In August 2014 I headed off to China for the first time, to take up a position as an English Language teacher with the British Council in Suzhou (苏州) also known as the ‘Venice of the East’ (as Mark commented, why can’t Venice be known as the ‘Suzhou of the West?’!) Living in China for a year didn’t make me want to run back to the green and pleasant lands of England, and I returned to China the following September after the summer break to complete a one semester scholarship studying Mandarin at Suzhou (Soochow) University.
stories from suzhou 
great post
Your adventure sounds very similar to mine and takes me back to when I started my Roryinchina blog. I look forward to retracing my steps through your stories. It may be tough in the beginning but I found that blogging helped with both homesickness and culture shock. If you have any questions just let me know.
Rory
Hi Rory, thanks for your message! It’s always great to hear from other people who have had similar experiences. I will definitely check out your blog 🙂