Today we had our opening ceremony, first Chinese classes and our first module class, and then a few of us went to the Temple of Heaven.
Although the 8.20am start for the opening ceremony was not the most pleasant thing I’ve experienced so far, I feel more sorry for the girls, some of whom woke up at 6am to get themselves ready! It was in a really snazzy lecture theatre, attended by very important people at the university, someone from the british council and of course all of us. We received an amazing welcome from our hosts, and their wishes of good luck were well received, these 9am starts are going to kill me!
In the evening, around 15 of us went to visit the Temple of Heaven. £4 for the taxi and £1.50 each to get in, the Temple seemed like a quick and cheap night seeing the sights. We were wrong, the garden is bigger than the entire old city of Beijing! We couldn’t get in to the temple so I have no idea how it came about, but the walk from the south gate takes you uphill, symbolising your assent into heaven (something we should have known before visiting the north gate!)
It was a good laugh, some people on this trip have already started to get on really well, and we had a great time taking selfies with each other (as well as random Chinese strangers) and just having a relaxing walk. We might even have to go back there!
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