Romain�s romantic encounter

“In the past year, many wonderful things happened in my student life in Yunnan. Now I am back in France for three days, and those beautiful moments in Kunming are still vivid in my mind...” said the French student Romain through WeChat, a Chinese Twitter equivalent, when recalling his study in Kunming and expressing his sincere thanks for the friends he made in Yunnan!

Romain attended a one-year Mandarin course at Yunnan University, during which he not only made many friends but met his love as well.

He fell in love with a Korean girl in his class. They studied together, talked about arts and shared happy days. Sometimes they called each other by their Chinese names and then burst out laughing... On weekends, Romain and his girlfriend would leave the campus and explore Kunming’s streets and lanes. And they accidentally discovered an Irish pub by the Green Lake, where the environment is elegant and various events are often held, such as draft beer tasting parties, Thai girls’ parties and French parties.

Roman was surprised to meet some fellow countrymen in the pub, of whom one played the saxophone and another, the drum set. They often held rock concerts together. Not only that, they also frequented a studio run by a Dutch painter in Kunming, where cultural exchange activities such as art shows, concerts and English corner are held from time to time.

 “Play also offers a language learning opportunity,” Romain said earnestly, “I have improved my spoken Mandarin by having fun with local people.” However, the Chinese writing is still very difficult for Romain. He said to me: “Every Chinese character is like a picture.” Romain made great efforts to learn Chinese characters. He summarised his learning experience like this: “The Chinese language stresses meaning and is grammatically flexible. Reading aloud is the best way to learn Chinese. When reading, you should pay attention to the variation of four tones.” After a year of practice, daily communication in Chinese is no longer a problem for Romain.

Romain told me, Kunming is an open and inclusive city, where he made a lot of lovely friends from different countries, including France, Korea, Thailand, the Philippines and Ireland. Now he is back in France, but he still misses Kunming. On WeChat Romain wrote: “I hope someday I will see you again in the Spring City of Kunming!”

Romain�s romantic encounter

In the past year, many wonderful things happened in my student life in Yunnan. Now I am back in France for three days, and those beautiful moments in Kunming are still vivid in my mind... said the French student Romain through WeChat, a Chinese Twitter equivalent, when recalling his study in Kunming and expressing his sincere thanks for the friends he made in Yunnan! Romain attended a one-year Mandarin course at Yunnan University, during which he not only made many friends but met his love as well. He fell in love with a Korean girl in his class. They studied together, talked about arts and shared happy days. Sometimes they called each other by their Chinese names and then burst out laughing... On weekends, Romain and his girlfriend would leave the campus and explore Kunmings streets and lanes. And they accidentally discovered an Irish pub by the Green Lake, where the environment is elegant and various events are often held, such as draft beer tasting parties, Thai girls parties and French parties. Roman was surprised to meet some fellow countrymen in the pub, of whom one played the saxophone and another, the drum set. They often held rock concerts together. Not only that, they also frequented a studio run by a Dutch painter in Kunming, where cultural exchange activities such as art shows, concerts and English corner are held from time to time. Play also offers a language learning opportunity, Romain said earnestly, I have improved my spoken Mandarin by having fun with local people. However, the Chinese writing is still very difficult for Romain. He said to me: Every Chinese character is like a picture. Romain made great efforts to learn Chinese characters. He summarised his learning experience like this: The Chinese language stresses meaning and is grammatically flexible. Reading aloud is the best way to learn Chinese. When reading, you should pay attention to the variation of four tones. After a year of practice, daily communication in Chinese is no longer a problem for Romain. Romain told me, Kunming is an open and inclusive city, where he made a lot of lovely friends from different countries, including France, Korea, Thailand, the Philippines and Ireland. Now he is back in France, but he still misses Kunming. On WeChat Romain wrote: I hope someday I will see you again in the Spring City of Kunming!