I’ve been concentrating on making sure I do all the things I wanted to do this year. I made goals of things I wanted to achieve. It’s so easy to get lost with what’s going on and forget to concentrate on the things important to you. My main goal was…
My last month in Brazil. That was the plan anyway but things change. I’ve decided to continue on in Brazil due to coronavirus as the laws on tourist visas have been relaxed and also I wanted to stay and do all of the things I’d originally planned to do. My…
As part of my undergraduate degree in Chinese Studies, I spent the last academic year abroad, initially in Beijing at Peking University. The course in Beijing covered a broad range of areas, from newspaper reading and 20th century literature, to more advanced speaking classes and classical Chinese. Upon the outbreak…
Holly O’Mahony: Le début du semestre à Genève – September 2020
Il y a une semaine je suis arrivée à Genève, signifiant le début de mes études à l’ Institut de Hautes Études Internationales et du Développement, où je suis une maîtrise. Presque immédiatement, c’était le début du semestre, et j’ai du m’inquiéter du choix de mes cours et m’adapter…
El Rastro es el mercadillo al aire libre más popular (y caótico) de España, que acoge a miles de personas cada semana y reúne a gente de todas las culturas, barrios y niveles de ingresos. Se celebra todos los domingos y días festivos y está situado entre la calle Embajadores…
Case Study: Sandy Perkins – Beijing, China, 2019-2020
In September 2019 I landed in Beijing to begin 11 months of living in China. I had been awarded two Scholarships, a John Speak scholarship and a Confucius scholarship, and as part of the Confucius scholarship was enrolled in the Chinese Language Program at Beihang University in Beijing. While I…
Deutsch: Willkommen in Wien Obwohl Österreich zum Zeitpunkt der Pandemie weniger Fälle als die meisten anderen Länder hatte, war ich immer noch besorgt, ob ich mein Auslandsjahr beginnen könnte oder nicht. Es gab mehr Vorsichtsmaßnahmen als je zuvor, ganz zu schweigen von der offensichtlichen Frage: wird es wieder passieren? Nach…
七月是我在中国的最后一个月，趁离开中国之前，我有机会在内蒙古跟一些朋友们去旅游了一趟。内蒙古是一个很大的自治区，而且因为人口比较少，交通系统不是特别发达，我的朋友们只有周末有空，因此我们只能去呼和浩特附近的一些地方。我们去的地方是鄂尔多斯市，那边最有名的景区是成吉思汗陵。成吉思汗陵很有意思，是一个去谒陵成吉思汗的地方，而且那边有些元代的东西。 当天晚上我们去了东胜区的一家烧烤店，那个饭馆的烧烤是我人生中吃到的最好吃的烧烤，尤其是他们那边的羊肉串儿。我们吃完晚饭以后去了一个很潮的小酒吧。这个酒吧的老板们都是嘻哈人，他们的风格跟美国的嘻哈文化很类似，我感觉在这么偏僻的地方能找到嘻哈文化是件很酷的事情。 第二天我们在回呼和浩特之前，去了一个地方叫响沙湾。响沙湾是个沙漠休闲景区。响沙湾景区很好玩儿，在那里可以体验到美丽广阔的沙漠。响沙湾也有很多不同的活动可以参加，比如说，骑骆驼、看民族艺术表演、坐过山车等等。内蒙古的骆驼很可爱，它们是双峰骆驼，骑这种骆驼很舒服。我们在响沙湾玩儿了一整天，直到响沙湾景区下班的时候我们才离开，然后我们回了呼和浩特。这次旅行虽然很短暂，但是我们玩儿的很好。希望未来有机会能去中国的更多地方旅游。 As August was my last month in China, I took advantage of my free time to go travelling for a few friends in Inner Mongolia. Inner Mongolia is a huge region and its population is relatively small. The transport network there isn’t particularly developed, so as we…
Coming out of quarantine The first stage towards ‘normality’ was achieved on the 2nd may, when we were finally aloud out for walks or runs, between 6 am – 10 am or 8 pm – 11 pm. Previously our only permitted outings were to the supermarkets or to the pharmacies…
At the end of June my Chinese course concluded and two weeks later I officially graduated from Beihang University. In addition to passing my university exams, I also recently passed the HSK 6 exam, which is the most advanced level of official Chinese exams for foreigners (comparable to the IELTS…
