On 25th October me and a staff from my consultancy board to flight to Malaysia from Cochin international airport, from Malaysia I need to take my next flight to China CHENGDU international airport. On that journey I met another MBBS student studying in some other university in China, we talked a lot about life and study in China throughout the journey. He introduced me about WeChat and told me there is no one in China without a WeChat account. So, I installed and created an account in WeChat from Malaysia.
When I reach Chengdu airport, I find the biggest problem a foreigner face, LANGUAGE! Even in an international airport none of them speak proper English, I completed all my procedure to checkout with help of translator. But later I understand their admiration to their language help them a lot in improvement in GDP level of their country, as from south to north and east to west all over China follow same language so it help to improve business contact between provinces and peoples and also anyone any part of China can go other provinces and start their own businesses this influence country’s growth very positively.
It was night when we reach Chengdu so we took a cab to North Sichuan Medical College, it was a two and half hour drive , we were so tired, so we take a nap in the cab during journey and when we wake up we reach in Nanchong, it was too cold and time was morning 6.00 clock, we wait there for a half an hour to get to the dormitory , we welcomed by an English speaking dormitory staff , she introduced herself as Mrs Wang who is in charge of foreign students and told us we can call her AAYYE which means aunty in Chinese, it is the first Chinese words I studied at early stages in China. She registered my name in dormitory log book and allotted me room number 530. She helped me to get to the room and make me familiar with the stuffs inside the room. Since our journey lasts for two days we were so tired so we took a heavy nap as soon as we reach the room.
We wake up at afternoon. With help of few seniors from my place who we met from college help us to go to near city and purchased all things I need to start a new life in China. On that day late night my seniors conducted a meeting to all freshers to introduce themselves to senior students and classmates, from there I met few students from my state it was a great relief to have someone who speak your language, and number of friends increased day by day as new admission took place there and it reaches to a total of 14 best buddies. After the meeting I return to my room, I was alone in my room as my roommate not arrived yet, night sitting alone in my room I miss my home and family very very much. First few weeks where a struggling period for me, friends where the only relief to me.
After reaching in China, for next few days I was learning how to survive in China. I studied few Chinese words to how to buy things, I learned how to pay money using Alipay and WeChat. My seniors explained rules and regulations of college and China, they taught us which number bus will take us to city and back. The numbering system of bus was very helpful to us because none of us know how to read and write mandarin language when we came here first time so, this numbering system really helped to identify buses to city railway station … I realised how fast and progressed Chinese technology. The way of online payment was very amusing we don’t need to carry money where ever you go and also it's easy if you are note familiar with Chinese money and it's value. But it is very easy to adjust here China is so wonderful and easily understandable in everyway.
After reaching China the first festival we international students and Chinese students together celebrated is NEW YEAR we really enjoyed a lot it the preparation and practicing for it begins weeks before the programme. During this practice sections we got closer with Chinese students and I got a lot of new Chinese friends. We discussed about life in colleges, dormitories, diets and lifestyle.
I find that the time we used to sleep and wake up also so different. Chinese students usually follow a steady time table like dinner at 6 PM sleep at 11 PM etc. Our way is so different that we usually eat at 9 PM and sleep after 12 AM because we used to so. And moreover since our class finish at 6 pm and we are cooking our food it will get late to have dinner and after that we need review what take in classes. Moreover I believe 6 hours sleep is enough for a person so we sleep late.
It’s been two years in China I still don’t know how fast the time flew, within this period of time we completed four semesters, two time I went back to India. I also visited nearby places with friends and more over I am adjusted to life in China.
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