Making a Hostel into a Home

I'm in Beijing! China is full of people, shops, food, random junk, more people... I've moved into my dorm/hostel and am settling in well. My first day was pretty disastrous though. When I arrived it was raining and pouring, and when I got to my dorm I tried to turn the tap on and YELLOW water came out. Not just yellow, but OPAQUE yellow. And then the tap splattered everywhere and turned itself off and on which gave me a heart attack. All I wanted to do was have a shower, so I turned the shower on, and water exploded out of the showerhead and the whole thing fell apart onto the floor.

24 hours and a lot of foot stomping and "NO it is NOT OKAY"-ing later, my shower was fixed. Another 48 hours and I had hot water! Tip for potential students of Chinese in Beijing - if you arrive earlier than the official start of semester I suggest you stay in a hotel because your dorm will not be ready and it is likely you will have strange, freezing water until the first day of class. (This happened to me in Shanghai as well - the day the term ended, all services mysteriously disappeared.)

I've spent the last week mopping and cleaning and attempting to beautify my room.

My Spartan Walk in Robe


My room on the first day


My current wall!

My bathmat - there doesn't seem to be a 'plain' option in China, everything has to have cute characters all over it

Oscar, my Humidifier (again, no plain option, must be a cute animal)

The basketball court

The view from my room

And last but not least...

Happy Birthday Mum!!
Sending you lots of love and hugs :)

Happy Birthday Winnie!!
You're on my wall this month :p, hope you have a gorgeous day!

xoxo