Greetings from Shangnan, Shaanxi, China! This is the city in which I have been placed for my internship though i-to-i, with Teach and Travel China (TTC) under the Shangnan Senior School.  All that to say that by the time you get out here you can feel as though you've passed through many hands.  :)   Not everyone's experience is the same, in fact I would venture to say that there are barely two alike!  So...

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Hello! I have successfully arrived in my placement city of Wuzhou, in Guangxi province which borders Vietnam :) With me at my placement are Adam, 30, from Cheltenham; Monica, 30, from Norway; and Daga, 30, from Poland. So they are all 30, I am the baby of the group! The train got into the station of Guilin 90 minutes late so we were on it for 26 hours! Not an experience I wish to repeat! I...

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I soooooo want to enrol for this course! It's fabulous and everything is covered: full teacher training, induction, Mandarin lessons, accommodation, food, the school - and all important support for advice and guidance when needed! The sole problem stopping me from embarking on this excellent work opportunity is funding. I'm broke because I'm disabled and as a result, haven't worked for a while, although I'm able to now. Hence I don't have access to a...

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Ah, Beijing. Tomorrow we’re finally off to placement. Finally is the operative word there, but I’ll tell that story in due course. This week has been a great introduction to China, in every possible way (positive and negative – see later!) but although this next bit is what I’m been trying to distract myself from thinking about for the last six months, I’m looking forward to getting settled and into a routine. I might come...

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These past few weeks have been phenomenal - I hope it has been for you as well! These past couple of days have been crazy though I must say. Lots of stuff to do and get done. The other night we were given our placements. That was CRAZY. We were all hanging around the hall and were told not that night and so we all left (I think that was the plan) and then an...

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I like a challenge and I needed an adventure which is how I decided to do the i-to-i China Internship in the first place. I also like to do things properly, so I went all or nothing on both the challenge and the adventure fronts; that’s how I ended up doing a triathlon and taking the Trans-Mongolian Express to Beijing instead of flying. Both of those things have turned out to be brilliant experiences that...

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I arrived in Beijing, China on Friday the 20th of August, 2010. Everything was normal: immigration, luggage, currency enchange, sim card. When I left the airport (obviously) is when things started to change. I may have gotten lucky but the taxi driver I got was very helpful. Now you have to be careful with taxis but it sure wasn't as bad as people made it out to be. 'Clone' taxis and fake chinese drivers trying...

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I arrived back in England yesterday afternoon following an emotional two days in Beijing as remained very sad at leaving that beautiful land of Mongolia. Mongolia was everything I hoped and dreamed it to be, and more. A land of horses and eagles and vast open spaces. I met the most amazing people – was made to feel part of the family and truly felt like I was home whilst racing across the steppes on...

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So,  This past week has been great. There have been days where I am completely tired and don't want to get out of bed and others where I am out and about by 6 - I think my roomates love me (that is a joke). Today I was hanging around T'square, Forbidden city and the neighbourhood - I think I am going to head towards icecream. Today was one of my expensive days - I...

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When you first touch down in China your brain will do one of two things…. It’ll go ‘ooohhh, shiny, noisy, crazy!’, or it’ll go ‘arrrrgggh, shiny, noisy, crazy!’ Either way, it’ll be something of a shock. While you’re finding your feet, you’ll probably feel foreign, lost and a tad overwhelmed. So, to help you in those first few mental weeks, here’s what you need to pack in your China survival kit: China: It’s busy, it’s...

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