Hello my dear

The city tour was a bit boring, as we only visited places we had been to before, such as the square by the sea and little Venice. But it was still a lot of fun and there were many other students from the university on the trip that we could get to know better. During lunch, there was a small misunderstanding and the bus left without us, so we took the subway back to the university. But back at the university, it was really cool again. The staff from our study office organized a small welcome party with a buffet, music, and some games. I really appreciate how everyone takes care of us. We can contact someone 24/7 through WeChat or go to the study office if we have any questions or concerns. And they also organize trips for us from time to time.

We are slowly getting to know more and more people and I think everyone is super nice. Especially the African girls, they always spread good vibes and are easygoing and funny, they love music and dancing.

There is more and more to do at the university now, and I have online tests every week. On Wednesdays, I only have lectures until 12:00 and then we grab our bikinis and take a taxi to a beautiful beach, which is about 25 minutes away, and we really feel like we're on vacation there. But the Chinese really take everything they can from the sea. They pick seaweed and snack on it at the beach, and swim with small nets to catch shrimp and put them in plastic containers. The Chinese men who go to the beach are really dark tan from the sun, unlike most Chinese here. The women usually cover themselves with full body suits. We ended the evening at a small and delicious fish restaurant.

On Saturdays, we went to another beach. It was called Golden Beach and we took a taxi and then a kind of skytrain for about 1.5 hours to get there. It was also very beautiful. The water is already cool when you go in, but once you're inside, it's just so beautiful! We could walk from the beach to an observation platform and from there, we had a great view of the bay and the mountains. On the way back, we got a baked sweet potato to go and it was super delicious, sold by a cute old Chinese man from a small oven on his trailer.

On Sundays, a second excursion was offered to us. We went to an amusement park in a small bus where you could only buckle up at every third seat, and the bus drove over the bumps on the road so fast that the ride was already like a roller coaster :D. The park was very cool, we went on a free fall tower and roller coaster, watched a 4-D movie, and saw a show. The rides were a bit older-fashioned than in Germany and I got some bruises because they were not well padded, but it was really a lot of fun.

For studying and preparing university stuff, we have two very cool cafes here where there is free WIFI and you can work comfortably with an iced coffee. I spent Monday and Tuesday there because I had a test today. But the test was actually easy, we could prepare well in advance and the lecturer sat at the front, slept, and snored!!! :D

And now I'm quickly going home and packing because we're flying to Shanghai in 3 hours. I'm so excited :)