Mid-Exchange Crisis

Beautiful Beijing: Beihai Park on a sunny day
Beautiful Beijing: Beihai Park on a sunny day
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Last week was my 8th week of classes, officially marking the halfway point of my exchange semester abroad (there are 16 weeks in total).

Well, sort of. I haven’t bought my airplane ticket back to Vancouver yet. 5 out of 6 of my classes end the 12th week, so I’m basically done school at the end of May, except I still have one 16-week course. My visa expires on August 10, but I want to extend it to the end of August because I found a really sweet internship in Beijing that I’m super super super excited to be doing!

I found it so funny how all my friends back in Vancouver are done school but I just had my midterms last week, haha.

After the Guangzhou/Shenzhen trip, I’ve just been going to classes and chilling around Beijing. I’ve been to a couple more hot spots, such as Longqing Gorge, the Capital Museum, Chongwenmen, Lama Temple, Beihai Park, Nanluoguxiang Hutong, and Xidan.

Summer in Beijing has arrived! During the day, the temperature ranges from 20-33 degrees. So hot! Spring was only two weeks long (but that’s okay because I’m allergic to pollen, haha). I need to buy some sandals!

Mid-exchange crisis is a thing

Last week, two of my best girlfriends and I were taking a walk around campus. At one point, it just hit us that half of our exchange was over. I think I always say this, but time is going way too fast.

I still vividly remember my trip to Japan and Korea with Lucy—it was three months ago! And then spending a few weeks with my grandparents and relatives at my dad’s hometown. And then coming to Tsinghua University knowing only one friend, Joseph, from UBC. And then working on my course schedule for hours on end because I wanted to have a four-day weekend but still take 15 credits. And then meeting new people every day. And then going to the Great Wall. And then going to Xi’an to see the Terracotta Army and to climb Hua Shan. And then… and then… and then…

And now, I can’t believe half the exchange is over! Ahhh!

We all agreed that we became too comfortable. We got used to eating at canteens, biking around campus, procrastinating on schoolwork, napping in the afternoons, and not going out of our little campus/Wudaokou bubble.

We promised each other that we would change. We agreed that we would go back to our dorms and make a bucket list of what we wanted to accomplish on exchange, what we wanted to do, and where we wanted to go.

I have a big list. Here are some things on it: watch a Beijing opera show, visit Peking University, go to Wangfujing and Silk Street for shopping, hang out with my cousin and his wife, and go to the Houhai area. There are so many things to do in Beijing I don’t think I could ever get bored here. I also want to (no, have to) go to Tianjin, Chengdu, Shanghai, and Hong Kong before my trip is over. So many things to do, so little time!

One time, a bunch of us came back to campus at night, and we heard strange music. Turns out there was a concert going on to celebrate Tsinghua's 114th anniversary!
One time, a bunch of us came back to campus at night, and we heard strange music. Turns out there was a concert going on to celebrate Tsinghua’s 104th anniversary!

Dina

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