Hello everyone, let me tell you a story. Before my second year of university, I went to Beijing with my friend, Rishi, from Chinese class. We were very excited because we really wanted to improve our Chinese and experience Chinese culture. We flew to Beijing together. London is far away from Beijing, so we were very tired when we arrived.

After getting off the plane, we took a taxi to Beijing Normal University. However, when we got to the university, we didn't know where to go.

We tried to find our dormitory, but we didn't know which dormitory building to go to. We searched for a long time and tried to ask Chinese students: "Where are the dormitories for international students?". However, our Chinese was not very good at the time, so Chinese students could not understand what we were saying. We found that the Chinese people's English was not great either. Confronting such a big communication barrier at that time truly left us puzzled. In order to find our dormitory, we planned to try every dormitory building. We met a few students along the way. Before talking to them, we thought they were Chinese, but after talking to them, we found that their Chinese was not very good. They told usthat they are international studentsfunded by the Korean government. We were even more confused than before.

We decided to find the dormitory with our new Korean friends. We saw a westerner on the way, and immediately asked him "Do you speak English?" He replied: "对不起，我 不会说英语 (I'm sorry, I don't speak English)." We were surprised and carried on asking him, "French or Spanish, can you speak?" He replied, "对不起，我只说汉语 (I'm sorry, I only speak Chinese)." We became more and more confused.

Later, we met many foreigners and asked them the same questions, but they all replied, "Sorry, we only speak Chinese." We were so confused. Why did the foreigners here only speak Chinese? Why were they unwilling to help us?

Some time later, the westerner to whom we asked the question before called us, "Come, I'll help you," he said in English: "I can speak English and I know where your dormitory is." "Thank you, thank you, but why didn't you speak English to us previously?" we asked him. He said, "Of course I can speak English, but my Chinese teacher is too strict. He only allows me to speak Chinese."

Later, we learned that every international student must speak Chinese in this university. This is a rule by which they must abide.

On the first day, we were late to our first class as the campus was huge. Me and my friend went around asking people where the chemistry class was, but they responded in Chinese that I didn’t understand. After 15 minutes of wandering around, we finally found the class and there was smoke coming from the bottom of the door. We knocked on the door and a jolly chemistry teacher swung open the door. As we walked in, somebody dropped a test tube and the teacher rushed towards the spillage. After clearing up the spillage, the teacher introduced herself as Mrs Xue. She told us the class was currently doing an experiment to mix two different chemicals and see the results. Me and Rishi walked over to our workstation and began to pour the chemicals into the test tube and began the experiment. Before the we knew it, the bell rang and we were off to the next lesson.

The next lesson was Maths. At the start of the class, the teacher gave all the new pupils a red book and scribbled down a math equation for us to solve. Me and my friend Rishi couldn’t figure out how to solve it! After seeing that most of the class was stumped by the question, the teacher revealed a Chinese method of working out the answer! Me and Rishi were dumbfounded. For the rest of the lesson we were given algebra questions, which was not very fun.

Next, it was lunchtime. The canteen was serving rice with soy sauce and chicken. As me and Rishi waited in the line we talked to an international student, who was from Spain. He had been going to the university for 2 years and he said his favourite part was the food. As we sat down after receiving the food, we took a bite and it felt like we were eating the food of the gods. The rest of the day flew by and at 9pm I dozed off to sleep ready for the next day.

I have been to Guangxi before with two friends, and we did some research there. Dear friends, I want to tell you what it means to travel to China as a foreigner.

Our trip started at the airport with a three-hour flight, and then we had to change trains twice. In China, people always talk about foreigners behind their backs, so it was not surprising for us that people would stare at us, especially the children who were seeing a foreigner for the first time.

When we arrived at the second train station, everyone stared at us. Needless to say, our group was quite eye-catching. One of us was of mixed Swiss and English descent and a black woman, another was of mixed French descent, while I was French with a little Italian heritage. It was funny, but it felt strange to be stared at and pointed at by everyone in the station. Pretending nothing was wrong, we decided to buy some noodle soup to escape everyone’s gaze, but the people's eyes were following us, and we could feel it.

Once we had arrived at the terminal,someone was waiting for us at the station already. The real adventure had just begun. We got in the car and were driven along deserted country roads. It was already midnight, and outside the windowsit was pitch black... it felt as though we were in a horror movie. We didn't know where we were being taken, our mobile phones couldn’t connect to the Internet, and we couldn't determine our location.

My friends and I all panicked, thinking we had been kidnapped. The fear reached a climax when we arrived at a riverside. I remember that we looked at each other in fear, our faces pale. Imagine, three young 15-year-old girls standing in the dark and being driven aboard a boat to crossfrom one side of the river to the other. After reaching the other side, we continued the journey, and after another hour, we finally reached the village in the early hours of the morning. When we got out of the car, our fearful expressions frightened the people who had come to greet us. Eventually, in no danger at all, we ended this eccentric adventure.

