The Closing Ceremony

 Ni hao!

 I'm going to share with you some photos I took at our Study China Closing Ceremony. This was a really nice way of reflecting on all we'd learnt and achieved during the programme. 

 We also collected our certificates for our mock HSK exams - I got 195 out of 200, which I was really happy with.

Ziggy making a lovely speech

The presentation of certificates

Hai being a brilliant host

 It was a lovely end to a wonderful three weeks.

 Thanks for reading,

 Liz x

The last two days

 Hello!

 I am home from China, and I want to tell you about the last two days of my Chinese experience - one day completely in China and one travelling.

 Friday morning we sat our HSK level 1 paper. It isn't official, but it gives us a good idea of our level of Mandarin Chinese so that if we want to sit the official paper in the UK we can. 

 I certainly intend to do the official exam - the next one in Manchester seems to be in May. Conveniently for me it seems that the exam is held in the Confucius Institute, which is part of my University, so I can get there easily when the time comes.

 Anyway, we did the HSK paper in Beijing and then had a final practice for our Graduation Ceremony performance of Beijing Huanying Ni. Then Naomi, Abi and I went to buy bouquets for our Mandarin teachers and the student helpers from Beijing Normal University.

 On the way to the florist we found a bookshop - I think it belongs to the university  though I'm not completely sure of that - and I had an amazing time looking at a huge variety of Chinese books. 

 I bought some really beautifully illustrated children's books - the stories are in Mandarin but the pictures make them easy to follow.

 We then progressed to the florist's and had four beautiful bouquets made up, as modelled by Naomi and Abi below, for our wonderful teachers and student helpers.

 I then went to the BNU university shop, as I really wanted some kind of momento of this amazing place where I have spent the last three weeks. They have lots of cool things, but I finally settled on a pretty blue keyring and a mug with the Uni logo on it, so that I can drink Horlicks and remember Beijing.

 Then it was time for our Graduation Ceremony! We were in the same beautiful room in which we had our Opening Ceremony, and the same pretty music was playing, and it made me think of what we have all achieved since that day three weeks ago. It has been truly wonderful.

 Hai did a brilliant job of presenting the ceremony, and there were lovely speeches by Natalie, Ziggy and Dinesh as well as from senior figures from BNU. There was also a slideshow of photos and video footage from our Study China experience, which was really nice.

 We then found out that we had ALL graduated, which was brilliant! We were then called up to collect our certificates, which are not just on pieces of paper but in gorgeous little books with our photographs in them! Really special things to keep. Thank you, BNU! (By the way, I got 195 out of 200 on my HSK, which I am really chuffed with!)

 We then had our performances! They went really well and all three songs are now stuck in my head. See the videos on the blog post, "Graduation Ceremony performances."

Me and Hai ♥

 Sarah, Marvi, April and I then posed for "jumping photos" outside the magnificent main university building. 

 We bought bubble waffles - an amazing snack that I had never tried before. They are gorgeous - I am a bit sad that I only discovered them on the last day.

 I did some of my packing, then went to meet some of the others at Laker's, an amazing bar on campus, where we had a really brilliant last night and danced one last Gangnam Style. 

 Writing your name on the wall seems to be the norm in Laker's, so I wrote the address of this blog alongside my name. If you came here from the wall in Laker's, an extra warm welcome to you! I hope you enjoy my blog!

 April and I then walked back to our accomodation together, and we said goodnight, then I finished packing and went to bed, setting my alarm for five in the morning.

 I got up at five and got dressed and breakfasted, then Marvi helped me to carry my bags down to the lobby - Marvi, if you are reading this, you are an absolute gem, thank you so much for everything ♥

 The group of us who were catching the early drop-off to the airport got onto our coach, said goodbye to the student helpers who were with us to the very end, checking we got our coaches - you guys are amazing, thank you so much - and then we were off to the airport.

 I was there early - better safe than sorry - and I had a bit of a wait before they started checking-in for my flight. I went through check-in and security, which is perhaps the most comfortable and efficient I have been through: other airports can learn a lot from the Chinese. 

 I was then free to wander and eat some ice-cream - vanilla Häagen-Dazs if you are interested. I will always associate Beijing International Airport with vanilla ice-cream now. Silly but true.

 Finally I got on my plane and we flew out of Beijing. We had an entertainment system on the plane with films. I tried to be cultured and watch The Godfather but gave up out of sheer boredom about twenty minutes in - sorry, Godfather fans - and instead watched Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and then American Beauty. Both of which were very enjoyable.

 We touched down in Moscow and I bought a Russian stacking doll. I then had my flight from Moscow to Amsterdam - the food on that flight was so amazing, thank you KLM - then from Amsterdam to Manchester, then I was HOME!

 Then I slept.

 It's lovely to be home; little things surprise you like how quiet it is compared to Beijing; how wide-open everything seems without all the skyscrapers; and the rain: I don't think it rained once while we were in Beijing. 

 It is so beautiful to feel rain on my face again. Some people may not like rain but I think it has its own very special beauty, and I love the sparkle of light catching on raindrops on tree branches.

 I will post lots and lots of photos of China, and probably more videos, so watch this space! Thanks for following my travels; this has been an amazing experience that will stay with me for the rest of my life. 

