Day 35 (12/10/11)

Today would be our departure from Chengdu. It was really sad. We bid farewell to a lots of people we see everyday on the business street. One of them would be the waiter who tried to cater to our needs in almost every meal we eat. I had many hard feelings as throughout these 35 day, many people around the campus have done a lot of us.

Secondly, it would be the kids around the business street. They did not want us to leave after seeing us with all our luggage. One of the younger ones, even run after us, asking us not to leave. Sadly, we had to leave her behind. After reaching the airport, We bid farewell to all the student helpers that had offered their help to us throughout these days. I would really like to shout out to them a word of thanks.

We touched down on Singapore around 30mins past 10. We then said goodbye to all our friends we've know in this oversea immersion programe. All of us from the same division, came together as one and conquered these days in Chengdu.

I would definitely miss all these students that walked with me throughout these days and not forgetting the friends I made in Chengdu. Although we're counties apart, we could always keep in touch.

Day 24. (1/10/11)

Today will be China's national day and we did not have classes today. I went down to town with a few if the other students. The crowd was huge. Due to the fact that it is national day, we had to squeeze around with a lot of people.

The way they celebrate national day is very different from us. Singaporeans stay at home to watch the parade in the evening. While in China, most of them are going out to shop as there are sales every where.

To add on, when we were on the bus back ot the campus, there were fireworks everwhere. As China was a large country with many states, I believe there are also parades and firewirks in all the different states

Spending one of China's largest holiday outside was definitely worth it. I have enjoyed it a lot.

Day 21 (28/9/11)

Today, we started off with cultural lessons in the morning. The lecturer today taught us about traditional chinese culture. One category of it, which many of us know, is confuciousim, started by kong zi. After that followed by dao jia, represented by lao ya. Then fa jia, which is a historical figure of zong zi. Lastly, there is mo jia, represented by mo zi. Mojia’s core idea is to love everyone, including strangers.

Besides the 4 schools mentioned earlier, there are also a few figures that made differences to Chinese culture. One of these figures will be qing shi wang. He is the person that standardized the language and size to the country. A common language is important for communication purposes. A standard size will help clarify doubts and questions when people are buying things. Hence, leading to less conflicts around the country. He also appointed a leader to every state to make sure the place is safe. He also put every different religions into different states to avoid conflicts and fights.

Day 20 (27/9//11)

Today, after the cultural lessons in the morning, we went for industrial visit. We went to a factory called maipu. At this factory, we saw many machines that were used to produce the circuit boards. One of the machines was to mount bigger items onto the board and another was to mount the smaller items. There was even a long and large machine that was used to solder the mounted products together. Compared to the previous industry we visited, maipu uses more technology and less manual work. In the previous industry, there were rows and rows of people producing the circuit board manually. Maipu creates more stock than the previous industry, hence it’s sales market is considered big. We also watched a video of the growth of the factory. Maipu have went through a lot of changes through the years. Now, they’ve businesses from all over world. Presidents from many different countries have visited their company here in Chengdu, it includes our prime minister from Singapore. I am really honored to visit such a country and I learnt a handful from them. I hope to visit more of this kind of company as I would like to take Singapore to greater heights in the electrical field.

Day 19 (26/9/11)

This morning, there was a local lecture on china culture. Firstly. He explained to us the meaning of a few chinese characters. I learnt that Buddha is not a god, he is a person who is wise and well-respected. After class, we went on to have our lunch. After lunch, we went back to the same classroom to have EG2 test and then cultural lessons on traditional festivals in China.

The most important festival will be the spring festival, lunar new year. During the spring festival, they visit our relatives and friends, let off fireworks, and the children collect red packets from the adults. For decoration wise, the word “fu” would be put upside down on the wall. In chinese, it means bliss coming into the house. They also have traditional food like back in Singapore. In comparison, the way they celebrate lunar new year is like how we do in Singapore. Besides, letting of fireworks is legal here in China. It’ll be fun if we get to try it.

