Wo xuexi hen nuli!

Hi Everyone,

For all those who are to lazy to translate my title it says that I am studying very hard! ... hence why I haven't written for a few days now.

So classes have begun as you know and I am spending almost every waking hour either speaking Chinese, learning Chinese, or eating Chinese (the food that is). As my friend Brett says... "That's very Asian".

However, as any good uni student would tell you, you should always inhibit these study habits with a good healthy dose of heading out on the town for a late night when you have a class on at 8am the next morning... soooo that is exactly what we plan to do.

We're heading out to club SOS again... after of course a healthy dose icecream first. I've discovered chocolate icecream is the one 'chocolate' thing in China that actually tastes like chocolate! ... because unfortunately as some of you may know I am still on the search for chocolate. Chinese chocolate can be described as 'crazy clarks' tasting chocolate (no offense intended Rhi) and I miss my good old Cadbury!

Though, having the amazing parents that I have... I have been informed that a care-package is in the mail... with majority of the content being chocolate! YEY!

Also before I sign off i just wanted to say thanks to my parents, Aunty Lynden and Grandma and Poppa for the lovely letters I've been recieving in the mail! I love them and it makes me feel special as it's too expensive for my American friends to get letters. hahaha. For anyone else if you care to know my address over here... give my parents a buzz and they'll let you know, otherwise... you know my skype address! :)

Love you all and miss you!

Steph xx

What to bring to China... PATIENCE!!

Hi Everyone,

So, 2 hints for all those who wish to travel to China.
1) DON'T GO TO A WEDDING EXPO
Thought before: "What a great idea, it will be fun, meet business contacts, see pretty dresses"
Thought after: "Need air, can't breathe, being gawked at and surrounded, so many flyers being thrown in my face, can't see the exit sign! H.E.L.P.!!!!!!!!!"

Let's just put it this way. It was an experience!
.. another experience that I probably would have liked to have gone without was China's efficiency!

2) DON'T EXPECT EFFICIENCY... PATIENCE IS A NECESSITY!
So for all those who don't know, I have set up a bank account in China to be able to access money for the next couple of months so I don't have to pay the huge fees for accessing it on my Aussie bank card.

Here's what's happened:

1. Mum sent me money, so the bank calls my Chinese friend Li Cheng to get us to come down and sign for the money.
2. Get down there, discover that I can't sign for the money... I need my passport (which the police have for 1 week to process for a residance permit. )
3. Finally today, was able to go to the Police/Visa office to get my card. . . Arrive at 1pm... discover that in China they take a 2 hour lunch break! The office is shut from 12pm-2pm.
4. 2pm... we run in the door and get in 2nd spot...sitting there waiting, a lady comes up to us and tells us we are in the wrong building. You hand in your visa in this building ... you collect it in another. OF COURSE we should have know this! ... D.A.H.!
5. Finish queing in the next building. Get to the front of the line... no we don't give out the visas here, you ahve to go down to THAT line down there. (this then happened again at the next line)
6. 3rd line in the 2nd building... FINALLY HAVE PASSPORT BACK (after handing over 400kuai.
7. Back in the taxi, across the other side of town again... TO THE BANK!
8. Line up again... get the counter, fill out 2 forms back in the que again!
9. ... ... ... 45 minutes later back up to another counter... sign 10-12 more pieces of paper. (they like paperwork!) wait... ... ...
wait... ... ...
*sigh*
10. Comes back, wants to know what I will be using MY money for. Well drugs of course what do you think?!? ... Li Cheng kindly informs him it is for my rent for accommodation!
11. Another 10 minutes go past... I get my money!
12 Another 5 minutes go past... I get my passport! YEY ... HOME!!! walked all the way back down the street, inside the university and on the home stretch. NO... WAIT! A PHONE CALL!
13. We're marching back up to the bank again, because 'sorry' they forgot to print my name as STEPHANIE HELEN COWLEY then only put STEPHANIE HELEN. So I have to go and RE-fill out some of the forms.
14. FINALLY back home, paid the accommodation and in my room ... 4 hours down, 3 hours of it waiting around in ques!

So yes, patience is a virtue! ... make sure you pack it in your luggage when you come to visit this beautiful country. Yes, I still call it beautiful, because even with it's processing and efficiency faults. The people and culture are still beautiful! and I love them!

Zai Jian for now!

Steph xx

Electronics and Weddings!

