As part of my Minor Doing business in China I was lucky enough to actually move to China. So I lived in Beijing for 5 months, after which I traveled to the south of China with my new friends and twin Anne. But I am getting ahead of myself, lets begin at day one.
Day one – Saying goodbye to NL
My adventure to China started on Wednesday 28 August 2018. After saying goodbye to my friends and family at Schiphol Airport, I took a last Heineken beer and a McKroket with my new classmates before boarding the plane.
Even though I do not like to fly (because I have really sensitive ears), I enjoy long flights for one reason; you can watch movies! Since flying to China took around nine and a half hours, this meant that I could binge a lot of movies (which I kinda wanted to do but I needed sleep as well). So because I didn’t want to be exhausted for my first day in China, I made a compromise and only watched two movies, and played a handful of games.
Day two – First day in China
Once we arrived at Beijing airport we were all very tired from our journey (I was exhausted even though I did sleep a bit on the plane). So we hopped in a taxi, and immediately were full of energy since our driver had a heavy foot, which made me personally question whether I would get to my new home safely (spoiler alert: I did).
When arriving at the dorms, many of my classmates had problems with their rooms; some rooms had no shower, toilets were leaking, air conditioning did not work (which we really needed since it was 40 degrees Celsius outside) or there was mold everywhere. Luckily for me, my room was fine-ish (not counting that the bathtub was moving when you moved).
After settling, us Dutchies went to a large shopping mall down the street to try and get some food. After lunch we went back to the dorms and met some other Dutch people who had already been there for six months, and would stay for a year, meaning we would all go back at the same time.
They showed us the ropes and we ate together at a very small, but delicious restaurant. It was a weird experience since customers just sat everywhere they wanted and they spat on the floor without anybody caring.
What did I learn?
- So the first thing I learned is that there is barely any road discipline in China, cars come from all places, they ignore some signs and drive very reckless.
- Secondly, always check your room and take pictures to ensure you get your deposit back.
- Thirdly, the food tastes amazing, and the food in little restaurants tastes way better then food from malls.
- And last but not least, there are Dutchies everywhere, so watch out because we might take over the world one day 🙂
If you found this interesting, continue reading my story in my next blog!
