Det har no gÄtt over eitt Är sidan eg fyrst sette beina mine pÄ skuleomrÄdet til UWC Changshu Kina. Skulen ser jo sjÞlvsagt heilt lik ut no som den gjorde dÄ eg fyrst kom, men det kjennest likevel heilt annleis ut. Etter eitt Är pÄ denne skulen, har den pÄ mange mÄtar blitt til ein ny heim. Byrjinga av skuleÄret i fjor mÄ eg vere Êrleg Ä sei ikkje levde heilt opp til forventingane. Med mykje heimlengsel, ei veldig hetebÞlge, eit nytt system Ä setje seg inn i, eit nytt sprÄk og generelt mange nye inntrykk vart eg veldig overvelda det fyrste halvÄret og det var heilt nÞdvendig for meg Ä kome heim til jul. No, eit Är seinare, kunne eg ikkje vore meir takknemleg for Ä vere her eg er. For to Är sidan hadde eg aldri tenkt tanken pÄ at skulle fÞle meg heime i ein storby i Kina, men det er vel nettopp dette som har skjedd no. Tanken pÄ at eg skulle tilbake til Kina dÄ eg reiste heim att til Sandane i sommar gav meg sommarfuglar i magen og det var fyrst dÄ eg innsÄg kor mykje eg set pris pÄ livet mitt her. No er det slik at uansett kvar eg er hen i verda, saknar eg ein annan heim.
Den to fyrste mÄnadane her i Kina som andreÄring har bydt pÄ latinamerikansk kulturveke, ei tredje (!?) opning av skulen, ein heil del med enormt mykje skulearbeid, ei rekkje bursdagsfeiringar og elles mange kveldar med lange samtalar i fellesrommet langt pÄ natt.
https://www.facebook.com/UWCChangshu/videos/1936626193271641/
Uansett kor kjekt UWC er her pĂ„ campus, er det framleis eit heilt land med dumplings, baozi, bubble tea, gatemat og merkelege kinesiske tradisjonar som vi kan oppleve. Eg nytta difor hĂžvet denne haustferien, eller Golden Week som det heiter i Kina, Ă„ reise til provinsen Gansu nordvest i Kina. Eg reiste saman med Bastian frĂ„ Tyskland, Claudia frĂ„ Italia, Nicholas frĂ„ Bahamas, Konstantina frĂ„ Hellas, Ruairi frĂ„ Irland, Emile frĂ„ Litauen, Samantha frĂ„ Canada, Zayn frĂ„ Libanon, Rens frĂ„ Nederland og Julia frĂ„ Polen. Det skulle intet mindre enn ein 35 timars togtur til fĂžr vi var framme i Zhangye, den fyrste av fire destinasjonar pĂ„ reisa vĂ„r. SjĂžlv om 35 timar i tog kan hĂžyrest latterleg lenge ut, hadde vi godt selskap i kvarandre, diverse brettspel, filmar, skulearbeid, mat og kinesarar som alle hjelpte tida Ă„ gĂ„. I tillegg er det ei oppleving berre Ă„ sitje pĂ„ eit kinesisk tog med folk i alle aldrar. Dei fleste av vi som reiste er andreĂ„ringar og har allereie lĂŠrt kinesisk i eit Ă„r. Dette opna opp for Ă„ ha samtalar med tilfeldige kinesarar og leiking med ungane som blei like rastlause som oss inn i mellom. Sidan Kina er eit overbefolka land er det enorme tal pĂ„ menneske som skal fraktast i alle retningar, spesielt no nĂ„r det er Golden Week. Dette har dei lĂžyst ved Ă„ bokstaveleg talt stappe inn sĂ„ mange menneske det er fysisk plass til pĂ„ eit tog med noko som heiter «standing tickets». SjĂžlv om vi var heldige nok til Ă„ fĂ„ eit hardt sete kvar Ă„ sitje pĂ„, var det likevel fullt av folk som stod mellom seta Ă„ rĂžykte, sov og hosta (<3). Dette gjorde den vesle sĂžvnen vi fekk endĂ„ litt vanskelegare Ă„ fĂ„ og i enda fleire etappar. Ă
gÄ pÄ do og hente vatn frÄ vatndispensaren var oppgÄver som vart til reine treningsÞkta nÄr vi mÄtte klive over og under sovande menneske.
DÄ vi endeleg kom fram til Zhangye var det ein sliten gjeng som sjekka inn pÄ hostellet med 8-mannsrom og fellesdusj. No skulle endeleg Gansu-eventyret vÄrt byrje.
