What It Feels Like: Living in Guangzhou

1:54 AM Nathasya Pricilia B Kristianto 0 Comments

Based on the programme that I took during university, I was required to spend two study blocks overseas (outside

Singapore

) to complete my degree. The first study block was in Birmingham in early 2014 where everyone from the batch was required to go. On our final year, we got to choose where we want to go based on the university partner lists.

China

has always been on the top of my list, or more like… on the top of my parent list as they feel like learning Chinese is extremely important. So I put Guangzhou as my first choice, and got the seat. Things didn’t go as plan, and I ended up going with 3 different girls that I’m not very close with.

Before I went for my study block, my perception of

China

is it is extremely crowded and dirty. I remember clearly I told one of my close friends that I am going to lose weight because I might not like the food there (due to hygienic purposes). But now, 4 months after living in Guangzhou I ought to swallow my own word because……

1. Food is Great

Food in Guangzhou is good and cheap. Let me illustrate how cheap food can be… for example, in

Singapore

, it costs about $120++ for dinner for two at Hai Di Lao, where as I never spent more than $20 in GuangZhou’s Hai Di Lao. At the beginning, like I always do when I’m adjusting to new environment… I don’t eat a lot. What makes it worst is that I got food poisoning (quite a bad one) for something that I ate that might be wasn’t really fresh. The food poisoning got so bad that I kept puking out everything that I ate, and my friends need to rush me to the hospital and I was needed to get a blood test. LOL serves me right, huh? But as time progresses, my stomach adjusts to the food in

China

, and now I miss all of those good and cheap food there. Talking about, ma la xiang guo and Hai Di Lao here. :*(

2. Chinese are in general, kind.

Or at least those that I have come across to are. Of course there are those that we met that weren’t really nice, but in general they are very kind. Real life example, I lost my camera in a night club. HAHAHA you know.., one of those nights where everyone is just hmmmm, not really at their right state of mind? I wasn’t really aware of my camera and the next morning, all of us were like…. It’s gone! I was really sure that its gone forever and was telling my friend that I’m quite sad because I didn’t have any back up for the memory card ( I know, stupid of me). But my friends, as positive thinking as they always are were like saying at least we should try giving the club a call. And they found it. OH MY GOD, out of everyone and everything, someone was nice enough to return my camera to the security staff, and now my camera is safe and sound with me in Bali. I was super convinced that it’s gone, and ready to buy a new one. But, when the guy from the club called my friend back, I was like……. speechless. I mean, what are the chances?

3. Shopping is Amazing

More like, it’s amazing and damn cheap. Even those brands like Zara, or H&M was generally cheaper I feel. I’m not very sure because I often use credit card to shop, and the conversion rate from rupiah to Chinese yuan might be slightly better than compared to

Singapore

dollar. They also have those small shopping centers that have great selection of clothes at very affordable prices. But, I can’t remember the name. We often shopped at Tian He underground, and Beijing Lu.

4. Travelling is Great in

China

has a lot of amazing places to visit. I was based in Guangzhou (at the southern part of

China

), and we got to visit Guilin, as it is nearby. Not really nearby, but maybe like 2 to 3 hours train ride from Guangzhou as far as I remember. The train ride was not expensive at all, and surprisingly the train is clean and new. HA! We were anticipating how bad the train is going to be, but was quite surprised with how clean and new the train is. We also got the chance to visit Inner Mongolia, which is at northern part of

China

. The air fare costs like $300++ return, and we took private tours consisting only 4 of us. It was very pretty, and I enjoyed myself so much when we were there. There are many other places in

China

that I am interested in, for example Xi An, Kunming, Shang ri La, and of course

Tibet

, maybe sometime in the future.

Overall I really enjoyed my time spent in

China

not only because the place, but also the companionship that I had. My Chinese was really, really limited. Yes I studied Chinese for 3 years already, but it was really bad where as all of the girls that I went withhave perfect Chinese. I learned to just pretend that I understand what people said, and laugh when everyone laughs hahaha. My friends helped me a lot, and we had tones of fun and fights too :p. You know, try put 4 girls in a house, living together side by side, and see how crazy it can be. It was a really great time, and I often miss those times when I’m in Bali.