Hi to anybody reading this! :)
I'm Nina, a student of History and French at Oxford University.
I've just embarked upon my obligatory third year abroad, a project I wasn't particularly keen on to start with. However I'm attempting to see the situation in a positive light:
A little break from this place...
(my college library in Oxford.)
....and a little break from studying these French authors (don't worry Flaubert, I still love YOU.)
Instead I'm currently in a city called Zhuhai in the Guandong province of China. I'm participating in the International Youth Leadership Program (IYLP) which involves 15 foreign students from Oxford, Harvard and Birmingham universities working as mentors with students from Beijing Normal University Zhuhai and Beijing Normal University to design a research project.
I applied for this program under slightly false pretences, thinking that the entire program took place in Beijing, which I visited two years ago and loved. In fact, the bulk of it, which is nearly over now, is held at BNU's new campus in Zhuhai.
Frankly, there isn't that much to see in Zhuhai. It's a Special Economic Zone, a region in China that is specially designed to export goods and provide employment, like nearby Shenzhen. Consequently the standard of living is higher than in most Chinese cities - this university is only accessible for relatively wealthy students.
I've been able to try some fairly interesting cuisine though - turtle soup, chicken feet and some curious, gristly things that not even the Chinese students can identify! I've also been lucky to learn a lot about Chinese youth culture from working with my group of ten BNUZ and BNU students. There is definitely an insurmountable language barrier but some things have made their way through:
- Chinese girls love really pale skin like mine. So much that they carry parasols with them all the time to shade themselves and try to make their own skin whitening cream. Pretty bizarre given how so many Western people spend so money on fake tan and so on.
- The university experience here couldn't be more different to the British or American one. There is far less freedom; the internet is switched off at 11.30pm and the only bar on campus seems perpetually empty.
- However, everyone from all over the world can enjoy KTV (Kareoke.)
I'm going to try and record some of the experiences I've had here that might be of interest to people. I hope you enjoy it and let me know if you have any suggestions, I am new to this blogging world!
