I visited home this week for Valentines day and to start making plans for next year by viewing houses and apartments for my last year in Coventry. I landed just in time to see Joy and Elaine, who I met last year during my time in Changsha, on their last night in Coventry visiting from China. It was great to see them again and reminisce of our time together last year, I also met some of the second year students from the class I will be returning to taking part in the Changsha / Coventry exchange this year. It was so good to hear their plans and excitement for the trip and telling them my stories from last year.
I was staying with one of my closest friends who didn't take part in the trip last year but will be travelling to China this year in just over 3 weeks. He had heard all the stories upon our return last year and felt he had missed out on a great opportunity so he then made the adventurous decision to go and meet new people this year. In the same week I returned to Coventry it was the start of the celebrations for Chinese New year, we celebrated with a feast of (English) Chinese food and some Chinese beers with friends. It was a chance for me to brush up on my chopstick skills from last year and for him to practice ready for his visit. It was great for everyone to get involved with the chopsticks and see who could eat with them or not. We also mixed our Chinese New Year celebrations with Pancake day, a very traditional English holiday.
I was staying with one of my closest friends who didn't take part in the trip last year but will be travelling to China this year in just over 3 weeks. He had heard all the stories upon our return last year and felt he had missed out on a great opportunity so he then made the adventurous decision to go and meet new people this year. In the same week I returned to Coventry it was the start of the celebrations for Chinese New year, we celebrated with a feast of (English) Chinese food and some Chinese beers with friends. It was a chance for me to brush up on my chopstick skills from last year and for him to practice ready for his visit. It was great for everyone to get involved with the chopsticks and see who could eat with them or not. We also mixed our Chinese New Year celebrations with Pancake day, a very traditional English holiday.
This week has reminded me of my trip to China last year and how experience studying and traveling abroad has enriched my studies and myself (Read more about my trip to Changsha in my blog posts CovinChina and ChinainCov). I am hoping to reconnect with the Chinese students once again in my final year of studying in Coventry. Being an erasmus student this year, I can really feel the difference travel has had on my confidence in my work and effected how I network with people.
NAP x
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