Hi Everyone,

Just a quick one to say hi :)
So yes I went to the electonics market yesterday.... rather exciting! ... though I do have to say, it's not so much a 'market' what us Aussie think of. It's actually an entire street, probably three times the size of the Queen Street Mall (literally an entire street, not joking on that part) full of different types of electronic stores. Everything from apple speciality stores to big department stores. However the 'building' they called the 'market' was 2 levels of non-stop little shops and stalls!

As you can tell... I was rather impressed. Though prices wise... it varied some were more expensive than australia... but there were definitely bargains to be found. Anyone want a new blackberry for $400?? or blueray dvds for about $2.50??

And Mum, I found your favourite TV shows mega cheap as well! Bones and NCIS ... seasons 1-3 and 1-5 are now sitting on my bookshelf!

So... you may be asking "What's on the agenda for today??" ... Well I'm glad you asked!
We're off to a wedding expo! ... yes you heard right. Don't be to freaked out thinking that I'm getting ahead of myself, Step 1: Get a Boyfriend!
We thought it would be a great way to make business contacts and what girl wouldn't want to walk through a huge exhibition of dresses, flowers and pretty girly things! :)

Oh also, found out yesterday that I'm in class 1.5 for Mandarin! (basically I'm at the bottom) which I'm totally cool with! So classes start tomorrow... should be fun.. expect for the 8am start part... still can't totally get over that one, but don't sweat it's only 2 floors above my room so I'm literally role out of bed, down to the elevator and role into the classroom!

Anyways, Love you all and must leave you all, I think we're going to attempt public transport today. Catching the bus for 1 kuai (about 25c) good times!

Steph xx

Party Party & The West Lake

Hi Everyone!

So since my last totally engrossing blog I have been very busy enjoying myself and being super touristy before my school semester starts at 8am next Monday. (Yes they happily informed me today that classes start promptly at 8am... = Sad Stephie!)

Last night, we headed out to the SOS night club with my American friends. To all my uni friends you shall be very envious as it was 60 kuai (about $12 Aussie) for all you can drink. To my family, don't worry your good little daughter did not stumble home at the weeeee hours of the morning to wake up hours later with a bad hang over, but she did stumble home from lack of sleep and exhaustion from dancing the night away! :)

Today... WE SAW THE SUN!!!!!!!! (after a luxurious sleep in!) we had our 'induction' which consisted of over an 1 1/2 hours of a history of Zhejiang University and the top 10 reasons why it is such a wonderful university. ...oh and not to forget the local policemen very sternly telling us about different types of visas! (in 3 different languages)

Though.. after all of this we did get the rest of the afternoon off! :) So we went for a snap happy walk along the West Lake. It was so beautiful and we were able to find an amazing garden up in the hills which looked like it belonged in a national geographic magazine it was so perfect... It's one of the things that I love most about China (especially Hangzhou), you can be surrounded by a million people day in day out and it can get quite dirty, but you can walk 15 minutes up the road to a tranquil paradise!

You can check out the pictures on the 'photos' link... if I can upload them, flickr seems to have a limit to the amount of photos I can post per month.

Tomorrow is predicted to be another B.E.A.UTIFUL day, so we're going to hopefully head out and check out the electronics market. rather excited! :)

Hope you are all safe and well and have an awesome weekend!

Steph xx

Catch Up - Friends and Misadventures

Hi again!

So, now you've got the basic jist of how I got here, here's the goss of what's been happening so far!

On the Sunday when I first arrived here, I couldn't find anyone who looked even remotely Western, so I headed down to the dining hall (Shi-Tang - yes I know... makes you hungry for food doesn't it.) Found one person who spoke Enligh to help translate that 'I want food... yes... that one... no not fish heads... THAT one!' I then proceded to sit at a table surrounded by Asian students. Now for those who aren't aquainted to how to eat in China, I shall explain.
1. Head down...
2. Chop-Sticks poised...
3. Shovel, Shovel, Shovel!

Oh and please spit out all the bones onto the table... not the plate! If you aren't used to this, sitting at a table by yourself surrounded by people spitting bones onto the table space next to you can come as quite a shock! ... (but it all comes along with the snorting, spitting and other bodily sounds we've discovered in China)

Though you do get used to it, and my friends and I still find it amusing. (true levels of maturity showing through) :)

and no... none of you have been replaced, but I have got some new friends! They are all from Michigan State University (MSU) in the USA. Megan, Brett, Kelsey and Dalila... I think they must have felt sorry for this strange Aussie by herself and have taken me into their group! :)

We've had many misadventures so far, mostly including a taxi and mistranslations or attempts at communicating, but it's all part of the fun!

