The year was 2009; I was bound for Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei Province in Central China，to study as a post-graduate student in Mass Communication having qualified as a beneficiary of Chinese government scholarship. A rare opportunity at that time and even today, I vowed to make the best out of the offer, searched thoroughly on the internet about my host-city and university- Central China Normal University, one of the best language and teaching universities in China.

Within a week after my arrival, orientation was over and classes had begun starting with a one-whole year of Chinese language course. My major was a Chinese taught program so grabbing the language was of utmost importance. This is where the fittest survives. Chinese has been well acknowledged as one of the most difficult languages on planet earth for non-natives and here I was trying to make sense out of what most would describe as hieroglyphics. Burning the mid-night candle trying to study a language as difficult as Chinese as I later realised was pointless so I devised a strategy captured in a five-point post I published on China Daily 5 Easy tricks to learning Chinese. And that is about that with language studies. It was a difficult time though, but I sailed through.

Talk of other experiences and that might require a whole chapter. Some of these experiences are best described as moments, also captured in another post I published on China Daily titled What are your China moments? These experiences are not peculiar to many foreigners in China. They are moments one easily comes across or experiences’ in China. For the fun that I had as a student check my post on My love affair with Wuhan city , a satiric article that received much comments on my blog page also on China Daily.

Top on the highlights during my days as a student was the Wuhan University annual cultural festival. It was always a blast and you’d better not miss it. Those were awesome experiences at every single event during my four year program. It was the meeting of cultures from all over the globe, more like a UN general assembly super-hyped with a display of cultural attires, ethnic food, music and dance. It is a very colorful event that has been copied by other institutions but there is none like the Wuhan University celebrations.

As an exchange student we did travel a lot to scenic spots and museums which are in abundance within Wuhan’s three main districts- that is Wuchang, Hankou and Hannan. The three names come together to form Wuhan- Wu from Wuchang and han from the first three letters of the two other districts. Wuchang is the cultural and educational hub scattered with most of the schools in the city. Hankou serves as the financial and economic hub whilst Hannan is mostly dominated by manufacturing industries from cars to all things made in China.

The city is basically a revelers paradise. Foreigners missing home only need to turn around a corner to find a restaurant serving exotic dishes from around the world. It doesn’t matter where one comes from, religion or whatever, if you want halal (Muslim) dish or African cuisines you name it, you’re bound to come across a restaurant that serves something you’ll definitely like even though European and America cuisines take up the chunk of the menu at Western styles restaurants.

For a tour around the city, the city buses and metro can whisk you to-and-fro from any angle to your destination. For a birds-eye view of Wuchang I will recommend first time visitors to visit Huanghelou, the iconic ancient Buddhist building.