June 16, 2017, by Kate Rothery

Blog: Tri Campus Games teams head out for cultural day

With two days of fierce competition completed, the 2017 Tri Campus Games schedule allowed for a short break in play and the chance to visit some of China’s best cultural sites.

In our blog, the Team UK Women’s Football team tell us about their experience so far:

So far the we’ve really enjoyed the games. We have loved getting to know the Malaysia and China students and getting the opportunity to play our sport in Ningbo, and winning all our games so far has made it that little bit better!

With this being most of the team’s first visit to China, we were really excited to have a small break in the sports to get out and sample the culture and some traditional Chinese food. After three days of rain we were really pleased to set off with the sun just breaking through the clouds. The day was a long one that began at West Lake where we took a boat ride across the lake. After this we headed for a traditional Chinese meal, then the street markets, then rounded off the day with our first trip into the centre of Ningbo.

Our highlight of the day was the street market. It had so many different sights and smells, some more pleasant than others! As we walked around the market it seemed there was as many photos taken of us as we took of the market, which was definitely a weird experience. At first it was a little challenging to understand the money and try and barter with the locals, but with a bit of help and translating we managed to pick up some pretty good deals, and even some father’s day presents.  A lot of our gifts being made in front of us including key rings and glass sculptures.

The food in the market was all fresh and looked delicious, but after our lunch we didn’t have much room for more food. At lunch we were presented plate after plate of traditional Chinese food. We made sure we sampled a little bit of everything…well almost everything! None of us had the courage to go near the chicken head. Although we were interested to find out that the head is served as in China to show to those eating that it is the whole chicken that is being served. After lunch we had definitely improved our chop stick skills significantly, with all the team preserving with the chopsticks despite a few dropped pieces of food here and there. We reckon we will be chopstick pros by the end of the week!

We rounded off the day with a trip into Ningbo. The city was really cool to look at with lots of tall buildings all lit up in neon lights. The city was incredibly modern and contrasted really heavily with the old traditional buildings we are used to seeing in Nottingham. We are looking forward to visiting Ningbo again later in the week and exploring all the shops!

So far Tri Campus has been an amazing experience and it has been great to be in China with the football team and the wider Team UK students. In the days that are still to come we can’t wait to have the opportunity to play the final fixture of the tournament alongside our men’s football team as we take on Malaysia, and find out what the closing ceremony has in store for us!

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