Of course, National Day also marks about the half-way point in my first term at CNU, so it’s been a good time to reflect. I finished three exams over the last three days, and now have a holiday of ten days, which (thanks to moving to a new flat in the past week) I’ll likely be spending in Beijing. A low-key week or so of free time is probably just what I’m needing at this point however, as each day – and each of those exams – seems to further inform me that I’m not quite at the level I should be. However, with early starts and a workload spread throughout the day (not to mention bundles of homework), I’m usually left too tired to do a significant amount of independent catch-up study. So with any luck these ten days will help me get to a comfortable level in my course, so I won’t be spending quite so many minutes each lesson frantically scribbling down then looking up words, my lack of knowledge about which means I have no idea what the sentence that contained them could mean. That’d be nice!

The new flat meanwhile, the other cause of my quiet National holiday, feels like a worthwhile investment. Only 5-15 minutes walk from the university, spacious and clean, the place has started to feel like home a lot quicker than the shared-hotel-room I stayed in for the past month. The desk in my room is also a much easier workstation than the ever-crowded tiny thing I had in the last place. Also, the ability to wash my clothes free of charge is a welcome bonus.

So yes, the 61st Anniversary of the founding of the PRC is an occasion that leaves me optimistic, if not entirely overjoyed. I’m hoping to start the second half of this term in a much more collected state, so I can get onto thinking about the winter spate of exams and the Leeds essays, rather than just keeping up day-to-day. Although with the pace here, it’ll probably still have to be a bit of both!

So, more or less a month and a half since I landed in the big rooster, starting a fast-moving cycle of getting used to one way of living before being uprooted and finding myself in an altogether different situation. Also rapidly swapping have been our social circles, but that should come as no surprise to those who’ve spent any amount of time in Chinese hostels – or very possibly hostels in general, though that is somewhat outside my experience and thus ability to judge. Most dramatically our first night in Beijing we spent in the company of two Matts (one Welsh, one American), two Kellys (one South African, one American), one Michael (American) and a mother-and-daughter world-touring duo (British); all of whom we got along with swimmingly, and only two of whom were present by the time we got up the next morning. These remaining two did stick around long enough to be our greatest constants beyond our pre-existing social group, however – Michael the travel-addicted American, ostensibly cursed back home in LA with friends who consider the urge to go travelling a kind of mental illness; and Kelly the South African English teacher in Korea.

In fact, both Matts and both Kellys had been English teachers in Korea, and had nothing but praise for the place and the lifestyle. To hear them tell it, myself and Eden were deluded to have chosen to live in China when it’s so easy to nab a job in Korea without any qualifications to speak of. Having been a teacher myself, in China, there was some good-natured verbal swordplay had by the five of us. I concluded that, preferring the use of metal chopsticks as they did, they couldn’t possibly have any opinions worth taking into account.

After Michael and Kelly left, we too uprooted ourselves from the Downtown Backpackers Hostel (a particular favourite of mine) and stayed instead in Sanlitun Hostel, a fairly decent (though more hotel-ish) place in a fairly sleazy area – but within easy walking distance of Will’s place. There we had less of a solid social circle, with different folk flitting in and out nightly. After our time ran out in this hostel we briefly stayed at Will’s, before moving into university the day after coursemates Chris and Dan arrived (the 17th). I had one more move in me also, as I was swapped with a Korean to put like-with-like, leaving me rooming with coursemates Aaron and (his girlfriend) Emma. Will and Eden were fast to team up with Carwyn’s formidable Chinese ability upon his arrival and move out to their own (very nice!) flat, just the three of them. The distance and cost are less than ideal, but the flat itself is large and well-equipped. This left me somewhat in the lurch for finding a flat myself, as the vast majority of affordable places are three bedrooms. Though I expect to have accommodation sorted in the next week, the situation has changed so many times already that I wouldn’t be surprised if my potential roommates swap yet again!

The week after initially moving into university accommodation was littered with arriving coursemates and the resulting celebrations, leaving us with the feeling of being on a school trip, which was swiftly removed as classes began and our free time all but disappeared! Though we only have four hours of classes on each weekday, the homework and amount of study required to keep up with the pace of the classes steals much of the rest of the day from us. Prioritising and planning the use of what free time I have has become nigh-essential, to say the least. Fittingly, the Chinese for free time, 空儿, is a word I still struggle to pronounce!

None of this helps with the settling in, which won’t begin in earnest until my living situation is sorted, I suspect.