Fyrste post pĂ„ reisa var regnbogefjella â eit imponerande fjellomrĂ„det med fjell i dei fleste fargar. Mitt tidlegare inntrykk av Kina â bylandskap og forureining â vart i lĂžpet av denne dagen snudd ein heil del om. Sidan dei fleste kinesarar bur i aust, er det enorme areal som er urĂžrt i vest, regnbogefjella er eitt av desse omrĂ„da. SjĂžlv om det ikkje var sĂ„ mykje Ă„ gjere der, trur eg bileta under forklarer kor kjekt vi hadde det og kor flott landskapet var.
Dagen etter bar det vidare til Jiayuguan, ein liten aude by der ein kan finne den vestlege enden av den kinesiske mur. Etter Ä ha gÄtt gjennom dei mange templa og tunellane pÄ den kinesiske mur, kom vi fram til den ytste punktet av denne 21 196 km lange muren. DÄ vi nÄdde enden kom Claudia og Konstantina springane mot resten av oss og skreik at dei hadde funne kamelar. Vi rei pÄ kamel inn i solnedgangen ved enden av den kinesiske mur. Du kan fÞrestille deg energinivÄet Malene hadde dÄ. Middag den kvelden endte opp pÄ eit lite gatehjÞrne der dei serverte hot-pot med nudlar, sopp og lotusrÞter. Kanskje ikkje det beste mÄltidet pÄ turen, men vi er i det miste ei oppleving rikare.
05.30 morgonen etter bar det av stad til Dunhuang, porten til GobiĂžrkenen. Vi forlot Jiayuguan i dei tjukkaste jakkene vi hadde og hĂžge sokkar sidan gradestokken viste 4 grader denne morgonen. Etter ein 5 timars togtur til Ăžrkenen vart Kari Traa-ullen litt vel varm. Etter Ă„ ha sjekka inn pĂ„ hostellet gjekk turen vidare til buddhagruver frĂ„ Tangdynastiet. Her vart vi guida rundt av ei som skulle visst vere engelsklĂŠrar, men av og til mĂ„tte vi hjelpe kvarandre med Ä oversette frĂ„ «engelsk» til engelsk. Andre dag i Dunhuang bydde pĂ„ eit besĂžk i GobiĂžrkenen, den stĂžrste Ăžrkenen i Asia. Vi fann oss eit omrĂ„de litt pĂ„ sida og sola oss, leika i sanden og tok bilete â med andre ord ein fantastisk dag.
Seinare den dagen bar det vidare til siste destinasjon pĂ„ turen, Lanzhou, hovudstaden i provinsen Gansu. Etter Ă„ ha ete dei kjende nudlane frĂ„ byen, gjekk vi opp ei fjellhylle med titals av tradisjonelle tempel. PĂ„ toppen fann vi zip-line, sĂ„ det mĂ„tte sjĂžlvsagt prĂžvast ut. Same kvelden fann vi KTV, karaoke-TV. Fattige studentar som vi er, spurde vi om vi kunne vere der gratis. Vi sa vi var bloggarar frĂ„ Europa og at vi skulle lage ein reisedokumentar om Gansu og vi ville inkludere KTVâen deira om vi fekk vere der gratis. Etter at vi alle hadde prata inn i kameraet pĂ„ vĂ„rt eige sprĂ„k (her inkludert gresk, italiensk, nederlandsk, litauisk, polsk og fransk) vart dei sĂ„ fascinerte av «bloggen» vĂ„r at dei ga seg. Difor kjenner eg at eg mĂ„ sei at KTV i Lanzhou anbefalst veldig, 100% garantert god stemning.
Eg sit no pĂ„ vĂ„rt aller siste tog tilbake til Suzhou. Ved enden av denne veka har vi tatt tog i 80 timar og ete enorme mengder nudlar. Vi har sett heilt nye delar av Kina â noko vi alle vart einige forsterka respekten vĂ„r for bĂ„de Kina og dei ulike kinesiske folkeslaga. SjĂžlv om vi alle skulle eigentleg ha vore pĂ„ skulen og fĂžrebudd oss til ein intens haust med mange innleveringar, vil eg absolutt pĂ„stĂ„ at det er slike opplevingar som sit igjen, ikkje enda fleire timar med biologilesing. No ser eg fram til en varm (!) og behageleg dusj, litt samanhengande sĂžvn og fersk mat.
Eg og Emile lagde ein video frÄ turen:
https://youtu.be/Yqq0fB6yIXY
Tusen takk for turen, eg vil hugse den for alltid.
//
It has now been over a year since I first stood at the gate, ready for whatever was waiting for me. I remember thinking that I would never find my way to classes or even call this place my home. However, I can very confidently say I proved myself wrong on that one. After a year, UWC CSC has, in many ways, become a home. During my first term I was homesick, and the weather was unbearably hot. I had to adapt to new routines and meet new people. All these factors resulted in a confused and overwhelmed Malene â a Malene that required a Norwegian Christmas (and got one).
