Back in Finland

Its been 5 days back in Finland now and it feels pretty good. I could have happily stayed in China for a longer time but it still feels pretty good to be back to normal. To sleep in my own bed and to eat some real Finnish food is always good. I will always remember the friends we made and the crazy things we did in China. I even got a tattoo that says "Made In China" on my left arm so I would never forger this journey we had. Hopefully I will go back there soon, maybe within 2 years when I have enough money. For any students that are going to China then I would tell you not to worry about it so much. I know I was pretty worried before we left about what we would do and if we could even do it at work and how we would live there without knowing any Chinese. It will all work itself out and if not then there will always be people there to help you on the way. One big thing that I would say is to get a really good VPN because you are going to need it and if you haven't downloaded WeChat already then do it because everyone uses it there and its really good. If you want to know more or if you have anything to ask me then be free to add my WeChat and ask me anything about my journey there, Ken-G98.

Thank you for reading my blog and here is just a small amount of pictures in no order whatsoever, enjoy.

Two weeks left

It's been a month since my last post. We have done so my stuff I have forgotten to write stuff on my blog. At work we have worked on one thing and that's a 3D rendering of a room. We got a single 2D image of a room and from we had to create a complete room with everything on the picture in 3D. We also learned how to add textures to objects so now we can make stuff look more real. That was hard at first because of all the different things you can do but the more we used it the more we learned. Thanks to all the cool stuff we have learnt here I want to study animation further. In our spare time we have been exploring Suzhou more and more, it has been really nice here the last month. Almost always hot outside except for today when it rained. We have been partying on the weekends with some Chinese friends we have made, thanks to then we have been able to do so much more here in China then we could have. We have been fishing and barbecueing with them by Dushu lake. We have met alot of people through them. We went to Nanjing for a weekend which was amazing, we visited the Nanjing massacre memorial which was breathtaking. In the evening we went to a highly recommended bar called Ellen's bar, it was full of foreigners and we had so much fun with some of them. And this weekend we might drive to a city by the ocean called Zhoushan where we can fish and barbecue more. I will probably write one more post either before or after go back to Finland which is in 11 days, good night. 

Almost a month in

Time does fly by when you have fun, we have almost been here a month already. We have seen a lot of the beauties China has to offer and learnt so much at our workplace. Last week we started with a new program called Maya. It's a 3D modelling program for making art in 3D. It was completely new to all of us but i have atleast learnt a lot already. Our boss gives us images of objects that we have to replicate in Maya. So far we have done a football, a clock, a chair and started on a sword and shield.

Shanghai last weekend was pretty crazy. We stayed in a hotel near the walking street which was beautiful but hectic. So many dodgy people coming up to you daily trying to sell fake watches, handbags, wallets or other things, you get use to ignoring them. We ate some great food there especially on the last day when we went to a really nice restaurant where our tutor had worked before. It wasn't too expensive but still really nice. The first night we went to a really nice view of the big buildings but it was raining so we also went there the next day. The first night we went to a club and partied like all the other westerners there. The next day we visited some malls and then a old area that had a lot of temple looking buildings with a lot of different stores and stands in the street.

Right now we have Monday and Tuesday off from work, it's some holiday. A lot of people in school went home to their families so the school is pretty empty which is nice. Hopefully we will learn a lot more about Maya this week because it is a really good program to know and I might want to work in animation in the future because of what I've and learnt here. 

Update

I'm writing this a bit early because 10 of us are going to Shanghai this weekend so I won't be writing then.

Short update about work: we started with some gif examples then we got to make our own and then we started with some cards for April fools. We also got to make some art using the pen tool which was cool, the more we use the tools the more we learn the uses for them.

On our spare time we went to Starbucks on Monday to chill and work. After that we went to go eat and I had frog for the first time, it was good. On Tuesday we went to Time Square and walked around but everything was so expensive so we took a bus back to the cheaper market. We also ate there and had some fried ice cream which was amazing. On Wednesday we went to a mall where we bought some supplies for our room like a brush to clean the floor. I also bought some new shoes for around 20€. Today we are probably going to watch a movie in our room and just chill. Next time I write I will tell you what happened in Shanghai. 

A week in

I'm sorry if this looks wierd but I'm writing it on my phone so it might. We are now a week in our stay. We have done and learnt a lot already. Firstly about our work. In the IT area there are 4 of us. There is me, Janek, Eve and Sunny. We work at Trad Animation China, it's a animation company that makes animated movies. For now our boss has only checked how much we know a out photoshop with some tasks to do but next week we will do some harder things. The head boss of the company and some other teachers held a presentation about some Chinese and Finnish things to welcome us, I said a few words back too.

In our spare time we have made friends with the girls that picked us up from the airport and some other people too including 2 guys named Yann and Arthur. Yann is kind of in charge of us to make sure nothing bad happens. They have all been really nice and welcoming. They have showed us some parts of the massive city Suzhou is and will keep on doing so. Yesterday we went to a area of Suzhou where there were a lot of stores and old buildings, we walked around pretty much all day buying stuff and sightseeing. Later we went to a museum and also a park, they were both stunning. After all that we went back to the campus and then we went to our normal hangout spot which is the Rainbows bar. They just laugh when we come inside because we are there a lot. I'm sure we will get to see a lot more of the city and meet more nice people. I'm sorry if I left something out but its been a packed week. 

Almost time

Hello world!

My name is Ken Granström and this is my blog about being an exchange student in China for 2 months. In only a couple of days I will be flying to Shanghai and then travel to Suzhou where I will be working and staying. I am extremely excited for this opportunity and for everything I will learn. This is going to be a very simple blog because the simplicity is the beauty. I still haven't packed but I am prepared and have bought everything I think I will need to have. The next time I post something I will be in China.