Week One

I left home with a heavy heart and reached the airport at around 5am in the morning with my parents. I'm heading off to meet up with my classmates and catch a flight to wuhan at 8am. Leaving singapore without my parents makes me feel kind of weird but i know that this immersion programme will allow me to learn on how to be independent and be a grown up adult who can make her own important decisions. I believe that this trip itself is a new experience for me to start preparing myself for future work purposes.


At Changi Airport.

The big group of us (39 people) arrived at the guang zhou airport at around 1pm. We took pictures to kill time and boredom.

At Guang Zhou Airport.


Isabel , Me, Xianhui.


The girls.

We waited for many more hours than we expected for the transit from guang zhou to wuhan. Felt angry,restless and very tired. I think i have practically spent my whole day sitting on the airplane, sleeping and eating.



Waiting for transit from guang zhou to wuhan

Reached wuhan university of science and technology hostel at only around 11pm. The bus ride was crazy and super fast. I think china have really skillful drivers. There is hardly any lamp post at the side of the roads and we can hear many honking sounds of the car. They do not have a specific driving lane for each direction which is totally different from singapore. In singapore, we follow the rules. Cars drive at the same direction for each lane to prevent any unneccessary traffic accident.

The hostel room is average and the toilet is very small. We can't flush it with the tissue paper as their pipes for the toilet is much smaller than those in singapore. I know that the moment i stepped into the room, it means that i have to start to be independent, wash my own clothes, pack my stuffs, clean the room and etc. It is the start of something new. I have to try to adapt to the environment and survive for 6 weeks.

In the hostel.

Day 2

Toured around the school and went to visit the Admin school and The school of foreign language. I find it really weird and wonder how the girls in china can still maintain their skin so fair and white when the weather was really bad and hot . It cannot be compared with the weather in singapore. After the visit, we headed out of the school to the nearby supermarket and get our household items for the room.

The foreign school.

It was also Angela's and Sihui's birthday. So, the rest of us( xianhui, isabel and i) decided to get a cake and celebrate both of their birthday together. At night, the rest of the people and lecturers also came over to sing the girls the birthday song.

Birthday Pictures.




Day 3

It was a free and easy day which means shopping! We went to the streets in the afternoon and ate zha jiang mian as our lunch. It was spicy but taste really nice. I have also realised that the people here are quite friendly. I was often mistaken as guang zhou people and i dont really know why. Is it because of my look or my accent? Walking down the streets, sweating and shopping, i realised that the prices of the items sold in shops are really cheap. Gotten quite many of them and was really happy about it!

Initially we wanted to take the bus to experience their transportation and head over to the shopping centre in wuhan but we are advised not to do so because it was just the second or third day we came over. We might get lost and couldn't get our way back to the school. The sales person in the spectacles shop was really kind enough to tell us the directions and how to get there. It immediately changes my impression for china people because initially, i thought they were fierce and unfriendly people as they talk loudly in the public like as if they want to pick up a fight with you. We called it a day as we are leaving early tomorrow for an outing to lulin resort.

I'm glad that i am here to learn about their culture and their lifestyle.

Oval shape watermelons! Singapore only have big and round watermelons.

The chinese name that sounds so wrong.

Day 4

Bused all the way to lu lin shan zhuang and had lunch at their restaurant. Then, we went for drifting. Bought their traditional chao xie and partner with jiahao. I swear that we were very pathetic. We chose the wrong boat and water kept coming in. We had to use our cap to get the water out which is very tiring and tedious. Luckily, we joined our boat with aloysius,sinyee,shawn and zhiying. Finally, we managed to get to our destination. I had to wash up and went to the public washing toilet. It was 'Wow'. I can't explain in words how i feel but china people are really so daring and open-minded. The toilets do not have a door! It was weird and i believe that maybe this is one of their culture. I have to respect it and so after a quick rinse, i went back to the bus.

View from the restaurant.

Drifting - Water Activity.


Chao xie on the floor.

After the water activity, we went to mei ren gu. The scenery is very beautiful. We climb from rocks to rocks. Saw waterfall, mei ren chi and etc. They even have special names for each water pool or waterfall. Took alot of pictures to capture all these memorable events.

Pictures at mei ren gu.

Then, we headed back for dinner at the same restaurant and went back to our hotel room. Here is the interesting part. Xianhui and i were in the same room and around 11pm. I spotted a BIG millipede beside my bed and on the wall. So, i told xianhui and we were figuring how to kill it. We moved my bed aside and used hot boiling water to kill it. Failed for the first time. Then, out of a sudden xianhui screamed and i saw a spider crawling out under the bed. We screamed like crazy. Attempted many times to kill it with hot water but finally succeeded when i killed it with my slipper. I swear this is the first time i killed a spider, usually it was done by my mother. It was funny how we ended up in a 'watery' room with all the water splased on the floor to kill the insects. Eventually, we spent an hour to kill both of the insects. I hope there's no scary insects in my hostel room. I don't want to kill another one more.


The hotel room.

Day 5

After the 'horrible' experience in the hotel room last night, the next morning we headed for breakfast and went for trekking at Bei Men. It is a place where it was attacked by enemies of the country many many years ago. I saw soldiers statues and the army layout of the land. It was interesting because singapore is too small to have such a big land for developing a historical site. I felt it was worth it to come over to wuhan to study as besides studying for two modules here, we are able to go for field trips and learn more about other countries culture and history.

I think that the best thing happened that day was to get a horse ride! It was my first time riding on a horse and the experience was great, excluding the fact that i had bodyache the next day. How can the actors or actress ride on the horses so perfectly? i felt like as if i was going to drop from the horse the next moment. Some of us rode on the horse while the others went for archery.

Ended the day around noon and bused back to wuhan university.

Entrance of the historical site.

General's Meeting room.

Riding on the horse.

Archery.

Performance by the people in lulin

Random pictures

I have also noticed that china people talk really loudly in the public. If someone talks loudly in the public (singapore) , outsiders may think that he or she wants to pick up a fight with another person. However, it is perfectly normal in china to talk at such loud voice. As singaporeans, we have to respect their way of doing things and constantly remind ourselves that it is normal and not offensive for them to talk to us in a louder voice. We just have to take it easy and be more understanding so that conflicts will not rise between people from two different culture when interacting.

Gonna eat more of their popular food next week and am already enticipating for the week two excursion.

Till then,

xoxo.