The next festival would be lantern festival, yuan xiao jie. People in China eat yuan xiao, a round, sticky and sweet food to celebrate the first full moon of the month. We also celebrate it by lighting lanterns and putting riddles on them.

Next is the qing ming festival when we visit our ancestors and late loved ones, to burn incense and sweep the tomb. In China, there is even spring outings and flying of kites.

After that it will be the dragonboat festival, duan wu jie. People celebrate the dragonboat races, eating zongzi and drinking realgar wine. (history about qu yuan)

In September, there is the mid-autumn festival. The people here eat mooncake, watch the moon and sit together to tell the story of changer’

I learnt that all these festivals that we celebrate is not just came out by humans ourselves. Instead, there're many history, legends and myths behind them. It is good to learn why are we celebrating the festivals. After I know the meaning behind each and every festival, I will think back and remember the history behind each and every festival I celebrate.

Day 18 (25/9/11)

Today we went up to er mei mountain. Took a short bus ride to the foot of the mountain, and changed into a smaller bus to ride up the halfway up. The small bus ride was super tough and many people were motion sick.

After reaching the halfway mark, we started to climb up the mountain. There was flights and flights of stairs. Upon climbing, I was feeling very dizzy and tired. Hence, I took the cable car up with mdm tan, 3 other students, and one of the guide. The queue of the cable car ride was very long. After all the queuing, we got into the cable car. We had squeeze with 100 over people inside. Upon reaching the top, there were still quite a few flights of stairs to climb before reaching the peak. Hence, we started to climb. After waiting for the others to come up, we went in the temple to pray for our family and friends. Lastly, all of us took the cable car down. On the way down, we saw a lot of monkeys on the hand rails. Some of them even gave the monkey some food. They were so smart that they could open the packet themselves.

We then took another dizzy ride down the mountain to have lunch. After lunch, we took our own bus back to UESTC.

(more history)

day 17 (24/9/11)

Today will the day that we leave our hostel for a 2day 1night trip to le shan and ermei shan. We took the bus to le shan first. It was a very long ride. After we reached the place, the first thing we did was to have lunch. We had a lot of dishes and were very full. We then went on to le shan.

The guide told us we could choose 2 routes, by foot or by ship. Many of us chose to climb by foot as we not much cash left. Hence, we’ve around 333 steps to climb. Firstly, we saw a few sculptures that was partly eroded naturally. Then we moved on to see a dragon. The guide told us not to take pictures with it as it is not auspicious. After that, we were given some time to take photos of the large Buddha by the professional photographer there. Next was a long journey to the foot of the Buddha. We had to wait around 2 hours to reach the foot, as it was very tall and there were a lot of people. The handle of the staircase were all eroded and it was very thin. It was not very safe holding onto it. After looking at the Buddha, we then climb back up, it was a really tiring journey as the steps were really steep.

Finally, we moved on and took the bus to our hotel for the night. It was in way better condition than our hostel. Many of us were quite happy. Upon reaching the hotel, we had our dinner. As we were in the middle of the mountains, the food wasn’t very nice. After dinner, some of us wanted to get some food for tomorrow’s trip to er mei shan. Unfortunately, the girls were not allowed to go out as it was very dangerous. Hence, we stayed in our rooms and played card games to pass time.

The trip to le shan was very worth as we get to see many of the different things of the tang dynasty.

day 16 (22/9/11)

China have many different kinds of social lives. Compared to Singapore, it might be a lot more different than what we expected. For example, People in China thinks that talking loudly to each other is a form of being friendly. While we, as singaporeans might think it is a very rude thing to do.

