Rather than go through all the mundane details of my life in Beijing, I will describe some of the vaguely interesting things that have happened so far this term: I bought a bike, like all students do here (except for Koreans - they all seem to prefer vespas). It doesn't have any gears and the shop assistants had to add in an extra bar to make the seat high enough for me. It seems to work well enough, apart from one occasion: one of the pedals fell off and I had ...

Late last night we were called by Rainbow, who broke to us that the four-person flat had been cruelly snatched from under our noses. Not wanting to risk any further disappointment, we instantly declared our interest for the two two-person flats. Freddie and I chatted long into the night with our Egyptian roommate, who informed us of his homeland's political situation from an Egyptian point of view. At midday, We met up with Rainbow again, who told us there was ...