I spent a semester in Harbin and have been back in Changchun for over half a month. I keep feeling I ought to write something.
University is what it is. I asked my high-school classmates: some have electricity around the clock, some have private bathrooms, and some share two-person rooms. My eight-person room in a corridor-style dorm with ten hours of electricity gets none of those perks.
Then again, monthly exams aren't entirely bad: unlike some people, at least I haven't failed a single course.
Harbin is much worse than I imagined. The city's infrastructure is really showing its age… And the drivers are so aggressive that I'm afraid to cross the road.
My lovely major promises four years of being a loser—perhaps longer. As the older students put it, this place is fertile ground for long-distance relationships. Astonishingly, so many brave souls have kept theirs going into their final year.
Coming home, everything feels much the same. The overpass is still unfinished, the walk to the light-rail station is still a pain, and Walmart is still just ticking along.
But after all, the places may be the same while the people have changed.