Another thing I would like to talk about is about China banning some of the social network sites. For example, facebook, twitter and even youtube. As China is a big country, and has a big population, It is not very safe, In social websites, people can be easily offended and some people will get into trouble very easily.

day 15 (21/9/11)

We took back our common test early in the morning. It was followed by UESTC lesson, which taught us a bit of culture in Chengdu. The UESTC started by telling us her name. It was really special. “The rain falls over the piece of land, the wind goes below the mountain”. It was a chinese character written like this. After that, she told us about some of the famous places in Chengdu. Natural beauties like jiuzhaigou, gongga mountain and siguniang mountain. She then told us more about the history of Chengdu. Its national flower is cottonrose, national tree is gingko tree, and national logo is the phoenix. Some of the local arts here in Chengdu are SC opera, shadow play, and embroidery.

Chengdu, unlike Singapore, has gone through many years of history. It was all too much for us to learn. I think all of us in OIP will try our best to learn all we can. We should all learn to appreciate the arts and lifestyle here in Chengdu. I personally feel that the lifestyle is quite cool and slow-paced. Unlike the fast-paced life of Singapore, the life here is pretty relaxed. The arts here are very interesting too. I’ve always wanted to watch a shadow play, but did not have a chance to. I hope we will have a chance to watch a shadow play in Chengdu.

After class, we went to hong guang zhen again. This time, I walked around with 2 other girls. Unlike the previous times, there was always a boy accompany us. After the trip, I have learnt that it was actually quite dangerous outside of campus. All in all, we had to learn to be independent. The safe in China isn’t the same like back in Singapore.

We then rode the trishaw back to UESTC. It was a really fun and rocky experience. It's very rare to ride a trishaw in Singapore. I am glad to have a chance to ride it in Chengdu.

Day 14.(20/9/11)

Today we had our EG2 common test. In the afternoon, we had UESTC lessons. The lecturer taught us to appreciate tea.

The English word, “tea” actually has a chinese origin. It is derived from a plant’s name, “tay”. There are many different stories of how people derived “tea”.

A few thousand years ago, there was a divine farmer, namely shen nong, who is quite known in Chinese mythology. He sat under a tree to taste his herbs. Some dry leaves dropped from the tree into the water accidentally. He drank the boiled water as usual. The bitter and yellow water was known as tea. Another story will be a bodhiharma practicing meditation in a cave temple. After some time, he felt sleepy. To the extent that he cut his eyelids. However, when he tossed his severed eyelids on the ground, tea plants sprang up. He then used the tea leaves to brew tea to stay awake.

The original function of tea was to relieve poison. In ancient China, tea was regarded as the 7 daily necessities, as well as firewood, rice, salt, soy sauce, oil, vinegar.

Many people in Chengdu like to drink tea. Nowadays, there are some changes made to downtown teahouses. Some with pub type tea houses with pleasant décor. In the weekdays afternoons, they cater to people who came to chat or talk businesses. On weekends, families and friends will gather at the teahouses to chat and relax.

After class, we went on to hong guang zhen as we have not seen all the shops around that area. We walked around the stretch of shops. We ended up at a place with many stalls selling small snacks. We then decided to have them for dinner. We bought the sour and spicy dumpling, boiled potato which was shaped like fries, and the fried rice which is very famous here in Chengdu. After all the shopping and everything, we went to flag a cab and went back to campus to have some rest.

Day 13 (19/9/11)

Today we went to classrooms to have lessons. After that we went for lunch at the usual place and went to meet the other people to move on for industrial visit. We went there by foot. Hence, It was a long walk.

After reaching the factory that produces PCB and oscilloscopes, we took a walk around the place. We saw the people that produced parts of the machines. There was even a lane that was for checking of defects. There was even another lane that was specified to fix the defects.

After that we went to hong guang zhen to walk around. There was a lot of shops around. Therefore, we bought quite a lot of things. After on, we went to have steamboat. We went to the “man jiang hong huo guo” shop to eat their “ma la” steamboat.

It was a really unusual experience as there was a lot of spices and chili inside the soup. Besides that, the soup for the steamboat was spicy red. One special spice in the soup would be the “hua jiao”. It’s a spice which is only available here in Chengdu. This spice numbs your whole tongue and even mouth when you taste it. I do not really like the taste of it, but we still have to try different things in order to learn more. We enjoyed this dinner a lot.

