HELLO... from China!
~ From the Days of a South Asian Girl
There is one common question that most of y’all ask me: 'How is China?' Well, China is good; very Chinese; life is kinda differently difficult, but it is just fun! I mean, I have always wanted to live a life on my own; minding my own business. Now I think I have some sort of freedom to do so.
I flew to China alone. That trip itself was fun because I met a nice couple (a Chinese and a German). Both of them knew Chinese very well, so they helped me throughout that whole journey. And one of my Chinese friends came to pick me up from Tianjin Airport with a beautiful bouquet of flowers to escort me to the university as well.
However, the nicest thing that happened to me was the two new friends I met at the university. We met each other because all three of us came to the university on the very same day. From that day onwards, we’ve been doing things together. One friend is from Germany and the other friend is from Morocco. Both of them can speak and understand Chinese way better than I do. They are so good, and I learn something new from them every single time I am with them.
Life in China is very comfortable for Chinese people, but for us foreigners, starting from the language itself, everything is a challenge. My main challenges were finding classes and the gates, and remembering the roads within the university. Our university is so huge. Therefore, finding the destinations was pretty tough for me. The other main challenge was using the metro to travel and reading their own Chinese maps to find destinations because everything is in Chinese, and here they don’t use tangible cash bills. Instead, they use Alipay or WeChat Pay. That doesn’t mean we can’t use notes, but it is kinda hard to do transactions and make purchases without Alipay or WeChat Pay.
Many people say Chinese food is delicious. For me, not all the food is delicious, but so far we have enjoyed a lot of delicious Chinese food. Still, it is a pity that we couldn’t enjoy the famous hotpot and steam puff buns.
In our university, there are so many canteens, and they have various menus and ways of selecting food. There are supermarkets, a salon, burger shops, food corners, fruit shops, a cake shop, boba tea places, and so many shops so that if the students want to buy something, they don’t have to go out of the university. But we don’t have a shop to purchase clothes and other sporting accessories. However, the university is always trying to give a comfortable life to its students.
My university has a very big library with all the necessary facilities. Not only that, but it is also very beautiful. There are so many nice reading spots, and so many students come to the library to study. But I don’t see many foreign students coming to the library. It’s just me as always.. LOL.. So whenever I walk inside the library, Chinese students who are studying in the library look at me like they have never seen a foreigner. Anyhoo, I am so happy that we have a nice library like this.
So far, things have been great. I have good and supportive friends around me. Even my fellow Sri Lankans are very helpful. Even though I am far away from home and my family, I live a happy life thanks to the people around me. So I believe wherever you go, it is really important to have good people around you, or you will miss your loved ones or feel so lonely otherwise. If you feel like you don't have good, supportive friends around you, meet new people and befriend them!
