michaelaweston

One Night in Bangkok

Disclaimer: I actually spent two nights in Bangkok but I’ve been waiting ages to use that title. Wow. What a city. In a way, Bangkok was almost exactly what I expected it to and yet so much better at the same time. Home to around 6.3 million people, it’s a city of contrasts – inContinue reading “One Night in Bangkok”

Hangin’ in Hangzhou

After about seven weeks of living in China I was lucky enough to get a visit from Mum, Dad and a reluctant Tom (who really would’ve rather spent his holiday hanging out with his mates but got dragged to China for a week instead). To get the holiday off to the right start, Tom’s planeContinue reading “Hangin’ in Hangzhou”

Life.

Coming back from Shanghai three weeks ago, I was surprised at the feeling of relief when we got off the train at Hangzhou East Station. My thought at that moment was ‘wow, it’s nice to be home’. About an hour later when I got back to my room at College the enormity of this thought really becameContinue reading “Life.”

Long weekend in Shanghai

Once again we’ve come to a long weekend here in China. With no real plans, about a week before I decided to join a bunch of my friends in a trip to Shanghai. We took the Friday off class to extend our weekend out to four days and headed off late on Thursday afternoon (mostContinue reading “Long weekend in Shanghai”

Beijingin’ around

Contrary to popular belief, China has an astounding amount of long weekends. This semester alone we have one in April, one in May and one in June. Caught up in the midst of class and UTS assignments (cultural report anyone?) we kind of forgot that the first long weekend was approaching until our teachers remindedContinue reading “Beijingin’ around”

Five things I’ve learnt on exchange

Electricity is a precious, precious commodity. Ditto with wifi. Take your keys with you EVERY TIME you move. Coffee is a luxury and you will develop amazing one-pot cooking skills.

Finally doing some touristy things

After two weeks of living in Hangzhou, I finally got the opportunity to go and do some of the touristy things around the area thanks to a colleague of my Dad’s. Qin Shu picked me up at 9am from outside my uni, and we headed to see Xiang Lake, a famous lake just outside ofContinue reading “Finally doing some touristy things”

A day in the life…

So a couple of people have asked me what we do on a standard day here at Zheda (I’m looking at you, Mum). Here’s a quick outline that I actually wrote on Thursday but was too lazy/busy to post until tonight:

It’s all about survival

It’s been seven days since we arrived in the Middle Kingdom. It still doesn’t feel quite real that we’re in another country. It’s easy to forget that you’re in China. In a much shorter amount of time than I anticipated, I’m used to the sounds of China – the sharp Mandarin language, horns beeping all theContinue reading “It’s all about survival”

One night in Shanghai…

Four days into our new lives in China, we decided that now was a good time to head off on our first inter-city trip. Were we crazy? Perhaps. With our barely-existent Mandarin skills and brand new mobile numbers, we packed up some stuff and headed off to the city of lights. Apparently you have toContinue reading “One night in Shanghai…”