is living on top of each other for about a month. None of these annoyances take away the feeling that I get whenever I stop for a moment and think about this whole experience.

All these amazing people I’ve met so far. All 52 of them, even with their small and big bad habits (we all have them. I know that I have). The amazing staff who are always there to help you 24/7 and will guide you through the month with a lot of dedication and smiles. The teachers we have for our lessons who are very excited and devoted. But it’s not only them. It’s also China and the people living here. This country on itself is so amazing. It’s a country of extremes that’s for sure.

A country where technological development is at its best and at the same time you have schools where they don’t even have a marker for their whiteboard. A country where the living spaces are as small as 1m² and at same time have an Audi or BMW parked outside. A country where the people look at you out of the corner of their eye with slight suspicion but give you the biggest smile when you utter something as little as ‘ni hao’. China has in these four weeks not failed to baffle me yet. Every day there is something new that amazes me or impresses me and it’s incredible to find yourself in something that is so different from what you’re used to. I guess that I got over my cultural shock pretty quickly or that it is still lurking around the corner and waiting for the right moment to attack, but I love China for both little and big reasons. They say New York is the city that never sleeps and I wouldn’t know as I’ve not been there before but China is the country that never stops.

It’s very hard to put into words how grateful I am that I get to be here to do this program and to live amongst these people from all over the world in one of the biggest countries in the world.

When I started I never expected to be this enchanted by the whole experience or to meet such amazing people. I don’t think anything could ever have prepared me for everything that I have come across here. All the people I’ve met here are amazing in their own way but I am most grateful for the few people here that have become very close friends. I love them dearly and will miss them greatly once we each move to our different placements but I am looking forward to be able to meet up with them during free time and city trips.

There are so many factors to this whole trip that made/make it such an amazing experience and I can’t stress enough how much I’m enjoying it here. And if you ever have a moment where you feel like this is something you’d like to do then DO IT! Know it’s not a holiday and that you’ll have to work just as much as you’ll have fun but it’s so worth the time and effort! Just do it because I can say without a doubt that it’s one of the best things that’s ever happened to me and probably will ever happen to me.