Interview 1: Chinese tourist on travelling in London, taken at Heathrow Airport. 

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Whilst waiting in the lounge to board my flight, I was slowly eased back into how life would be in China… people were looking at me as I sat down being one of the few  外国人 (‘foreign person,’ a common phrase heard here) in the lounge. So I decided to start things how I planned to continue: talking to as many people as possible to break down this invisible barrier, learn a bit about them and teach them a bit about me.
                I smiled at the lady opposite and asked if she lived in Beijing, where we were both about to fly to. She said that she is 40 years old and from Shandong Province (山东). This was her first time in England, so I was highly intrigued as to what she thought the best, worst and weirdest thing was about London. According to her, the best thing about London in the air quality and the worst thing was the food… she thinks English food has no taste compared to Chinese food, so she unfortunately didn’t find eating a satisfying experience! The strangest thing for her was how polite people were – she couldn’t believe people apologised to her on the underground if they accidentally bumped into her and warned me that I shouldn’t expect that to happen on the Beijing metro! Her top tip for me was to buy a scarf, warm clothes and a mask (口罩) to make it through the Beijing winter.
                It made me laugh as we said good bye to board the plane, as I saw that she had taken some Christmas Walkers shortbread back with her - at least she’d found one thing she liked to eat here.

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