Melody's blog

I went back to Jingmao this week and get back my files and also met two of my roommates and some other friends there. I know it'll be not easy for us to meet again. I'm sure I'll miss them.
Pretty busy these days, starting to buy stuff and prepare for the luggage.
No time for writting more about my trip to Jinan, not in the right mood to be exact. So I just upload some pictures here, enjoy them and visit these torist attractions if there is any chance!

I got my visa last week and it's definitely worth celebrating. Most people I know used agents to help them prepare the application and paid for the agents. But I did this all by myself and saved a lot of money.
It took me almost 3 weeks to get all the materials ready and translate them into English. At the beginning I knew nothing about visa application. I learned almost everything from Taisha Forum http://www.taisha.org/abroad/en/ Terrific Forum! Many people telling about their experiences there. Two of my friends are very nice, they would like to help whenever I had questions, and we discussed about the materials. Luckily, we three all have gotten the visas now.
My materials include:
Basic Material
1. Application form
2. Passport
3. Student questionnaire
4. Unconditional Offer from Loughborough Unviersity
5. Bachelor’s Degree Certificate
6. Diploma
7. Transcripts
8. IELTS Test Report
9. Household Register of my family
10. Notarial Certificate of Family Relation
11. Photo
Financial Material
12. The Letter of Supporting of my parents
13. Financial Statement and Funding List
14. My parents’ documents
a) Wording and Income Certificates of my parents
b) Certificate of One-off Payment of Bonus of my father
c) Checking List of the Bank Card of my parents
d) Salary Bankbook of my father
e) Certificates of Deposit of my parents
f) Savings Account Passbooks of my parents
g) Savings Receipts of my parents
h) Deposit Interests Bills of my mother
i) Stock Check Lists of my parents
j) Accounts of Stock of my parents
15. Housing Ownership Certificate
16. Copy of the draft of payment of my father’s consultancy of Logistics projects from Georgia Institute of Technology, USA.
Auxiliary Documents
17. Copy of Postgraduate Accommodation Guide ( for Falkner Eggington Ct.)
18. Offer Letter for Falkner Eggington Ct
19. Copy of Licence Aggreement for Falkner Eggington Ct
20. The evidence of online payment for room bond of ï¿¡160.00
21. Email from Student Accommodation Services of Loughborough University
22. Information of Living Costs from Loughborough University Website:
http://www.lboro.ac.uk/admin/ar/funding/international/costs/index.htm
23. Copy of my father’s Passport and Visa
24. My father’ Qualification Certificates of Senior Professional Rank
25. Copy of my mother’ Qualification Certificates of Senior Professional Rank
26. My father’s Letters of Appointment
Quite complicated, huh!
I also wrote my experience in detail on Taisha Forum, hope others will benefit a little.

Last week, Delft invited me to meet her and her boyfriend Mark who comes from Ghana. We met at Mark's place. It's the first time that I talk to an African friend. I always hear that African people are very hospitable. At that day, I felt that. Delft brought the popcorn, we had that while talking. Mark wanted to buy us some icecream also. But it's raining outside. I didn't want to trouble him, and didn't let him go. He just kept telling me that he should buy something for me. Soon after he's gone, the rain became pouring. When he came back, he got his T-shirt totally wet. But he just smiled and said it's nothing.
We talked a lot that day. From how he and Delft met to the Olympic games 2008 to his feeling of being in China. He mentioned the discrimination problem and his painful experience, I thought they were his sore points; but he didn't mind. He's really very open, he said only communicating let others understand you, sometimes he even let his students touch his arms to show black people -he used black to describe himself- are nothing to be afraid of. Now he is very popular in the residential quarter he's living in. People would like to talk to him because he's sincere and friendly.
I saw his efferts to get contact with others. And I belive the racial prejudice only makes him even stronger. He said he loves Hu Jintao- the President of China- because he visited African countries and be very friendly with African people. We all know that the relationship between China and African countries is very good. And it's China's policy to help some poor African countries. But when I heard Mark's words, I'm genuinely moved!
I'm pleased to have a chance to talk to Mark. Hope he'll enjoy his life in China.

I've been back to my hometown, Dailing District, Yichun City, Heilongjiang Province. It lies in the northeast of China. I was really excited to go back after 16 years since I moved to Qinhuangdao City with my family. It seems a lot of things have changed, the road has been broadened, and there're more high buildings. I even couldn't recognise the street I was once familiar with.
I went to our department, it's left undecorated after all these years so it looks exactly the same when we lived there from outside. But I don't know who're living in now. Then I went to the river where I always played during my childhood. It's still very clear. But much shallower. It reminds me of the "good old days" when my mother and I often caught fishes here. How happy I was at that time!
I'm delighted to see Dailing's more beautiful, and some tourists come here for river drift. The environment is not as good as before, but still much less polluted than big cities. Blue sky prevails and stars twinkling overhead at night. I saw the Big Dipper clearly here which I haven't seen for long time.
The weather here is cooler at summer, I need to put my coat on when I went outside in the evening. I wished to clime the mountain, where I used to climb with my mother and my friends. Everytime we picked bunches of wild flowers. However, my grandma don't let my sister and I climb the mountain. She's always anxious about our safety. What a pity!
I'm lucky because I grow up in such a lovely place. There're plenty of activities for my pals and I to entertain, to learn, to be close to the nature and enjoy it's beauty.

Thanks to Hugo, I have this place to write something, to practise my English, to build my writing muscles and to share my feelings.
I'm very happy and proud to be a member of the China-World Forum in English. It's really a good place for English learners no matter what level you're in because you always have something to say about some topics. For the most part we speak English only when there's a place for us to speak. Otherwise we're too lazy to practise without some incentives. The China-World Forum is thus a place. It provides us the chance to make progress.
How it happens? For me, when I pick up some new words I try to use them in China-World Forum. When you use the new words in your own way, you're more likely to remember them. And when I type the sentences, I realize how poor my spelling is. I always forget the correct spelling of some words so I look up the dictionary and thus process strengthes my spelling. Also, others may make remarks related to the content I write. At that time I get other's opinions which extend my thoughts and make me have more to say in the speaking part of the tests like IELTS test and when there're new phrases I would like to remember them by heart because what I write or my opinion is involved. I pay more attention to them than to new phrases on the newspapers. In other words, when you read newspapers etc you're very passive, but when you read other's comments your minds became very active. Do you agree with me? I benefit a lot from reading Hugo's and other native speaker's remarks, some fresh phrases attract me most. For example, once Hugo said "...the catch is..." Oh, "the catch" very simple words, we all know that, but few of us know that it means a hidden problem or difficulty. Amazing! Thus moment I can feel the charm of a language.

So much verbiage here. I must stop. Anyway, it's my true feeling about the China-World. And I really hope that it gets increasingly better, and more English learners will take good advantage of it. And I always expect the innovations in China-World Forum.