My first day in Beijing

Hi guys, it’s me again! A lot has happened in the last few hours. Where should I start?

Getting into the airplane was pretty easy. But I was surprised that the aircraft was so empty. Like my last flight to 西安 (Xi’an) the food was excellent. Two meals and one snack is for me more than enough! Unfortunately, I did choose the more European meal the second time, which was good, but not Chinese.

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After I landed in 北京 it was not so confusing like I thought. The texts are in Chinese and in English, so I could read everything and follow the ways easily. Also, there was no smog, and everything was clean. I waited like 15 Minutes for my luggage (luckily it arrived) and then headed to the exit. Not being sure if I was right, I asked in the WeChat group where the exit of Terminal 2 (meeting point) is. The coordinator said I should just wait there because Terminal 2 is not really big. After some minutes, another person wrote that he is also waiting there. He was coming to me, and we introduced each other. His name was Ali, and we spend the whole day registering all the stuff together.

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At 8 am (I was waiting since 6:30 am) the volunteers showed up. We were going to them and said hello. Then we took a picture, had conversations, and waited for the others. After everyone arrived, they showed us the way to our bus, taking us to the Beijing University of Technolgy.

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One hour later, we arrived. It was a complete mess. No one had a plan. It was horrible. For the next hours, it went on like that. So, we had several registration steps, which I will summarize briefly:

1. Going to the first room
2. Going to another room for getting a SIM card
3. SIM card does not work
4. Going to another provider taking 2 hours to activate (there were so many people who needed a SIM card)
5. Alis 4G does not work; thus he serves width Edge speed (we tried 30 minutes to fix it)
6. Going back to the first room, but… how could it be any different: they had closed, so we waited for 1 1/2 hour again
7. After the break, we still remained in the first room because they had internet problems
8. Another 30 minutes later, they finally made it, and we got our student card
9. Pay fee for medical insurance
10. Trying to get money because the fee for the accommodation is too expensive (well, actually it’s not: like 250 Euro for 5 months)
11. Searching for an ATM which was 20 minutes away (I left Ali here and never saw him this day again)
12. Going back to pay the accommodation fee
13. Going to my dormitory
14. Found the entry after walking around the building (and it’s a big one)
15. Paid for the key
16. Finally entered the dormitory (at approximately 5 pm)

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You see, it was kinda exhausting. But after I entered the dormitory, another shocking fact occurred. There were no blankets, pillows, or anything else. Besides, there is the hardest bed you can imagine: It’s merely a block of wood with a hard 2 cm mattress. Nice!

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Asking someone to help (at this time I was with two others in that situation), that one said that there is a shop where we can buy those things. But it was ridiculously expensive. The two boys left, and I began a conversation with two girls (Namira, Ri) about those prices. We decided to go somewhere else. Five minutes later, we met another boy (Gustavo). The girls left for making themselves ready for the next trip. After that, Gustavo and I asked some volunteers where to buy blankets, etc. They gave us an address. I also made myself ready (changed clothes) and met Namira, Ri, and Gustavo again, and we started. First, we went to a shopping mall eating something (It was my first meal on that day). Second, we went to the supermarket and bought all those staffs we need for sleep. Great!

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Because we did not want to walk again (30 Minutes), I suggested taking a taxi. Luckily, Gustavo can speak Chinese. He tried to get one Taxi, but there were surely 12 taxi drivers who rejected us. Finally, one taxi driver took us for 18元 (yuan) home.

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In my dormitory, I just slept for 2 hours. Later, I got to know my roommates (Timo and Semi). Unfortunately, they are both german. With Timo and another french person, I went out to eat something. We recharged our student card and looked for a restaurant. I took a picture of the menu (which was on the wall) and showed him what I wanted. It was really delicious.

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After the meal, we went back to the dormitory, and then I started to write this blog. But it really sucks. Neither I have good WiFi, nor my 4G is working well. That means I can’t download my images right now. But I will definitely upload then later.

Stay tuned for the next day! Some more registrations need to be made. And you can keep the mistakes in the text. I’m just too tired. 😀