After on, we took a cab back to campus and rushed to study for our commontest tommorrow.

Day 12. (18/9/11)

Today, almost all the girls woke up late. Therefore, we all had to rush down to the canteen to meet the others. After eating our breakfast at the canteen, we set off to wait for our bus. We met a few student helpers which would be going on tour with us. They were very friendly and even taught us a lot of things. Then we boarded the bus, looking forward to reach the panda park.

Little did we know, there was a massive bus jam. We had to wait around 1 hour for the bus to continue moving. The bus jam in China is really different from the jams back in Singapore. Most jams in Singapore, the car/bus will still be moving, but at a very slow speed. The jam we experienced today in China, the bus was totally stationary. The bus driver from the next bus could even come down to talk to our bus driver. It was such a dangerous thing to do. But I think they are used to it here in China. After the jam was over, we proceeded to the panda park.

We walked around the park, looking at all the adorable pandas. We even saw the red panda, which the guide told us was the raccoon. There were even some animal which were similar to an peacock. None of us were sure of it. After all that touring, we went on to buy panda products from the street stalls. Pandas are protected by law in China. In 1963, the first panda was exhibited in a zoo outside of China. All pandas in zoos are given double names; this is a Chinese custom, which indicates affection. There are only about 700 to 1000 pandas alive in the world today.

After that we boarded the bus to head to san xing dui. When we reached the place, we had lunch. It was different from all the other lunchs we had outside. It was way better. Moving on after lunch, we went to two of the museums there. The san xing dui site museum and the jin sha site museum. Both of them contained masks and stones from the ancient civillisations. We then bused back to new campus and had dinner.

After dinner, we walked the long way back to our hostel. I had a really good chat with the other students. Returning to our hostel, we found out that one of our friends had lost his bicycle. We panicked for a little while and then came up with the decision of returning our bicycles that night. As the risk of keeping the bicycles were very big. We then unlocked our bicycles and rode to the rental shop. After returning the bicycles, we walked back to our hostel to get some rest.

Day 11 (17/9/11)

Today was a really free and easy day for us. Firstly, we went to catch the first shuttle bus to UESTC’s old campus. We then bused down to chunxi road to take a look at the other small alleys that we’ve not seen during the first time we came. We went to one of the top floors, there was a 50% discount on all the items that were sold on the top floor. Moreover, some of the things there are already quite cheap. In addition of the 50% off, which made it quite a steal hence attracting many customers. We have managed to grab a few pieces of clothes. After that, we went in search of panda soft toys. I’ve gotten the things that I wanted and left for our next destination.

After all that shopping, we were all very tired and had muscle aches on our legs. Also, we were late in meeting the others. Therefore, we tried to make our way back to the campus. Upon seeing all the street signs and boards that look the same, we thought we weren’t lost, but we were. We walked rounds and rounds around the chunxi road area.

Lucky for us, we finally found our way. It was quite a rare experience, getting lost in such a big place. Back in Singapore, It’s actually quite impossible to get lost as everything is different and you can always find public transport everywhere. In China, it’s a totally different thing. This place is so vast, we could get lost anywhere. I’d really hope I won’t get lost any further in China. It was quite a terrifying experience, but, well, an experience gained is better than none.

Day 10 (16/9/11)

Today, I went for EG2 lessons as per normal. During our lunch break, We had fast food and not the usual chinese food. After lunch, We wanted to rush back to our classrooms as we were a bit late. Therefore, all of us were speeding on our bicycles in order to reach on time.

Unfortunately, one of my classmates, wenhao, fell down from his bicycle for speeding too fast. He had serious knee scrapes and torn jeans. We teared the torned jeans apart and turned them into shorts. That’s where our creativity came into use. We then brought him back to the classroom for some first aid and continued with our lessons.

