Why I'm not Flying Back Home in the Holidays

Through the months of January and February, we have our CNY (Chinese New Year) break which consists of a glorious 6-week holiday. This is our only big holiday so we deserve it after a hard, long and quite painful first semester. This is the time where us international students either choose to go travelling or take a trip back to our home countries. It is also when the first semester has ended so some people will be leaving and replaced by new arrivals.

What I Miss Most About England

So I've been here for two months now?! I can't quite believe how fast it has gone already. I am still loving every second of it and meeting new faces everyday. However, of course, I am missing the obvious luxuries which China does not have.

Central Perk - Shanghai Style

A few days ago before this day I was doing some digging into finding some of the 'hidden treasures' in and around Shanghai. Because Shanghai is so big and has a bit of culture everywhere, we were bound to make a day of it.

My Travelling Essentials

My essentials for travelling often range depending on what is on the itinerary but these are always packed with me.

Am I a Morning Person?

My alarm was set for 6:45am this morning so I had time to prepare myself for classes at 9am. That may sound ridiculous to most of you, but I like to set my alarm early so I can properly wake myself up in the next 15-20 minutes. Therefore, I know I am not wasting time and still have time to get ready.

Life Lately || Buying a Bike and Getting a Job

Bit of an overdue post as it's all oldish news but there's been a few funny incidents since so thought I'd share them with you all.

My third week of lectures I finally gave in and bought a bike. I had been delaying this for several days now and all my fiends had got theirs so thought it was about time I got one. It takes 20 minutes just to get to my classes building...and I live on the same campus, so a bike is necessary.

Ever since I got it, my bike has been my saviour. I don't have to leave as early for class, I can cycle to the closest shopping mall in 20 minutes (rather than 40 minutes), and it saves me taking a taxi whenever I feel lazy and don't want to walk.

There have been a few funny incidents since getting my bike. The other day I got pulled over by the police for doing absolutely nothing wrong. When I saw a guy next to me giving him money I was getting slightly worried. After 10 minutes I just asked a different policemen if I could go and he didn't seem to care less what I did, so I went.
Other incidents that have happened are very common, such as crashing into other bikes or having to suddenly break because of people being in the way (always happens, there's so many damn people in China).
To be honest, being on 2 wheels in a city like Shanghai is the most unsafe way of transport but it is also the easiest to get around with.

The other good news is that I managed to get a teaching job. I teach a 6 six year old girl twice a week a few metro stops downtown. The family is so lovely and I feel very fortunate to have been given this contact so soon. I have now been teaching her for 3 weeks and, even though it can be challenging at times, it is such a good feeling knowing you are helping a child learn and improve on a difficult language. They always invite me to dinner and give me dinner in-between teaching and also invite me out to see and do things, such as Archery.
I am also going to start teaching her to swim better. They have an inside and outside pool in their compound which is very useful.

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