水长城
为期四周的语言课在我的不舍中结束了。很快，我就要迎来新的硕士学习生活。在北京语言大学上课的这段时间，我感觉充实而富有挑战。我大部分的时间都用在学习上，但同时也遇到了很多优秀的语伴，还品尝了各种各样的中国美食。能和一群非常友好的同学一起上课让我感到非常幸运。他们大都具备较高的中文水平，有中文教师、教授、翻译者、商人和准备在中国读书的学生。这样的学习氛围极大的激励了我，让我努力去进一步提升我的中文水平。
在过去的一个月，我和一个很热情的中国室友一起住在北京的昌平区。她对我特别好，带了我去很多地方玩，也把我介绍给她的许多朋友还有家人。她非常愿意帮助我提高我的中文水平。昌平区位于北京的北边，是北京最大的区之一，昌平区不仅以丰富的自然而闻名，而且靠近长城。上个月，北京经历了几年来最热的几天（作为一个英国人，这限制了我在这里的活动，只能呆在有空调的地方！）幸运的是，在语言课的最后一个周末，北京有暴雨和低温的天气预报，所以我和我的室友佳霖，还有另外两个同学，韩国的孔裕善（我们9月将一起在清华大学进修）和香港的Carine抓住了这个机会一起去水长城玩。水长城是北京长城唯一被水包围，它的某些部分被现代水坝淹没了，这些水坝建于长城周围的湖中。
孔裕善和Carine上了私家车到我们的公寓来接我和佳霖，我们一去踏上了去怀柔的两个小时的旅程。因为下了很大的雨，所以当天水长城的游客很少。我们度过了一个非常愉快的一天， 在长城上玩了一个下午，尝到了怀柔著名的烤栗子。当天晚上，我和我班里还没有离开北京的人一起去了学校的穆斯林食堂举行了一个告别聚餐。其中有三个同学也打算留在北京继续读硕士课程所以我一定会和他们保持联系。那天是一个伟大的月的伟大的最后一天，我非常期待接下来的旅程。
ENGLISH:
The Lakeside Great Wall
The past four weeks have flown by and I have now sadly reached the end of the Chinese language course here in Beijing, with only a few weeks to go before I begin my Master’s programme. During this time, I have been taking classes at Beijing Language and Culture University – these have been very challenging and so I have taken pleasure in spending most of my time here so far studying and meeting up with language partners – and of course trying all kinds of amazing Chinese food. I have also been lucky to be in a class with a very friendly group of advanced Chinese learners, many of whom use Chinese in their work – some Chinese teachers, professors, translators, business people and others also preparing for further study in China. Being in this environment has been really encouraging and has given me the motivation to further improve my Chinese.
For the past month, I have been staying in the Changping district of Beijing – one of the largest districts, renowned for its abundance of nature – with a lovely Chinese flatmate who has been very kind and willing to help me with improving my Chinese, introducing me to her friends and family and showing me around the city. Changping district is in the northern part of Beijing and is close to several sections of the Great Wall. This past month, Beijing has seen some of the hottest days it has had in years (being British, this has limited most of my time here to places with air-conditioner!). Fortunately, there was heavy rain and low temperatures forecast for the last weekend of the language course and so myself, together with my flatmate, Jialin, and two of my classmates, Yusun (from Korea and also going to be studying at Tsinghua University in September) and Carine (from Hong Kong) took the opportunity to take a day-trip to the “Lakeside Great Wall” – the only section of the Great Wall in Beijing surrounded by water – with some sections sunk by the modern dam created in the lake surrounding the Wall.
Yusun and Carine picked myself and Jialin up in a private car from our apartment and we set off on a two hour journey to the Great Wall in Huairou District. With others scared off by the rain, we were pretty much the only people there. We had a really enjoyable day out exploring the great wall and eating Huairou’s famous roasted chestnuts. That evening, those from my class still in Beijing had a farewell meal in the Muslim canteen at the university (three of these classmates are also staying on in Beijing to do Master’s or PhD programmes so I will definitely keep in touch with them) – a lovely way to end the language course. I am very much looking forward to the journey ahead!