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As an exchange student to China last year ,I travelled around to explore some provinces to understand about the cultural nuances and lifestyle .But when I went to Hebei ,it was anything but that because as the semester ended and the reality of going back home struck I and a friend decided that it was necessary to seek calm before the eventual goodbyes. Maybe it was the place or the calming breeze of the sea ,the beautiful beaches ,palping sun ,the dreams and sandcastles of future that we built there it was a memorable journey we made to Beidaihe ,the humans we met, the connections we made that altered the course of our experiences. Right from the beginning when we got down from the train and landed in the place the cool ,calm breeze had a soothing effect far from the hustle of the life that comes with living in cities like Beijing. Since it was all impromptu ,we decided it was best to take a local bus straight to the beach ,to refresh our reflexes , stay over the night in a tent camping ,to cut save our expenses of staying in a hotel. The only thing that we had in our mind was to soak our body ,mind and soul in the sands and cool air be as much present to witness and live the sea. People in smaller provinces dont get to see a lot of foreign faces as compared to cities like Beijing and Shanghai does, so naturally some were curious to strike a conversation and were all the more surprised when we made it easier for them by conversing in their language ,since we were at ease of being understood by each other. In this free flow of conversation and the help of Baidu (app like Google maps) we got down ;"two city girls to live the beach life." What with our naked feets glistening the sands and the whirling waves it was all perfect and smooth until it got quite late and the guards asked everybody to leave since the place closes at midnight .Our plan to stay the night camping was now- another dream to live another day. We took our stuff and with the late realisation of being hungry went to the only restraunt that was opened to try some seafood and fishfilled dumplings with some hot spicy egg noddles .A little tired and weary we were roaming the roads of how we would spend the night in a place where we know no one and cant afford to stay in a hotel. The creative genius that we were we decided to stay the night at McDonalds since its open 24/7 in the city. We went ,bought 2 Icecreams and started to enjoy the warmth and finally a place to survive a quite cold night. But around an hour later or so the guy from the counter comes clearing the desk to tell us that they are closing ,bursting our another bubble .We share with him our ordeal of being helpless, not having anywhere to live the night .The only option that we could come up was to sleep in a park but its quite cold outside ,he understood and help relaxe us down by taking a cab and getting us to a very cheap student hostel to sleep some few hours of the night .He was our saviour in disguise and the next morning we cant thank him enough. We chat with him a bit and then separate our ways to meet again in the evening with more conversations and the inevitable goodbyes. We exchange our WeChat contacts and become friends instantly. On our way back we took not just the memories of going to a new place but also made new bonds. We never get to experience warmth of human bonds in a way like this in the city because what with the stress and technology we are so busy,we dont have time to interact or help or listen as compared to where we just returned from life is quite simpler and humane. Even though I am back home now, we are thousands of miles apart ,we are still in touch ,he still keeps on guiding me and I often address him as 大哥 da ge (elder brother), always in my prayers and blessings and I would hope to see him again.