I am from Bangladesh and came to China in 2019 to study at Shandong First Medical University in Tai’an City, together with my friends.

As a foreigner, coming to a new country to live and study is a little difficult. I had never studied Chinese before I came to China. Our first semester started in February 2020. From then on, I began to learn Chinese. I still remember after the first class, I told the teacher that Chinese is one of the most difficult languages. I'm afraid I can't learn well. The teacher says it takes patience and hard work to learn a foreign language. From then on, I have confidence and strong interest in learning Chinese. Our Chinese teacher teaches Chinese in our class very carefully. All the students are very attentive in the Chinese class.

As soon as I arrived in China the virus started to break out and everyone stayed at home to protect themselves from the virus. The school staff are very concerned about us. They always asked about us and occasionally brought a refection. Because of the virus, we couldn't play outside, so we practiced speaking Chinese with the dormitory manager, the security guards and the cleaners in the dormitory because it was so boring. Now China is safer, because the incidence of the virus is much lower than before, and we can go outside to play on weekends. The School of International Education often holds cultural events. We visited some kindergartens and played with the children. We had a Spring Festival party last year. The international students, all the teachers and staff had a great time together. We made dumplings, sang, danced, painted, and wrote Chinese characters together.

The culture of Bangladesh is totally different from that of China. After coming to China, I began to learn Chinese culture. There is a very interesting ancient culture in China. In every festival, Chinese people share happiness by exchanging red envelopes. At first I couldn't use chopsticks, but now I'm getting used to it. There are many eating traditions in China. I like Shandong food very much. I prefer spicy food. I like ramen, roast duck, potato, beef, rice and so on.Bangladesh is not as cold as China. It is too cold in winter. I have never seen snow before, and now I am very happy to see snow and play in the snow. In spring, the cherry blossoms on Mount Tai are particularly beautiful. The trees and grass are yellow in autumn, which is very beautiful. I am very happy to live in Tai'an and hope I can live here forever.

  Finally, I want to say that China is my second hometown and I love China. Long live the friendship between China and Bangladesh.