Alone In Beijing

I’ve spent months on the build-up, getting an internship at a magazine telling people all the great things I’m going to do and see, when really I have no idea what I’m doing- am I doing the right thing? As the flight descends through the smog the communist buildings become clear and the bleak landscape fills me with dread.
My guide is sick, she sends her friend who speaks little English so we sit in silence in the awkward taxi ride. We arrive at a beautiful looking hotel; it’s too good to be true-it is “you go round back”. The small pinkish youth hostel comes into view, home for two and a half months. Two bunk beds are squeezed into a room and there are finger marks dragged down the wall “you stay, you make friends bye” I walk not knowing which way to turn I need food and water, the smog is heavy, no one speaks English. I enter a supermarket; it’s bustling with people, vacuum packed chicken feet line each aisle pig’s feet and trotters, meat that I cannot identify. I come out with water, crackers and what I think is dried beef. The beef is unbearably sweet and I doubt it’s even from a cow; the crackers are wasabi, it’s like eating a spoonful of mustard each time I place one into my mouth. The war zone of fireworks for the end of Chinese New Year and valentine’s day are going on for what seems all night-all I want to do is sleep.
Beijing for two and a half months was the plan and I had no idea what to expect, knowing little on Chinese culture and the daily lifestyles but the opportunity was one I could not hold back on, living in a bustling developing city, rich with history that contrast with the brand new technologies and skyscrapers that makes your head spin. In the grand scheme of things it was a shocking first day in China but I wanted make sure the second was better. On waking up I spoke with my Chinese roommate, who is to say the least lovely. She acts out what she can’t say and quickly she makes me feel hope that this trip is not going to end in complete disaster. The hostel turns out to be in a prime position and although rough around the edges it’s practical and filled with kind people just like Beijing itself perhaps there is hope yet...