Chan Weng Kit's Blogspot: DAY 645

Jun 8

1) Day 2 in Suzhou, and we have two main tasks to accomplish. The first is to go to the police station, to get our accommodation registered. We are staying at Parfait International Apartment, which is on Xuetang Street. After some asking around, we found our directions to the police station, and got the job done. Our next task was to present our letter of admission and register at the college itself.

2) So we had to ask for directions on how to get there, as neither of us had Google Maps at the time. Along the way, we passed so many other colleges and campuses, including Nanjing University, Xi'an Jiaotong Liverpool University (XJTLU), and Renmin University of China - before finally arriving at our campus. We first went to the Department of Biology and Basic Medical Sciences to enquire, before being told to go to the 8th floor of the library.

3) We found our way up the humongous library and went to room 830. There, we were told that room 815 was the one that we were looking for, but the lady in charge was out and would only return at 2pm. So we took some pictures of the library and the surrounding campus, before looking for something to eat :) We tried to eat at the school cafeteria but were told that we needed a student card to do so.

4) Upon Niamh's suggestion, I asked a lady (once we were out of the campus) to recommend any food stalls nearby, and she very kindly offered to bring us there, as she was going for food herself. Turns out she brought us back to the same square that Dr. Wang took us to on the first night! I honestly had no idea it was so close to the campus. I had lunch at the same restaurant as before, and after wasting time we decided to walk back to the campus library.

5) We found the door open this time around, and went in. The lady checked our passports and made a phone call to Dr. Wang, and informed us of what we mostly knew already - that there was nothing to be done in the labs for the rest of the week, and that Dr. Wang would come and meet us at our apartment on Monday morning (8am). So with that, we had finished our two tasks for the day. Now, we decided to walk back to the apartment to rest a bit.

6) At around 6pm, we met at the lobby, and Nina would be joining us for the evening. She brought us to the same square as before, but this time we tried out a noodle shop for a change. Nina ordered a pork cutlet noodle soup bowl for me (only 13 yuan, or less than 2 euros!) and it was so good and sooooo filling! The portion sizes here are amazing! After our meal, Nina brought us to get Niamh a SIM Card for her phone. I was thinking of getting one too, but I thought since my phone doesn't have VPN on it there is not much benefit to having a SIM. I also figured I'd be in my dorm or at campus most of the time anyway.

7) The last stop of the night was Hanlin Neighbourhood Center, where we saw elderly women dancing in unison in the open space. After buying some fruits, it was time to head back. We said goodbye and continue on our walk home. It has been yet another productive day, and I'm looking forward to the next one. That's all for this edition of the blog, thanks for tuning in, and have a nice week ahead. Cheers! :D