About

Hi, I'm Cat, otherwise not known as the 'Maiden in China'. From September 2013 I will be moving to Beijing for one year as part of my degree in Chinese Studies. I decided to write this blog to document my experiences because a) I was told to in class and b) I thought the internet had space in it for a Northern girl's adventures in the Far East. This is my first-ever blog, and I hope you like it.

Just as a bit of background: I'm a twenty year-old undergraduate both living and studying in Northern England, a land of rain, stodgy food, sports and some of the UK's best cities. I do artwork, journalism for the University newspaper and a bit of volunteering on the side. People (elderly acquaintances) always ask me why I chose to study Chinese. I nearly always reply with a Ben & Jerry's Half-Baked Cookie Dough lie that runs along the lines of 'China's growing economy' and 'business opportunities'; the truth, however, is a little different.

 I'm going to hurry up a bit here and quickly say that I am not an Asian pop-culture obsessive either, despite what this darned knuckle-bitingly cute pink background might suggest. "Don't you just love Fullmetal Alchemist?" "Aren't you just so annoyed that Psy has made K-Pop so mainstream?" "DAE sparkly scented pencils with collectable Hello Kitty rubbers???"

Basically I have decided I'm probably not an anime enthusiast.

All these things are lovely. But these things aren't Chinese to me. In fact they're rather Japanese and South Korean. Here is where my love for China comes into play, and where this blog is hopefully going to take me...

When I last visited China in 2010, I loved its homeliness (English rather than the American definition!). The cities resemble modern metropolises such as New York and London, the parks are green and full of activity, and of course there is the nostalgic bureaucratic form-filling of which we in the UK are also so darn talented. However, as we walked around, I found China to carry its own flavoursome pinch, just the odd sight, sound or gigantic pagoda that reminded you that you weren't in Kansas anymore. This is what I hope to seek out on my Chinese quest. Oh, and at the same time, I need to pass HSK 5 by the end of the year.

What I'm looking forward to/Goals of this blog:

•  Developing my Chinese, particularly my spoken Chinese, so that I stop sounding like a badly dubbed C3PO.
• Meeting the locals - Chinese people have THE best sense of humour and are the best conversationalists around.
• Seeing the sights - some things to cross of my list are Xinjiang province, Hong Kong and the Harbin Ice Festival.
• Trying all sorts of food and moving my taste buds away from Reese's peanut butter cups and Yorkshire puddings.
• Reviewing the latest Chinese language-learning tools, as well as discussion on current events (Had better keep the journalist thing going).
• My adventures in a far-off land and worlds away from my hometown (which has a grand total of two nightclubs, seventy cricket clubs and no cinemas).
• Trying at least one new activity per week, and letting you know how I got on/injured myself.

 I'll also be posting other things such as my artwork, makeup designs and of course the latest commercial aviation news just to mix this show up a bit.

xxx