After class, I wandered around on our bicycles with some of my other friends. Firstly, We saw a bus station where there is shuttle buses for the lecturers. Back in NgeeAnn, almost all our lecturers drive. This is actually one of the many differences. After that we went to UESTC’s swimming pool. Sadly, they did not allow entry to people without swimming costumes on. We then went for dinner at the usual chinese restaurant and back to hostel.

Something that I’ve learnt today is that, observing things around you closely, you actually can learn a lot of things. I’m glad I’m making a change gradually and take more notice of things around me.

Day 8 (14/9/11)

I’ve woke early this morning to do a quick touch up on my completed journal. Skipped breakfast and headed down for lessons. We had EG2’s first quiz today. It was the same as any other test back in Singapore. We went back to the hostel to have cup noodles for lunch as there were lots of people in the canteen and we didn’t have a lot of time to spare. I rushed to canteen to meet the others as I was very late.

We then proceed to one of their “hall” and had a welcome party that was prepared specially for us. Firstly, we learnt a little history about UESTC. Then, followed by some speeches. Our student representative, Andy, even went up and gave a short speech. After all that, we played some games. We played games like, “musical chairs” and something like “charades”. It was fun and jokes were cracked all around. After all that, the welcome party ended. We took a group photo and left the place. Aftermath, we went to the supermarket in school and started to walk around to find gifts for our friends and family. We had dinner as per normal and headed back to the hostel to do some chores and homework.

After that, some of the other students wanted to go make a wish on a Kong Ming Lantern (Sky lantern). It is the first hot air balloon invented by Zhuge Liang, a famous military strategist in ancient China. In ancient China, the sky lantern was usually used in wars, for signaling. Nowadays, it is used for expressing the best wishes, especially on Mid-Autumn. People write wishes on the surface of the lantern, and light it up and let it go into the sky. We all wrote our wishes down on one side of the lantern. Then lighted It and let it go off.

Making a wish on a sky lantern is definitely a unique experience. We could never do this in Singapore. They do have this kind of activity in Singapore, but the place would be filled with a lot of people. In this case in China, we were the only ones there trying to fly the lantern. Lots of people were staring at us. It was kind of awkward. The sky lanterns are mostly flown during the mid-autumn festival. But it has been raining for the past 2 days. Therefore we had chosen today to set it off. All in all, I hope all our wishes to come true and all the OIP students do well for common tests and exams.

Day seven (13/9/11)

Dear ms megan.
I think that your lessons are mostly fun and interesting. Although the lecturing part is kind of dry, we know you tried your best to make it fun. Having an 3hrs lesson straight is not a easy job. I believe teaching for 3hrs isn’t fun or easy either.

Thanks for putting in so much effort in order to teach us. I believe you’ve spent a lot of time setting our quiz, exam papers, common tests and even our maths online MCQ. I roughly get the things you've lectured in class but sometimes i do get blur. Most of the time I would just forget about the things you've just said in class. Maybe you could come up with things that are easier to remember for us.

Today was quite an hectic day. Having our first EG2 quiz tomorrow. We had to rush back to hostel after class to finish up our homeworks, study for quiz, do chores, and even to settling down to write our journals here.

I want to share an incident that happened today. I was riding on my bicycle to head back to the hostel. An accident almost occurred. Two girls was holding hands on the road when my bicycle was about to hit them. One of the girls even said, " What should we do? " in chinese during that split second. After making sure it was safe, they just walked away. I guess this is one of the difference between China and Singapore. Singaporean would not just walk away. Some will give a tongue slashing or worst, demand "medical fees". All in all, I think people in China are less demanding and practical.

Day six (12/09/11)

Today was EG2 class. We rode our bikes to our classrooms to find that it was locked. As today was mid-autumn festival, it was a public holiday for China students. But unfortunately, we still had lessons. Found a new classroom and started on lessons.

Many things have changed in my life after I had came to Chengdu. Firstly, It was the environment. The buses and cars around this area keep pressing the horn instead of giving way to pedestrians. Secondly, It was the food. The food here was all spicy, salty, and even oily. It was so hard to get used to in when you’re a foreigner around here. This trip would a very good experience for independence and let us adapt to the changes more easily. To add on, China goes way more further way down than Singapore. China has a over a century worth of history. I bet it’s too much for us to learn. I’ll take this trip as a chance to experience what I could.

