Nocturnal Life in York & Hangzhou

The nocturnal life in York and Hangzhou is quite different to me.
In Hangzhou, the nocturnal life is quite colorful. There are so many choices that you never have to make do with the second best. Shopping is very convenient. You can go at any time you like for the shops will be open till 10:30. It seems that the merchants are quite exhausting to work until late at night everyday. But the price they pay is quite worthy for they earn a lot of money during that hour. KTV is another top for groups of people, especially youth. Hanging out to have a karaokay with friend is quite popular, perhaps one of the most common, activity for the students in our university. Cinemas are also runnig quite well during night. What’s more, we can see the opera, live shows and something like that. Unfortunately, my nocturnal life is usually is often occupied by loads of homework and courses. The last term seems to be busy. I had to prepare for several very important tests. So my life is like a mechanic wandering between my school work and test preparation. I am so happy that I have gone through it.
Now I am staying in York experience another kind of life. Just like the other Western countries, the shops don’t open during evening which makes the city very quiet. I’m not quite used to that at the beginning for the night is too peaceful.  With the time goes, I know more about the life here. As I am now on my holiday,  there are plenty of time for me to go through the life here. The most traditional activity for young people in York is pub and club. Before I came to England, I never gone to a pub nor a club. They seems to be so far from my life. But here in York, they seems to be so friendly. I cannot wait to experience the life here. First thing I want to say is that I really loves the pub here. With a little alcoholic drink, friends chat happily with each other. In some pubs, the music is not very loud providing while in others, the music is loud enough that you have to speak louder. It’s quite a good thing when the music are to your taste, you can either chat happily or just sit aside alone enjoying.
Club is quite different from pub. Though the night club opens at 10 or a little bit later, the climax usually goes after 24:00. I used to have a bad impression for club. I usually relate it to drugs, sex, over-alcohol. But that’s only part of the picture. Most of the club are places where people drink for a few cups and dance freely following the beat. It would be fantastic if the DJ　broadcast something really interests you. Otherwise, it may seems a little bit boring and noisy. I went the “Salvation” & “bpm” in my 3rd week in York. It was really a passionate place. There were all kinds of people there ranging from different occupation and ages. When I　was sitting aside watching, a 30 years old drunk man sitting beside talked to me. As the music was so loud, I did hardly hear what he said. Afterwards, he danced weirdly. Ｗhen I was dancing, a boy came and dance with. Then he wanted to talk to me,  but I didn’t hear anything. When the music lows down in the intervals, he asked if he could kiss me. I refused by saying that I have a boyfriend. The DJ　that night is not that excellent for people in the dancing pool were not as exciting as I expected. But it was still quite a nice night. And thanks to Finzy to spent a nice night with me. 
Just as I put it, York life is more relaxing than the life in Hangzhou. Of course, we cannot exclude the reason that I am having holiday in York but working through my courses in Hangzhou. I like to work hard and play hard. That makes me feel fresh and exciting~!

The transportation in York

I am not saying that the transportation  is different from China. It is the way which makes the difference.

First, I want to talk about the bus. One thing that really confuses me is that the normal ticket and the return ticket is the same price for the NO.4 bus. I just couldn’t figure out why this happen. Further investigation indicates that the normal price was 1.7 and the return ticket was 2.5 a period ahead of time. But now, the company changes its policy and to make the price balanced and more attractive  to customers, they make it 2 pounds. Another thing for buses is that you have to always inform the driver where you want to stop. If you don’t wave your hand, the driver will pass leaving you standing at the stop. If nobody press the stop button, the driver will not stop at the station. It seems to make the bus drive more quickly. But it may also cause some trouble. Tourists who take the bus for the first time may miss the bus or the stop with little knowledge of the rules. But one thing that makes me happy is that there is always plenty of seats on the bus. In Hangzhou, the bus is always crowded with people making it hard to breathe.

The second transportation I want to talk about is the train. The British train ticket is quite weird. If you buy a ticket with several interchanges and some of the train don’t have reserved seat, then you will know nothing about he departure and arrival time for the train. Such trouble happens to one of my friends when they travel from London to York. They mistake the departure time of the train and missed it. Only British people can read the ticket. Another thing worth mention is that there is always a lot of discout. If you travel together, or if you book the ticket ahead of time, the price will be much lower. Such thing never happens in China. Maybe that is because the train tour price is quite cheap compared to other transportation and there is no need lowering the price to attract the travelers. Another reason is that the railway is owned by country in China government. But in British, there are several railway company and they have to compete with each other.

Taxi is another difference. In China, you seldom have to book a taxi. The only thing you have to is to wave a hand and the taxi will stop right in front of you. But in busy hours, it is hard to get one. In British, almost all the taxi have to be booked by phones. Also, there is very few spots in the city for you to wait for taxi.

Some other interesting thing is that the public transportation in British is quite expensive. I don’t know whether the government want to promote the automobile industry or not. It is still worth further investigation.

MY HOST

My host family is a traditional British family which is composed of mother father and two girls.

