Culture Day

As always, I get up at 7 am waking everyone up using my loud razor. And also, as always, I met the cleaning woman after taking a shower. Every time she sees me, she says 你好 (ni hao = hello) or 早 (zao = good morning). Fun fact is, today she told me five times hello.

I signed up for the Museum visit, which was at 9:30 am. I had plenty of time, so I went to the dining hall, having breakfast. Again, I ordered in Chinese successfully for just 1,2元 (!), which is exaggeratedly cheap. She gave me the food. I eat it and then moved to my dorm again. I chilled one hour and had a call with my Chinese friend Pei until I go to the meeting point for the Museum.

As soon as we were there, we went to the Museum, taking approximately 2 Minutes. I grouped up with Ali again, and we go through. In the Museum there were several rooms connected. We got a device, and it gave us the information to every individual room. It was boring as hell. But it was interesting how the device knows in which room one is. Anyway, after 10 minutes, we were done. This Museum was about how great this university is, and overall, it was propaganda only. Ali and I laughed about it, especially about the starting year of the timeline. It started in the year 1940, and it’s so funny because, before this year, there was nothing positive at all. So they leave it out.

Being tired and exhausted from history, we went back to our dormitories. We are unhappy with the overall situation as we don’t have a schedule and are simply underwhelmed. Some minutes later, my roommate joined the room and said that he opened a bank account immediately. I texted Ali again, and we also wanted to give it a try. So, we went out to that bank he told us about. Arrived, they told us the same shit as every other bank. They are limited to 10 persons each day, so they said we should come back in 2-3 days. But I won’t do that because I just signed up for another bank account which will be finished in 6 days. I also informed myself that I could get a WiFi account if someone else is paying for me the first month. That’s the first thing I will do tomorrow.

After visiting the bank, we moved back to the Museum as my group of yesterday said they’ll be there. We went upstairs and revisited the Museum. Actually, we just talked with our coordinator and gave others some advice according to the bank account (They should take the subway, go for some stations and check out for the bank). You see, it’s all about this bank account. After that, we finally left the building, and I met my group again. I left Ali and joined the group. Aaaaaand I was going for the third time to that Museum. Just like me, the others don’t like the Museum, so we talked the whole time. They introduced new people in the “group” to me as we are seven girls and one boy (me) now. That escalated quickly, mainly because they’re all curious about me and asked for my WeChat account.

All of us were hungry, so we decided to have lunch. We took a look at the restaurant in the Museum. I was already ordering food as one of my friends said that we need WeChat to pay for this. Now I was in a weird situation as they already gave me food. Ok, I just asked someone if he can pay for me and I give him the money in cash. He did not understand me. And also, the second person I asked was not really in the mood to help me. So, I just tried to pay by cash. You need to know, every time I try to interact with an older Chinese person, they are obviously overburdened. The first time they usually do is to call another Chinese person, just like in this situation. I showed them my cash, and I think she was trying to say that they don’t have a charge. Luckily, I had exactly 23元, and everything went fine. But soon as I was going to the others, they said they want to eat in the cantine as it is cheaper and more convenient because you can pay by student card. So, half of the group was going to the cantine, and the other half (3 Chinese speaking people) ate with me. Actually, it was a really lovely lunch. I have never eaten such delicious rice. They ask me some questions about german, and then we went on trying to find the others.

We meet them somehow, and because they are all undergraduate students, they need to write an exam (testing math skills and so on). I wished them the best luck and went back to my dormitory. As soon as I got here, I realized that something is missing. It was my student card. I lost my card in the cantine in the morning (which usually never happens). So, I had to find my student card. I went to this cantine, and I was utterly overwhelmed. What should I do? I google translated a sentence like “Today I lost my student card here”. But I didn’t know to whom I should show it. The first thing I do was going to the place where I sit. I just said “Hi” to the student who was eating there. He said he is not from here, so I asked his friend, who is not speaking Chinese. Turned right, there was a girl. I asked her if she can speak English. She said yes, and I asked her where I can look for my card. She said I should go to the window one. I went to that window and showed someone my translated sentence. As always, the first thing they do is to call another person. Then I showed him the translated sentence again, and he put out a box full of cards. I began to search, and after approximately 30 student cards, I had no hope anymore. But after 20 cards more, I finally found my card – luckily! What an adventure.

After 2 hours of sleep, my roommate told me that three people canceled their bank registration. Immediately, I went to that bank, and I filled out two forms. But it was already so late, so they said that I should come tomorrow again. Hopefully, I will get my bank account tomorrow! 🙂
Afterward, I met the group again. We talked for 1-2 hours about God and the world. They just finished their exams, so they were exhausted. While going back to my dormitory, I met some german guys (well, actually this dormitory has german guys only haha). They were going to a bar since one french girl invited everyone to come. I joined them, and we went to the nearest bus station waiting for the bus. Because one guy was missing, we missed the first bus. So, we waited 30 minutes for the next bus (which turns out not to be usual). We arrived at the bar for a happy hour time. That means that we got 0,5-litre beer until 8 am for free. I also ordered some food since I haven’t eaten anything before. Later, this bar was surprisingly crowded because nearly every exchange student joined us. The barkeepers gave us so much beer for free. I think they lost a lot of money today, but for us it was great!

After having some beer, I left the bar. I met my roommate Tim outside, and we went to a shop buying some snacks. But because I was not in the mood, I left the location having a 30 minutes walk. Arrived at the campus, I saw so many people jogging. I will have my first run tomorrow at 7 am. Unfortunately, I didn’t buy bananas. But still, I will try it tomorrow early.
Tomorrow I also will finally upload all the pictures. See you then, guys!

Comments: 2

  1. Sylvia says:

    unter dem Strich doch schon Einiges erreicht. Dran bleiben und zeig dir jeden Tag. DU SCHAFFST DAS!

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