I am Oscar Omondi Donde from Kenya. I have been in China since September 2015 undertaking a PhD study in Environmental Microbiology. My main area of research is water and fish quality improvement by using sustainable technologies such as constructed wetlands and solar energy. My life in China started with 4 months’ stay in Beijing City where I undertook part of my PhD coursework at the International College of the University of Chinese academy of Sciences (UCAS), then moved to the Institute of Hydrobiology (IHB) in Wuhan City of Hubei Province to proceed with my PhD research work. 

To give an honest account, my life in China started on a big shock. The Chinese culture was far much different from Kenyan, the language barrier was a big mountain to climb and I could not handle the hot spicy food that was common in almost all the dishes in China. 

On academic perspective, I felt at home from the onset and did not encounter any scary challenge. May be, this was because of the prior adequate research that I did about UCAS before making a choice of joining it. Indeed, my choice of joining the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS) was based on its long excellent research output as portrayed in the internationally recognized high impact factor journals and its top ranking by the nature science publications. The IHB has stood out to be one of the World’s best institutes for aquatic ecological research, it has some of the state of the art research facilities and renowned professors in the field of aquatic biology/ecology.   

My study and research at the IHB has been smooth. I was received by a team of friendly people in the IHB. My Supervisor has been so supportive, the teachers and students in my research group have been so caring and the staffs in charge of the international students’ affairs within the IHB have equally been so supportive. Indeed, after my stay in Wuhan for the first few months, I got used to the spicy food and managed to grasp some few Chinese words which have assisted me in communicating in the shops and restaurants.  Life in Wuhan has so far been nice and enjoyable despite its unpredictable weather conditions (“Wuhan different everyday”). I have also had the opportunity to visit other beautiful Chinese Cities such as Kunming, Shenzhen and Lanzhou and interacted with other renowned professors and researchers from within and outside China. 

As I move toward concluding my PhD study here in China, I look forward to having a stronger collaboration in research and academics with the Chinese professors. I strongly recommend UCAS and IHB as some of the best places for post graduate studies and research.