Dialogue@ZJU: What are your plans for Spring Festival?

[Message from the Editor: Spring Festival, also known as Chinese Lunar New Year, is an important occasion for the family reunion, and falls on Feb 12 this year. But due to the pandemic prevention, some students have chosen to stay put during the holiday. Some of them share their holiday plans with us.]

 Emaithy Samudio, Panama, an undergraduate student at the ZJU Ocean College

“I have been in China since 2018 and moved to Hangzhou in 2019. I personally found Hangzhou a great city. It’s not only beautiful but special due to its calm atmosphere.It was tough preparing for the semester exams so I want to relax myself. Initially, I planned to travel to Sanya with my friends. Now I don’t think it wise to travel under such circumstances. I will be exploring more about Hangzhou as it’s such an exciting place.” 

Mussa Khan, Pakistan, a PhD student at the ZJU College of Media and International Culture 

“Studying at ZJU is such an amazing experience that I couldn’t think of going anywhere else for my further studies. During the Spring Festival, I plan to stay in Hangzhou working on some ongoing research and business projects. Moreover, I am learning R language for my research from Prof. Andre Python, who recently came from Oxford and joined our university.”

JIN Junwei, China, a PhD student at the ZJU College of Environmental and Resource Sciences

“I decided to stay on the campus to continue my research on Non-Point Pollution Remediation. I’ll also participate in the university’s Spring Festival Dinner. The previous year was full of challenges as the COVID-19 affected all aspects of life, including my research work. I really hope that things will return to normalcy very soon.I wish everyone better health and a cheerful Spring Festival.”

Miral Sipara, Pakistan, a PhD student at the ZJU College of Biosystems Engineering and Food Science

“I had lived in Wuhan for 3 years before I joined Zhejiang University last September for my PhD studies. During last year’s Spring Festival, I was proud to work as a volunteer in Wuhan distributing food package and masks to people in need. I’m happy to be here in this year’s holiday. I’ve planned to visit my friends in Hangzhou. I’m going to learn some Chinese dishes. I’ll also visit some places of interest here including Grand Canal and Leifeng Pagoda. I love the color and beauty of the city.”

Contributors: Mussa Khan, Ali Farman