 Thank you to Study China, Manchester University, Beijing Normal University, Natalie, Hai, Sally, all the student helpers, our teachers and lecturers, and all the participants for making the Study China experience truly fantastic and life-changing for me ♥

 Xiexie! Zaijian!

 Liz x

Amazing times

 Hello!

  I hope you enjoyed the photos on my last blog post. When I get home on Saturday I will add lots more photos and hopefully some video footage as well. 

 Just after my last talky blog post - which I believe was last Wednesday - I went out with a small group for a massage. The massage parlour we went to is not far from campus and the massages are done by blind masseurs. 

 I was a bit put out when I found out that everyone intended to have full body massages; I had been expecting just head and neck. I had never before had a full body massage, and was more than a little apprehensive, yet it turned out to be quite a pleasant experience. Certainly it was a new experience, and I'm glad I went through with it in the end. Thank you to Hai and Abi for being very kind and reassuring to me.

 After this there is not a lot to report for a few days as I was ill - as was a large proportion of the group - with some kind of flu-like virus. I was laid up from Friday to Sunday, but on Monday I was beginning to feel a bit better. In class on Monday we had our first taste of the HSK exam, which is the Mandarin Chinese exam we have been working towards during our language classes here. 

 We did a practice paper and I got something like 67%, 60% being a pass. We have done two papers since and I got 85% on both, which I am quite pleased with.

 Anyway, back to Monday - New Year's Eve. After lessons we went to Laker's and ate together, then some people went clubbing, and those of us who were ill, had been ill or just fancied a quiet night in gathered in Ziggy's room, which was converted into the best cinema in Beijing, and we watched the DVD of Miss Congeniality. I had never seen this film and I really enjoyed it. Thank you, Ziggy! It was a lovely night.

 New Year's Day saw us scaling the Great Wall of China, or part of it anyway. I only made it part-way up the bit we were climbing, but some people got right to the very top. To say it was freezing cold is an understatement. But it was worth the cold to see the beautiful views we got from up in the mountains.

There were lots of souvenir stalls and I bought something I'd been hoping to buy for a long time - a cloth wall-hanging thing of the twelve Chinese Zodiac animals. I will post a photo as soon as I can. It is lovely.

 A group of us then went to a restaurant which was really cool because you had a little barbecue stove in the middle of your table, and you would select raw meat, seafood and vegetables from a buffet and cook them on the hob in front of you. Obviously you have to be a good judge of when things are cooked properly. As I am not an experienced food-y chef (baking is more my thing than meat and stuff) I relied on Hai to be the judge, and she did a great job of picking out nice pieces of meat for me, so thank you, Hai ♥ I also found out she is a Pisces like me!  ><))))> <((((><  <- Supposed to look like two fish.

 Then it was yesterday, the second of January, and after lessons and an economics lecture I jumped upon a group who were going to the Bird's Nest Stadium, as this was the one place I was absolutely determined not to miss at any cost. We got a cab there, and when I first saw the stadium it was the most amazing moment. 

 I had thought it would be all grey, but it is lit from the inside in the most glorious ruby and amber colours. It is a truly beautiful and spectacular sight. I think of the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing Olympics as the great TV event of my lifetime so far, and seeing the place where all of that happened was a really special moment for me. 

 The Olympic Park as a whole seemed very beautiful and a nice, peaceful place to spend some time. What I liked was that you can see the mountains in the distance, between the buildings - the natural beauty of China is always there if you know where to look.

 When we got back from Olympic Park I joined a group who were going to the Legend of Kung-Fu, which promised to be, "More energetic than River Dance." (according to the Deputy Irish Ambassador to China). It is in the highly impressive-looking Red Theatre, which was what felt like quite a long taxi ride away from our accommodation, but it was so worth it. 

 The show was amazing. It is the story of Chun Yi, as he grows from a little boy first learning kung-fu, to the Abbot of his monastery. I have a phobia of loud bangs and was afraid loud pyrotechnics may be used, but thankfully for me it soon became pretty obvious there wasn't going to be any of that kind of thing, so I could relax and enjoy the show. All the effects were created using lights, dry ice ( a LOT of dry ice) and on one occasion, bubbles. It was a real spectacle.

 I really liked when Chun Yi and the beautiful fairy were dancing together in the bubbles; however there was so much dry ice being blown into our faces at this point I could barely see some parts of this beautiful scene, which was a shame. 

 Another scene I loved was when Chun Yi, having fallen from grace, is sitting in remorse and the old master comes up to him and wraps his cloak around his shoulders and passes him one of the small bells that all the monks play. He begins to gently strike the bell, and the other monks appear, all dressed in white like angels, and they perform a very simple but extremely beautiful and emotional chant, as Chun Yi realises he is forgiven and is in good hands, among friends. As a scene it is so simple yet so effective.

 Today, those of us who are studying the economics module did our presentations - my group's presentation was about inequality in China with regards to wealth and income. I then went with some others to a fish restaurant, where we shared fish stuffed with vegetables, noodles and tofu. It was a lovely evening, so thank you to Abi for inviting me!

 Tomorrow we have our final lessons and then the closing ceremony, where each of the three Mandarin classes will do a performance - my group are singing Beijing Huanying Ni. I can't wait to see all of the performances!

 Thanks for reading my blog, I hope you are enjoying it.

 Liz x

PS the moon here is amazing!