Arriving in China, Orientation, and Exploring

Hello everyone! My name is Kate, and I'd like to tell you about my year here in Beijing, China, at Peking University (also known as PKU). I'm going to be a student here at the School for Chinese as a Second Language, where I will be intensively studying Chinese, hoping to become fluent.

A lot has happened since I arrived last week, and I couldn't write sooner because I had trouble setting up my internet, so I'll try to write down as much as I remember.

I arrived last Tuesday, spent the night at a hotel, and then went to Zhongguanyuan Global Village. I had to fill out a lot of forms, but eventually I got a room and I also have a roommate. Her name is Bam, and she's from Thailand. She's a wonderful person, and she doesn't speak any English, which is great for me because I have someone to practice speaking Chinese with all the time!

When I first got here, I had no idea where anything was. Luckily Bam showed me where the supermarket was, how to use the subway here (she helped me get card to pay for the subway and busses, called a 交通卡, pronounced Jiāotōng kǎ), and has been a great friend.

I registered as a student on Saturday, and had to fill out even more forms, which was rather tedious. I did get to sign up for the Western Student Union, which is a group that many visiting students join to go to events with other foreigners, which is nice if I'm feeling homesick and want to spend some time with people who also feel the same way.  I also met a lot of other foreign students, many of whom were from Germany. On registration day, many students told me they were not here just to study Chinese, but to study things like international politic, economics, and the like in master degree programs.

The day after registering, Bam took me to see several sites in Beijing. We went to see Tianamen Square, the Forbidden City, Llama Temple, and Hou Hai lake, which was quite beautiful (I'll upload some pictures tomorrow).