Living my dreams in China

Amani Stephen Milinga

I arrived in Beijing, China in mid-September of 2019 from Tanzania. I was excited as I was going to start a new life in a foreign country. Joining China Agricultural University promised to be a golden opportunity to receive training from world class professors and in an international environment. Also I saw it as an opportunity to meet people from different academic and cultural backgrounds and therefore learn from each other. Landed in Beijing Capital International Airport around 00:15 mid night and followed landing formalities, as a foreigner I thought it was not a good idea to move to the campus that night so I decided to wait around the airport area until sunrise. Luckily enough, in the morning I met a fellow Tanzanian who spoke Chinese and helped me to get a ride to our campus in Haidian district.

In the first few weeks, communication was so hard, as many people around public places such as subway stations, shopping malls, hospitals, and even around campus hardly speak English.

Our academic course started around 11th of October, soon after the National Day holiday. And our first class was Chinese language which I think was very interesting as I was eager to learn a new language especially Mandarin. Other courses involve organic farming, agricultural non-point pollution, integrated management of pest and diseases, research and academic norms, thesis writing in plant nutrition, advanced experimental designs, etc.

We finished our first semester in mid-January. Many thanks to the Chinese government for their all-out war against the pandemic and taking care of us all the time and providing all support needed to sustain our stay in China.

I almost spent my entire Spring Festival around the campus. After a prolonged lockdown, we finally made our way to Quzhou, Hebei province, for practical education.