For one, I have a weird toothache which on top of being absolutely uninteresting to you, is making me curse the fact that I have to leave in a few days and don't really fancy a trip to the dentist abroad, already. But no question, I'd much rather go here than in China. So please pray for my little tooth to get better before Wednesday. Thanks.
Secondly, I think I am nearing the tolerance threshold regarding my university. It appears that they "forgot" to tell our Chinese partner university about all of our required credit-subjects. As a result, they didn't have the slightest clue we were supposed to attend management, law, or economy classes, all of which have started about three weeks ago. Translation classes started at the same time too. That leaves the students that are there with a couple of weeks of the driest possible subjects to catch up on, but thankfully some are in English. Thankfully. And it leaves us with the perspective of catching up a whole month of classes. Some teachers don't understand why we are arriving so late, some don't understand why this or that student is even going to that university as they don't teach Vietnamese or Hindi as a third foreign language.
Both universities clearly have a communication issue, but that wouldn't be a brand new discovery.
On a happier note, we are getting there right at the start of a week of national holidays, revolving around the Chinese National Day on October 1st. I had originally planned on going on a trip a little further away, but that was when I still thought I was leaving at the end of August. Now it will definitely be too short noticed to plan anything big. Some of my classmates are going on a rather expensive organized trip to Guilin, one of the most visited scenic spots in China. It looks like this:
However it being the most touristy place in China after Beijing, combined with the national holiday context gives me visions of hords of chinese tourists excitedly roaming the place and ruining all of its charm. So I would rather wait and go at a (relatively) quieter time, knowing that it probably never looks quite as peaceful as it does on the picture.So my other option is to stay at a Chinese friend's place in Guangzhou, follozed by a short trip somewhere with her, her (British) boyfriend and a Russian friend of hers. Quite international.
That sounds much better, the friend in question living on the university's gorgeously Cambridge-like Guangzhou campus. (The university is made up of 4 different campuses, the one I will be studying at being in Zhuhai.)
Her dad is a Russian teacher which explains why they live on campus. And he apparently loves to cook and share his skills. I will be forced to speak Chinese as both her parents don't speak English, so I will call this a perfect introductory kick in the ass. I'm excited!
I stocked up on insect repellent and all kinds of little useful things that I am glad to have with me even if I never use them. Water purifying tablets for example.
Aaand we will have to stop in Guangzhou for two days to complete our university registration, before heading to Zhuhai to get settled.
The trip from Hong Kong to Guangzhou will be an interesting adventure in itself as we will have to catch a total of 4 underground trains in Hong Kong, followed by a two hour train ride and a late night taxi ride to the campus. And that's if we're lucky and actually catch the direct train to Guangzhou. If we don't, it'll be an additional underground ride, a stop in Shenzhen to pass customs and then another hour long train ride to Guangzhou. If my suitcase didn't have a "heavy" label stuck on its back it wouldn't be so bad.
I'm amazed at how much I can write about even though I havent even left Europe yet. I hope it's not all too boring for you to read. ;)
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J'ecrirai la traduction plus tard, la pour le moment j'ai vraiment trop mal aux dents ;)
1 comment:
Every single university my uni had an exchange problem with, every year there was a communication issue. Some were only brief tie ups, but some were well established.
Even the long well established ones managed to have some form of fuck up somewhere.
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