It is almost the end of year 2014 which means for me completely new adventures to become. I have now been in Finland since August but it is time to go again, but this time my destination is outside Europe... In China to be exact. I was accepted for an exchange program so I will study this Spring semester in Beijing Normal University and of of course travel around China (and hopefully some other parts of Asia also).
While preparing everything on my travel, I noticed how easy it was to go in Ireland as it was inside European Union... This time I needed to apply a visa which was a challenge of its own. First of all I have to enter China with tourist visa because spring semester in BNU (Beijing Normal University) starts at the end of February which of course means two months time to get used to new cultural environment. While applying visa I needed to enter four times in embassy... First time I had wrong colored photograph so I needed to get new one. Second time I submitted my application successfully. Third time picked up my visa but it was granted only for 30 days (applied for 70 days) which is not enough since I cant have student visa before end of February. I needed to write my travel plan in China why I want to have longer tourist visa than just a month so on fourth time when I visited embassy and handed that document in, I received my tourist visa for 90 days... Great isn't it?
But besides that everything is okay..,
- Socialize with friends before leaving, Check!
- Change currency, Check!
- Pack my things, Check!
- Finish "joulukinkku" (Traditional Finish Christmas food, around 6 kg ham), Check!
I will fly on 31st Dec morning first from Helsinki to Stockholm. Then on the afternoon I will fly from Stockholm back to Helsinki and from there on to Beijing. Doing that instead of flying directly from Helsinki to Beijing I saved a bit more than 100 euros. Fly more, pay less... How cool is that!
I will arrive to Beijing morning 1st of January 2015, so it is literally new year and new adventures!
While preparing everything on my travel, I noticed how easy it was to go in Ireland as it was inside European Union... This time I needed to apply a visa which was a challenge of its own. First of all I have to enter China with tourist visa because spring semester in BNU (Beijing Normal University) starts at the end of February which of course means two months time to get used to new cultural environment. While applying visa I needed to enter four times in embassy... First time I had wrong colored photograph so I needed to get new one. Second time I submitted my application successfully. Third time picked up my visa but it was granted only for 30 days (applied for 70 days) which is not enough since I cant have student visa before end of February. I needed to write my travel plan in China why I want to have longer tourist visa than just a month so on fourth time when I visited embassy and handed that document in, I received my tourist visa for 90 days... Great isn't it?
But besides that everything is okay..,
- Socialize with friends before leaving, Check!
- Change currency, Check!
- Pack my things, Check!
- Finish "joulukinkku" (Traditional Finish Christmas food, around 6 kg ham), Check!
I will fly on 31st Dec morning first from Helsinki to Stockholm. Then on the afternoon I will fly from Stockholm back to Helsinki and from there on to Beijing. Doing that instead of flying directly from Helsinki to Beijing I saved a bit more than 100 euros. Fly more, pay less... How cool is that!
I will arrive to Beijing morning 1st of January 2015, so it is literally new year and new adventures!
