天津

A few months ago I learned that I will be living in a city called Tianjin for the duration of my exchange in China. Tianjin is a coastal city of twelve million people located on the Bohai Gulf and is about 130 kilometers from Beijing and a thirty-minute trip by high-speed rail. It is one of four municipalities governed directly by the Chinese government, so it is essentially its own province. Tianjin is famous for its baozi (Chinese steamed buns) and is home to a famous form of traditional Chinese theatre called Beijing Opera. A fun fact: In the 2006 movie Fearless starring Jet Li, the character Huo Yuanjia is based off the real-life martial artist of the same name, who was actually from Tianjin and is known for having brought great honor to the city.

About a month after finding out my host city, I got more exciting news, this time about my host family. I received a letter from YFU which told me that I will be living with a mother, a father, and their sixteen-year-old son in the Hexi district of Tianjin. I have exchanged emails with my host brother several times, who seems very friendly, but I still know very little about the family. Nevertheless, I am very excited to meet them and am looking forward to living in Tianjin! I also have found out that I will be attending Tianjin Experimental High School, which is also located in the Hexi district. What I have learned about it so far through some Internet research is that it has over 4,000 students (about twice the size of my American high school!) and is one of the city’s top five high schools. Apparently there are two components within the school, Chinese and international, and I will be part of the Chinese component. I will be placed with sophomores, even though I will be 3 years older than them, the reasoning behind this being that juniors and seniors will be too occupied with studying for important university entrance exams to be distracted by an opportunity to socialize with a foreign exchange student.

Anyway, as of today, I officially have 8 days until I leave! Almost exactly a week. I am very elated to be leaving so soon for what will be an awesome once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!