Hello again from Tianjin!! It is hard to believe that we are close to a month in already! I am absolutely loving my new home and have been truly enjoying all the things I have been able to do and accomplish!
I am only taking two classes this semester as those are the only classes I need to graduate; therefore, I have a good amount of time on my hands to not only focus on school but on myself.
In both of my classes we have groups, so it has been a lot of fun getting to know all of the students here. Even with the language barrier we make it work. Thanks to a Didi driver I has I was able to purchase an application for my phone which allows anyone to speak in whichever language they prefer, and it translates it to any other language. This app has been a GAME CHANGER and has genuinely made all of my interactions here with others smooth, regardless if they know English or not!
Thus far I have seen a few Tianjin attractions, from riding The Eye to visiting Culture Street and the Drum Tower. I’m not quite done finding a lot of Tianjin’s hidden gems, but I am definitely excited to see all the other places as well.
Aside from Beijing, I have had the opportunity to visit Dalian, China and stayed in an actual castle! Dalian, a former Russian city, was so full of history…. and pollution. Everywhere you looked the buildings had the dome roofs which is what is seen commonly from Russian architecture.
Coming to China I was prepared for a lot of changes… but BOY I was not ready for the mattress that we were going to be getting… or should I say LACK of a mattress. This was a big struggle for me arriving here due to having medical issues. After three trips to stores such as Walmart and Ikea, I was finally able to make myself some 5-star comfort FIU-TUC style. It has definitely been an interesting but HUGE victory on my end.
With Golden week quickly approaching, stay tuned to my next adventure in China, it’s going to be a big one!
