When I first set foot in this country that is very well known for its pandas, I actually felt lonely and strange because of the language, foods, habits, and cultures that I was not familiar with at all. Yes, even though I didn’t find much hardship to adapt, I still face many obstacles during my stay here.

It took about 3 months for me to be able to adapt to this new environment. Slowly but sure I began to get new friends, whether it’s international friends from other foreign countries or even local friends.

At first, I found this new environment pretty odd to me, but after living I began to feel comfortable. Even though I’ve lived in China for almost 4 years, there are still many beautiful places that I haven't had the chance to visit yet. The roads and streets here are quite clean, the traffic is pretty neat, convenient public transportation, these things are very pampering to me during my activities here.

Actually, I thought Chinese people won’t be welcoming a foreigner like me. But it turned out they are very welcoming. They never hesitate to help whenever I need one, and always willing to teach me many things about China I didn’t know before.

China, especially Nanjing, now feels like my own home. Nanjing is so special and memorable to me, it holds a special place in my heart. The people in Nanjing that I’ve had met before were friendly, no matter if they were the street vendors, the sellers at markets, or even restaurant owners.

I’ve participated in some Chinese festival. Like I’ve participated in some Chinese festival. Like eating mooncake during the Mid-Autumn Festival and eating triangle-shaped sticky rice during Dragon Boat Festival. I also cooked some Indonesian foods for my Chinese friends and it turned out it’s their first time trying and they loved it.

When it’s around the Christmas eve, I learned that Chinese usually give out apples to people they know. I knew this ‘habit’ because there’s a Chinese friend that sells apple asking me a favour to be his business’ model.

I was surprised to receive such an offer, but of course I was willing to help him. So we prepared some simple photoshoots in our campus area back then, plus I also receive some gifts and apples from him and other friends too. It was such an experience since I’ve never done photoshoots before.