Eventually, the cobbled path led us to our rustic cottage surrounded by red pine trees, lighting the darkness of the evening. As the sun began to slowly set, we exhaustedly opened the wooden door, leading into a beautiful, traditional home; two lanterns hanging by the doorstep lighting the dark oak banister and white marble flooring ascending to the flat. In the bedroom, there was one bunk bed and one single bed parallel to a gorgeous, ginormous window. We went to sleep in our comfy beds and awaited the adventure ahead of us. In the morning we took a taxi to the sun and moon pagodas. As we arrived, the golden and silver rays of light illuminated our eyes blowing our mind. The golden and silver beams of light reflected onto the lake, disguising as metallic metals. We visited a nearby restaurant to energise before we thoroughly explored the rustic city. They served us scrumptious egg noodles with soya sauce. It was quite easy to handle with the chopsticks, but it was not the same story for my friends. As everyone began to finish the mouth-watering Chinese cuisine, we approached the temple; it towered above us making us look like mice. During the night the light glimmered on surrounding red pine trees.

This is the first time I've been abroad and I'm looking forward to exploring as many things as possible on a sunny afternoon in the village of Le Touquet. I want to taste the croissants, I want to eat an ice cream, well I want to try everything! There is only one small problem - I don't know where to find the food shops. But that's okay, I can ask a local.

"Excuse me, do you know where I can buy an ice cream, please?"

"Yes, I do." Then he describes a detailed route, and I follow it straight away. I turn left, I turn right, I walk across the street. And, following the directions, I arrived at...

But no! It's a clothesshop - a real nightmare. Now I understand the situation better. I got lost. Nobody knows me here. Worse, I don't have any ice cream yet. Maybe the street next door will have ice cream shops... too bad, there are none. Maybe there is no such shop? After a breath of exasperation, I walk towards the beach. At least I can enjoy the sun.

I have just sat down on the sand when I see a small black bird. It has something in its beak... an ice cream cone. This is proof of what I have been looking for. All of a sudden it flies away, and I feel that I must follow it, that this event is not an accident. Or maybe I have been reading too many stories.

The bird perches on a plastic tree which is near a long queue, which finally leads to... an ice cream parlour, big and full of delicious ice cream! I'm really hot - I made the mistake of running in the summer. But queuing takes longer than I thought... much longer...

"Are you all right, miss?" a woman wearing a yellow dress and blue glasses asks me. I like the way she looks.

"Yes, I'm fine, it's just hot," I tell her, trying to take off my red jumper. I can't seem to do it.

"Let me help you," she says, and helps me take off the jumper. Then she points to a bench in the shade of a huge tree. I have just refused her offer when she holds up an ice cream in front of me. Is she eating it? No, it seems to me that she wants me to take it.

"Are you serious?"

"Yes. You need it more than I do."

I'm too surprised to say a word, so I eat it. It's tasty, and even better, so cold. I had an interesting day today. I wandered the streets in search of ice cream and found ice cream and something else. Kindness. I'm glad when I go home that night.

Yesterday was good but today I’m going to have so much fun that I want to stay here forever. I’m so excited that I’m getting dressed as I stumble down the stairs whilst getting dressed. The bed and breakfast that I’m staying at have provided proper French baguettes for breakfast and I am buzzing. The baguette is filled with brie and salami and it tastes delicious. As I charge out of the door and stumble down the alley, I see the ice cream parlour. There is no queue! No queue at all! My stumble turns into a full on sprint and I can already see some people making their way towards it. I can see the staff just waiting for me. I get to the parlour but, Alas!, I am second in line. Then I see who is in front of me. It is the kind lady from yesterday. She says, “Would you like to go ahead of me?” “Yes please”, I squeal, barely able to contain my excitement. I know that one place doesn’t matter but I am so excited about being first that I forget to even thank the kind lady. Five minutes later, the shop opens and I boldly march in as if this is a military event. The ice cream parlour owner kindly asks me what flavour of ice cream I would like to inject into my gut first. My immediate reply is chocolate, however I can’t help but think of how childish that response is. He starts to put the ice cream in his scoop, then hesitates. “Would you like a cone or a tub?”, is what he asks during this moment of hesitation. I reply that I would love to have a tub. It takes all of my willpower not to say cone but I don’t want to look too childish in this fancy parlour. The owner starts piling endless balls of chocolate into this massive tub. When he is finally done, I receive the ice cream, pay and give him my thanks. As I leave, I see the kind lady file in behind me and order her ice cream. I wonder what child that ice cream is going to belong to soon. I enjoy the rest of the day eating my ice cream, swimming and sunbathing. This is the perfect holiday, I think to myself and I nod off for a quiet snooze.

Later that night, I got back home from Le Touquet. It was a windy night back here in the centre of Paris. My trail to find ice cream was finished at last and that day was the time I met the kindest person in the world. However, she didn’t tell me her name. Mysteriously, the only thing I knew about her is that she dresses in really fancy and luscious clothes (and of course she’s really nice). Meanwhile, I didn’t know where she had disappeared to once she gave me the chocolate, vanilla and strawberry ice cream with sprinkles on top. “It was all so sudden”, I said to myself cluelessly.

Today was the final day I came back to Le Touquet, as I had forgotten my camera there. But still, I was curious about who that woman in the yellow dress was.

Ironically, as I was thinking who the woman was, I saw the person who inspired me to play badminton (Delphine Delrue). Curiously, she was wearing a yellow dress and from quite a distance I could see a miniscule bit of ice cream on her purse. Which got me thinking whether my idol (Delphine Delrue) could be the woman who gave me ice cream that day in Le Touquet. This mystery was yet to be solved! However I could go home to my family in Essex knowing that I had seen my idol. ONE OF THE BEST MOMENTS IN MY LIFE!