I like Sarah very much. She is a very good mother and does quite a good job in Barclay, the most famous Bank in Britain. She picked me up the first day I arrived at York. From that day, I knew she is a independent woman. Barclay is the one of the most popular local bank in England. Though I didn’t know much about her work, but she must be very dedicated to work and did quite well. At home, she is really a good cook. In the first week, the dinner never repeated. It is her cook that eliminate my fear for English food. I have to say the two girl in the Corney’s family is picky for food. But Sarah does every meal separately for the 2 girls. She is quite a good mother. She just reminds me of my mother. She is always so gentle, so sweet and so capable.

John is a very mild man. He concerns about some political issue and her football. He is quite a lovely man. He loves to play with the black cat Sauces. I saw him rolling on the carpet with cat and played a lot of interesting games.

Millie and Ruby, the 2 girls in the family, one is 12 and another is 14. I don’t get a lot of touch with them, they seems to be a little shy but they are lovely and beautiful. Millie has a very good talent for music, she is in the choir and win prize in the drama competition. Ruby loves to street dance, she is a beautiful British girl with blonde hair.

Oh, I omitted the interesting cat, Sauces. Cat always fascinate human beings. And so does Sauces. I never know what he is thinking about. He sometimes love to stare at me but jump out when I tried to approached him. He loves small jumping items.

Thanks for my host family. Thank you for the ordinary, warm and peaceful family life they provide to me.

Oxford and Cambridge Tour

February 7^th Monday

I think it is time to say something about this weekends trip.

The Oxford and Cambridge, 2 really amazing university.

In my point of view, Oxford is more socialized and Cambridge is more natural.

I am more excited about Oxford before this trip. Waiting for half an hour for only a glimp of the dining room in the Christ Church is all but trouble. I am so excited about staying with the same place Harry Potter once stand. It is kind of like the dream in the childhood suddenly become true. Looking around the hall, it’s really gorgeous. I am a little jealous that people in this college can having dinner with black long rope in this room.  Apart from the Harry Potter scenes, I found the constructions in the Oxford grandeur. Most of them are Gothic and gives us the impression of solemn. In the city center, it is filled with all kinds of buildings. Oxford gives me the impression of university city rather than city university. It means that Oxford university is  a large university filled the city.

Cambridge seems to be more affinity. It is like a university which includes a city. It has more natural scenes.

I don’t know whether my description is right or not. My time is limited and I haven’t seen the whole view. 

Howarth Tour February 3th Thursday

February 3th Thursday

We went to Haworth and saw the Bronte Parsonage. The village is quite peaceful, much more peaceful than York. The people in this village seemed to know each other well. They greeted each other and chatted whenever they met a villager. This kind of warm relationship between people made me feel comfortable. I like the book “Jane Eyer” and it was interesting to saw their way of life. The scenery there was so beautiful.

In the afternoon, we visited the Bradford. This is a city famous for its Curry for there are so many Parkistan and Middle Easter residents. Finzy and I looked around the museum and with the time left, we went to a restaurant called “Kirshmir”. The environment of the restaurant is very middle east. The decorations, the chairs, tables and especially the fans stirring the specific smell of curry. I couldn’t remember the name of our dishes. One is of chicken and the other is of lamb. They were a little sweeter than the normal curry we ate. I just found it tasty.

A beautiful day~!

February 2th Chinese new year

February 2th

It’s so exciting that Chinese new year is ahead of time. It’s the first time for me to celebrating this traditional Carnival with my friends instead of my family.

All day long, we kept thinking about the things to do tonight and phoned our family to say Happy New Year to them.

The most worthy things to tell is about the fantastic dinner in “Red Chilly”. To tell the truth, I am not that into English food or Italian food. Traditional English food has a menu no more than one page and Italian food talks nothing but pasta. Everything is perfect for me except for the traditional English food. I strongly recommend to have a big dinner in Red Chilly. The dishes tasted quite Chinese and all my friends were all satisfied very much.

After dinner, we took part in the Chinese New Year Party hold by the York Student Union. It seems that girls are more interested in this activity than boys. Well, the party is not as good as we thought. The food could hardly be called a dumpling. It was something that I never seen and I thought the taste is a little bit weird. And it is so noisy inside the EDGE that it was hard to concentrate on the Chinese Celebration on TV. But still it was a wonderful night for we chatted happily with our friends and knew more about each other.

So much about today!

February 1st a colorful day

February 1^st

The shining sun implies that today will be an excellent day.

We had an interview for different departments today.  So I went to the biology department with SUN Bin. We first listened to a  lecture for 30 minutes and was showed  around the lab later on. Then we met 2 Chinese student in the Biology department. We chatted happily about our major, life and future and hoped to see each other again in the future. The teacher and students here are really nice and friendly and it’s easy to make friend with them.

After that , I had an interview with Dawn and talked freely about the life here. I think it’s good to have only 18 students in our class, so teacher can know the status of everybody.

After that, our presentation group talked about our theme. We make it the welfare and policy for old people in  England and China to see whether we can make the England or Chinese status better.

With the work done, I went to the city center  with Qinxin and Wanfang.  And I was happy to pick up a black long dress. It looks gorgeous.

In the evening, I took part in Finzy’s birthday party. Ten girls are very exciited about the traditional Chinese food, say dumplings and noodles, and were so happy to get together for a dinner.

 After the dinner, the 6-year-old boy in Finzy’s host family really entertains us a lot. He appeared with the dance of the <Thriller>, and played and chatted happily with us. He is so cute and interesting. We all like him very much.

A lovely day~~~!!!!