It has been a year and I could not be more grateful for finding a home here. Two years ago, I would never have imagined myself finding a home in a random city in China, but that is exactly what happened. Ironically, over summer, when I thought of returning to China, it brought butterflies to my stomach because I realised how much I appreciate my life here. As of now, I miss home regardless of whether I am here in China or back in Norway.
The two first months as a second year have been filled with Latin-American cultural week, a third (!?) grand opening of the school, a ton of school work, numerous birthdays and many chats over dinner, a cup of coffee or in the common rooms.
No matter how fun our UWC lives here on campus are, there is still a vast country filled with dumplings, baozi, bubble tea, street food and weird Chinese traditions to be explored. I therefore took advantage of our Golden Week to travel to the province Gansu in thenorth west of China. I travelled with Bastian from Germany, Claudia from Italy, Nicholas from the Bahamas, Konstantina from Greece, Ruairi from Ireland, Emile from Lithuania, Samantha from Canada, Zayn from Lebanon, Rens from the Netherlands and Julia from Poland. After a nice 35 hours train ride, we finally arrived Zhangye, the first out of four destinations of our trip. Even though 35 hours of train can sound terrifyingly long, we had great company with each other, some board games, movies, school work, food and Chinese people: all helped the time to pass by. It is also  an adventure to take a train in China with people of all ages. Most of the people who went  were second years, meaning that we had already learnt Chinese for a year. This enabled us to have small conversations with random Chinese people and to play with the kids who became just as restless as us. Since China is an overpopulated country, there is an enormous amount of people who are going in all directions, especially during Golden Week. They solved this by literally putting  as many people that can physically fit into the train some have to use âstanding ticketsâ. Even though we were lucky enough to get a hard seat each to sit on, the train was still filled with people who smoked, slept or coughed (<3). This made the little sleep we got even harder. Simple tasks like going to the toilet and get water for our instant noodles became almost like a workout when we had to climb over and under sleeping people.
We were a tired group of 11 people who finally checked in on our hostel in Zhangye where 8 of us shared one room while the rest slept in tents. Our Gansu adventure finally begin.
First stop on our journey was the rainbow mountains â an impressive area of mountains in most colours. My  impression of China was  based on cities and pollution, but changed a lot throughout this trip. Since most Chinese people live in the east, there are enormous untouched areas in the west. The rainbow mountains are one of these areas. Even though there was not much to do, I think the pictures under explain how much fun we had and how beautiful the scenery was.
The following day  we went to Jiayuguan, a small lost town where we found the west end of the Great Wall of China. After walking past all the many temples and tunnels of the wall, we arrived the end of this 21 196km wall. When we reached the end, Claudia and Konstantina came running towards us and screamed that they had found camels. We rode camels in the sunset at the end of the Great Wall of China. You can imagine the energy level Malene had at this point. Dinner that night ended up being in a small street corner where we got served hot-pot with noodles, mushrooms and lotus roots. Perhaps not the best meal of the trip, but at least I am one experience richer.
At 05.30 the morning after, the journey continued to Dunhuang, the entrance to the Gobi desert. We left Jiayuguan wearing the thickest clothes we packed  since the temperature had fallen as far as 4 degrees. After the 5-hour long train ride, I quickly found out that wool was not very appropriate clothing for the desert. As soon as we got there, we went to explore the Buddha caves from Tang Dynasty. We were guided by a woman who apparently was an English teacher, but sometimes we had to translate her âEnglishâ to English. On the second day, we finally visited the Gobi desert, the second largest desert in Asia. We found a small area for ourselves and wrestled, played and took pictures â in other words a fantastic day.
By the end of that day we jumped on a train heading our last destination of our trip, Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu province. After eating the world-famous noodles from the town, we hiked a hill covered in traditional temples. In the top we found a zip-line, so of course we had to check that out. The same night we found a KTV, Karaoke TV. Being Poor students that we are, we asked if we could stay there for free. We said we were bloggers from âEuropeâ and that we were going to make a travel documentary about Gansu and we said we would include their KTV if they let us stay for free. After we talking to our video camera in all the languages we knew (here included Greek, Italian, Dutch, Lithuanian, Polish and French) they became so fascinated of our âblogâ that they gave up and let us stay for free. Therefore, I felt obligated to say that KTV in Lanzhou is 100% guaranteed fun times.
I now sit on our very last train ride back to Suzhou. We have taken about 80 hours worth of trains and eaten an unhealthy amount of noodles by the end of this week. We have seen new parts of China â something we all agreed increased our respect for China and different Chinese ethnic groups. Even though we all said we really should have stayed at school and prepared for an intense semester with a lot of school work, I would without a doubt claim that experiences like these last forever, not the hours I spend studying biology. I now look forward to a warm (!) and comfortable shower, some continuous sleep and fresh(ish) food.
Me and Emile made a video from our trip.
https://youtu.be/Yqq0fB6yIXY
Thank you for the journey, I will forever remember it.