Day 5 (11/9/11)

We took the shuttle bus early in the morning with some of the others. We then headed to the old campus of UESTC which was nearer to the town area. We then transferred to public bus which leads us to chunxi road, a shopping paradise.

Firstly, we had small snacks at the road stall we saw. After that, we moved on to KFC to have our proper meal. Their meal was a bit different from what we’ve back in Singapore. Instead of mashed potato and coleslaw, they’ve carrot bread and corn. Since we’re at a shopping paradise, there’s nothing much to do, but shop.

I did not get a lot of things as most of the things are overpriced and not worth it. We then headed down to have Starbucks. Caught the last shuttle bus and headed back to the hostel. The sad thing is that one week passed and I’ve not learnt anything about filial piety in China. I’d really hope to learn more about it soon.

The KFC meal that I ate showed me that the same company that has branches all over the world uses different methods to win their customers over. By having carrot bread and corn instead of mashed potato and coleslaw shows that these companies cater to their consumer’s needs. The differences in side dishes also showed me the difference in the eating habits of the Chinese and the Singaporeans. Mashed potato and coleslaw are westernized food while carrot bread and corn are more of a Chinese culture. From the types of side dishes that KFC offers in both countries, we can already see that Singapore has a more westernized culture as compared to China.

Day 4 (10/9/11)

We had a city tour today. It was a really long ride to the city. Firstly, we headed to Jinli street to take a look of the history of China. The guide taught us a lot of things about the history. But as I was very tired, I did not give my full attention.

The jinli street was flourished in the Qing and Han Dynasty. Nearby, there is the Wuhou temple museum. The guide showed us around. After that, we headed to the snack street. We tried some of their speacialities. For example, pigeon, “kao rou chuan”, “xiao long bao”, smelly toufu, fried icecream. But we ended up giving into the temptation of fast food. Shared one of the set meals with my friends and went to take public bus to our next destination.

The experience on the public bus was kind of fun. As I was sitting at the back of the bus, the whole ride seems like a rollercoaster ride. In a short while, we reached our destination, huan hua xi gong yuan. Took one of the tram inside the park and rode one round as it was about the rain. As expected, It rained shortly afterwards. We then shared umbrellas and made our way to the museum. Walked around and seen the pottery from long time ago. Those pottery displayed was quite interesting and unique. The craftsmanship was very unique for quite a few pieces.

While waiting for our bus to come, we reminisce our childhood times by playing childhood games. Boarded the bus and back to campus. Took our bikes, and went for dinner at the same old place. After all the tiring touring, went back to the hostel to do chores after dinner. Today, we had learnt a lot about the history and connections of the three kingdoms. All these culture and history could not be even found in Singapore. It was a rare chance for us to learn about all these things. What I’ve learnt today was too much to be written in words. Here are some of the photos.

(photos to be uploaded soon)

Day 3. (9/9/11)

For breakfast, we had porridge. The porridge here was really bland and watery. In addition, we only had chopsticks and no spoon. Therefore we ordered the side dish and started drinking the porridge. After that we went to class and split into our classes. Before staring on class, I learnt that some of our friends have witness a gang fight and even witness death. It must be terrible. Lucky that Singapore is very safe. When we stepped into the classroom, all we saw were long tables, chairs and a chalkboard. I think it was quite interesting to have lessons with a chalk board as now in Singapore, we are all taught using a white board and this would be quite an experience as it is the first time I am taught using a chalk board.

Having heard of gang fights is not common in Singapore especially so in schools. But those didn’t involve guns and death. Hence, when I heard about it, I was lost for words. Why would humans kill their own kind? Having to live in Singapore is such a lucky thing. Many Singaporeans take safety for granted. Many of these kind of things might happen in Singapore too. We, Singaporeans, should take good care of ourselves and defend our country. The next generation will carry things forward.

