And they forced me to leave my home

After spending my first spring in a dorm at the campus I wanted to have a real home. I rented a small apartment, meaning one room, from the nearby village and quickly started to call it home. I loved the place for many reasons. I could cook Finnish food, I had a big roof to host barbecue evenings, lots of shops just behind the corner and a feeling of place that is mine (Well, ours because I live together with my boyfriend).

But after half a year there the police found out and weren’t happy. Police thinks that it’s not safe for foreigners live in the villages like that, but I think that there must be some other reason. Maybe they just want to prevent any extra work that I might cause them by living like the locals? I did my best to get to know how common Chinese people live and joined their neighborhood, but it seems to be too much for the authorities.

So little bit over a week ago my teacher told me about this and that I had two choises. To move back to dorm or find another apartment away from the university island. I first started looking for apartments and found a lovely area near Sun Yat Sen University where I will hopefully start my bachelor degree next September. But then in the end after listening to my boyfriend, and especially my mom, I decided to come back to the dorm.

And here I am. Living in this tiny room with all of my stuff. Well, part of it is in the storage room, because this “apartment” is less than ten square meters. And I share a bathroom with my roommate, that is nice and quiet. This absolutely isn’t home and I feel kind of homeless right now. At the same time I heard that I didn’t got the internship for summer that I was hoping for. The reason is that my university back in Finland don’t give me money to do the internship because I didn’t apply for it in advance. Also this work place can’t hire anyone for free. So no home, and no plans for next summer.

My unplanned plan is to stay in the dorm atleast until I go back to Finland in May. After that I may come back and continue studying here until the term in over in July. But I am still looking for a job for summer. This might be the only time before graduating that I would have almost three months time to work. At the latest I will start looking my new home in July. I now know from what area I want the apartment and also have a better understanding of the rents.

But still I miss my first real home here in China. It’s just one kilometer away from here, but feels like a long way. I don’t like other people messing up with my plans, but now I don’t have any other choice. My mom and dad also both send me messages that do not argue with the police. Of course I never would but in my mind I’m not pleased.

Have the authorities in China messed up with your plans?