Though I must admit, we wouldn't have been able to get anything done i.e. mobiles, internet, accommodation etc if it was from our Chinese friend Li Cheng. He's been amazingly helpful!

Now ... it's freezing cold over here(it's been raining and about 2 degrees the entire time I've been here) brrrrrrrrrr... so my fingers are starting to get cramps from all this typing so i'm going to stop here. But check out the few photos that I've taken and I'll write again soon.

Oh yeah and I had my placement test today... let's just say i'm going to be in level 1... but at least it's not level 0.

anyway... Mum just hopped online with Skype so ditching you all!

love you and miss you heaps.

Steph xx

Catch Up - Airport, Arrival and Room

Hi Guys,

So I've finally got a few hours spare before we head back out tonight for 'cheap international students night' at one of the local bars with my American friends!

This is going to be a bit of a long entry today with details for my Grandma and Poppa since they don't get to talk to me on Skype or facebook... so if you want to tune out and just scroll on down go for it... or just read the parts you want.

Saturday night/Sunday morning:

So I left Brisbane at the weee hours of the morning with a small send off from my family (Mum, Dad, Marsh and Larissa... who basically counts as family) :) and my three crazy entertainers (Jus, Nix and Rhi) + Sir William who is glued to Jus' hip... though I'm pretty sure he was just making sure I got on the aeroplane so that he could get his girlfriend back for a few months! ;) Also ran into Wayne and Sonya Treloar it was great to have people to walk through customs with, so thanks heaps guys!

The flight over to Hong Kong wasn't exactly a highlight as I get quite travel sick, even with the help of Kwell my stomach still decided to make itself known! ... Anyway, I got an unexpected stop over in Manila for refueling so I can say I've been there too, even though I only saw the tarmac.

Hong Kong (from inside the airport) looked good, even though it was hard to see through the smog/fog. I really felt like i'd left Australia when I saw a beautiful old fashioned boat in the river right next to the aeroplanes on the tarmac. It really gave the feeling of old meets new! (see picture)

In Hangzhou they have the most amazing architecture. The houses going from the airport into Hangzhou have the traditional Chinese style rooves but they are really tall and skinny! My Chinese taxi driver attempted to make small talk with me but the extent of my language skills only cover about 30 sec of coversation! ... so he put on some 'English' music for me, which was quite interesting to say the least. Though I must admit he was really sweet and helped me with talking to the international student office and getting everything up to my room!

My room you may ask... well put it this way, ever heard of a shoe box?? .... picture that! But not to worry there are familiar faces pasted all over my walls and a big Aussie flag hanging over my door! (yes, very patriotic!)

I am lucky however to have my own little toilet and bathroom. it is interesting however with no real drainage... when you shower, the whole bathroom gets a 'shower' and the floors is flooded for the rest of the morning... and by shower i mean 10 streams of water going in 10 different directions, run around long enough and you'll get clean enough! :)

Though even with all these things, it's still great fun and what would dorm life be without its quirks!

So that's the basic jist... still got time to spare... keep reading about my newly aquired friends and our misadventures in the first fews days in the next blog!

Steph xx

Ni Hao my wonderful family and friends from Hangzhou China!!

I've finally got the internet working after HOURS of my new Chinese friend Li Cheng working on it!

I'm really tired and have my oral and written exams tomorrow starting from 8:30 so will say goodnight for now but promise to blog all my exciting details asap!

Love you all heaps!

Night. xx

Welcome!

Hi Guys,

So it's Friday, bout lunch time and I thought that since I'm not going to be able to contact you guys for a bit while I get things set up over there I'd give you something to read.

To all my friends who came to my goodbye party on Saturday night, thanks heaps! It was great to see you all before I went, and for everyone else who couldn't make it, I look forward to catching up when I get back!

Also a lot of people have been asking me if I'm packed yet... officially at 11:32am on Friday, I can say "I haven't started" Don't worry, no panicking, that's what Mum's are for! :) (the worrying that is... but mine's a pretty awesome packer as well!) Another question is am I scared or nervous... well the most obvious answer I can think of is "YES - Definitely" but I know that this is where I'm meant to be going and what I'm meant to be doing and it's going to be such an amazing experience so there's peace in that!

So hopefully I'll get internet access set up pretty quickly over there so I can let you know what's happening, but for now make sure you all stay safe, I love you heaps and heaps and can't wait to tell you all the exciting misadventures I will be having while in China!

Zai Jian!

Steph xx