Day 2 (8/9/11)

We went for UESTC’s opening ceremony for international students. I admit it was hard to stay awake with all those speeches. I have indeed learnt a lot from the speakers, especially, NII, a year2 international student. His mandarin was even better than some of us, though he was an Arabian.

Aftermath, we headed back to UESTC new campus and had our lunch at the same canteen. A local student helper recommended some of the nicer dishes to us. He also told us more about the marching soldiers we saw yesterday. We learnt that it was a 10-day army training for year 1s. All the fresh year1s in UESTC must go through this training by do drills at times of the day and wear the army uniform for the whole day. When we’ve decided to leave, almost all the doors were closed, and we could not find the way out. It was my first time not being able to get out of a school’s canteen. After climbing flights after flights of stairs to find the exit that will lead us out, we’re still unable to get out. Upon panicking, we asked around for help. Luckily, there was a worker there who led us to the correct exit.

The local helper, Shen Qi, had to rush for class. Hence, we went our separate ways .We then went to get our phone cards to call back to our family and friends. After all that it was free and easy. Most of us went to rent bikes to move around the campus easier as it is very big. Rode the bicycle back to our hostel and off we went for dinner. We had dinner with some of the other NP students and Ms Megan and Mdm Tan. We had ordered quite a lot and couldn’t finish. Their food served came in very big portions. After our dinner we rode our bikes around the campus and we’re back in the hostel to write our journal.

Today, I would like to talk about the canteen in China. Their canteen is really different from the ones back in Singapore. Their canteens here in China close whenever it isn’t lunch/dinner time. Even all the doors are locked. This is contrary to the canteen we have in Singapore as they are more of an open concept and they do not close when it is not recess time so as to enable teacher and other staff in the school to buy food whenever they feel like it. Hence I feel that Singaporeans might not be used to this kind of canteens.

Day one. (7/9/11)

Today will be the official day we left Singapore for Chengdu. Our group of 41 NP students from the EE division took the flight from Singapore and reached Chengdu around 4pm in the afternoon. We were warmly welcomed by the student helpers from UESTC. We took the bus to our hostel.

When we reached, the first thing that welcomed us was many squads of marching soldiers. Most of us were all very amazed by it. For many of us, it was out first time seeing China soldiers marching. After which we had to our rooms and we then realized there was no lift. Since we’re living on the 5^th floor it meant that we had to climb stairs every day which is a really great exercise for us. Moving on to our hostel, the student helper passed us our key and off into the room we go!

We started to clean up the place a little because it was really dirty. At that point of time, we did not have anything besides packets of tissue and water. A very kind neighbor who lived next door saw us having a hard time cleaning up and loaned us some tools to clean. They were very kind. After that, we went to collect our bed sheets from the auntie downstairs. We went for dinner afterwards and the dishes were very oily and salty unlike the food we were used to in Singapore. We then went to the super market to get some daily necessities. We cleaned up the hostel after we’ve gotten our things. The neighbors who lived next to us taught us how to get things around the school. We then took turns to bath. The water was very cold. There are so many things I’m not used to here.I hope I get to learn more about China and try to adapt to their life in these 5 weeks. The first day’s already tough. I wonder what’ll happen in the days ahead. The people here are really helpful and friendly. As I’ve mentioned earlier, our neighbors have helped us a lot.

Back in Singapore, I do not think that the people will be willing to help the new foreigners to settle down unless they are given benefits. And also, the local people here talks very fast and loud. Some of us, Singaporeans, might feel irritated about it. All these can be prevented, we just have to give in to one another and all would be fine. These are all part of the many cultural differences that I would have to encounter during my 5 weeks stay in China. Hence I will take this time to understand more about their differences and learn about the way they do thing here. Moreover I hope that on top of getting to know more about the Chinese culture in China, I hope the students there would also learn about Singaporean’s culture and this would definitely be mutually beneficial for the students of both countries.