Day 5 (15 July 2016)

Yesterday was a lonnnnng day as we did lots more sightseeing in Beijing and then flew to Harbin. 
To start day five of our trip we went to the Confucius Institute. Here we got welcomed, took some group photos and went into their museum. They had many historical artefacts including vases and costumes. They had lots of beautiful artefacts. We all got given traditional cut out papers of our animal from the year we were born. I was a dragon, so was Alex Bradley and Jack. Everyone else were snakes except Mrs Hudson who was an ox. (which made us laugh). 
We went for lunch (this was one of our favourite Chinese buffets), then off to the 798 art district. Some graffiti covered the walls, however, it wasn't the scribbly type. They were very creative and tasteful.  There were lots of little street stalls selling homemade jewellery which was amazing and we all bought some gifts from here. There was also lots of little shops and art galleries that we could look in and some of the art was really beautiful. I really enjoyed this because all of the items seemed more unique than the ones from everywhere else we've been and as always everyone was so friendly. We found a cute coffee shop called Las Coffee and got milkshakes and smoothies. So far, the art district has definitely been a favourite bit of the trip for some of us because of the amazing culture and authenticity of the surroundings. As it wasn't so much of a tourist attraction compared to other places we've been it felt like we were being immersed with some of the local people in their day to day lives.
Later we were bought a McDonalds to eat for our dinner as we were in a rush to get to the airport. This is when Alex DLB took her ube addiction to the next level having an ube pie! We then went to the airport where Alex B realised that he'd put someone else's suitcase on our bus instead of his own (even though his name was on it). Luckily his had been taken with the rest of the suitcases which wouldn't fit on the bus and was already waiting for him at the airport. We had to say goodbye to Kevin here which we were very sad about but we gave him some of our gifts and he said if we got lost or needed him for anything we could still contact him through WeChat. 
Our flight went so quickly and we were soon in Harbin (the next step of our adventure) and introduced to our new student guides who met us at the airport. Our designated student volunteer is called Joy and she's lovely, although, we're all sad we can't play 'where's Kevin' anymore! 
We then made our way to Heilongjiang University and were given our rooms. It was really late and we were all very tired so off we went straight to bed.

Today's blog was written by Rosie Bennett