Mr. X is a famous (although without context, slightly questionable) name among escape rooms in China, and after having finally experienced one of their rooms myself, I can confirm that they live up to their fame. For those of you who don’t know, escape rooms are exactly what they sound like: You and a group of friends are put into a room – or rather, a series of rooms usually – and you have to escape. Simple as that! At least it is on paper.

Along the way, you have to solve puzzles and uncover clues that will help you move on to the next room and eventually escape. What makes Mr. X’s rooms so unique is their commitment to theming, with an intriguing narrative that slowly reveals itself as you move through each stage. Most of Mr. X’s rooms are horror and mystery-themed, and with the addition of voice recordings and the occasional actor following along, each room can be an absolutely terrifying and challenging experience.

Mr. X currently features two English-language escape rooms, The House of Suicide and Alcatraz. You can easily book a room in advance via Dianping, book one in person, or simply show up the day of and see if they have a room available for you and your friends. The staff does speak some English, although even without it you’d get by. If you opt for one of the English-speaking rooms, once you’re in the room, all recordings and clues are fully in English. Having one Chinese speaker with you doesn’t hurt, however, just in case you’d have to translate some of the instructions beforehand. The waiting area is very large and comfy, with a chill and homey atmosphere, a stark contrast to the dark and scary rooms you are about to enter.

And if your entire group or just some of you do happen to speak Chinese, all the better! Along with the two English rooms, there’s an array of rooms based in Chinese. Likewise, they tend to be some of the more challenging options, often recommended for up to 10 people and should provide a good challenge for even experienced escapees.

My friends and I opted for The House of Suicide, and as a group of six, this was a good and challenging room. As it was my first time participating, I wasn’t sure what to expect and let my more experienced friends lead the way. As I’ve come to understand, the first step to any escape room is to scour the space for any potential items or clues that will assist in your escape. This could be anything from a simple note, a key, or, in our case, the music sheet for a functioning piano.

The first room that served as a kind of entryway was pitch dark, and we had to feel around with our hands to solve the first puzzle and gain access to the next room. Here is where the real escape room experiences began, as we immediately started to look around the more spacious and lavish study we found ourselves in. My friends who had done many of these rooms before immediately started feeling under chairs and flipping through books, hoping to find any sort of clue or mechanism we could potentially use to escape. Anything we found we brought over to the one dim lamp, which provided enough of a light source for reading over clues. At first, I wasn’t sure what to do and found myself looking around a table over and over again.

But after the first puzzle or so I found the flow as well! It was very easy to get the idea of what to do and what to look for early on – even as a complete escape room virgin – and having experienced friends along with me definitely helped. We thoroughly enjoyed our time and managed to escape with just minutes to spare. We’re planning to go back and check out one of their other options, now with more experience under our belts.

Overall, Mr. X is a great place to go if you’ve been looking for a good and scary escape room experience here in Beijing, especially if you’re looking for English-based rooms. This being my first escape room ever, I can confirm that they are fun for both new and experienced players, and you’ll most likely be able to find a room with a suitable difficulty for you and your group of friends.

Mr. X Beijing can be found at 2/F, Shimao Department Store, No.13 Gongti North Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, China, (near Sanlitun), and most rooms will run you in between RMB 150 and RMB 250 per person.

KEEP READING: Navigating the World of Work, or at Least a Week of It

Images: dianping

World of Work is scary.

But first, what exactly is World of Work? Well, it’s a program that the Western Academy of Beijing (WAB) offers all Grade 10 students towards the end of the year, a week-long program that encourages students to find an internship they’re interested in – either one they organize themselves or, the more common approach, one organized by the school. The preparation for World of Work includes writing up a CV, taking online career counseling tests, and learning about professionalism in the workplace. But what is the experience actually like?

For most WAB students it serves as a whole bunch of “firsts:” the first time they intern somewhere, the first time they write a résumé, and perhaps even the first time they consider life after high school. Which is a point that feels a lot closer now that next year’s IB preparations are underway.

Unless you can land your own placement, you simply inform the school of your interests and skills and they set you up with a place to work. Simple as that. No visiting places beforehand, no knowing where or what you might end up doing. You’re just assigned a job roughly based on your interests and off you go for a whole week, with a randomly assigned teacher checking in on you during one of the days. This is definitely enough to freak out any high school student who’s simultaneously worried about exams, course selection, clubs, after-school activities, and maybe even moving away and saying their final goodbyes to WAB. The point is, there’s a lot of stuff to worry about at the end of Grade 10.

But…

As it turns out a lot of that stress was unnecessary and caused by the additional things going on with school and the end of this year. In fact, after exams are done and a mere two weeks are left before summer break begins, maybe an internship and some time away from campus are just what we all need. Because yes, CV writing and signing up for internships that you don’t know anything about is daunting and feels like they should be happening a couple of years in the future, at least. On the same token, however, there isn’t any risk to it. It’s a good opportunity to go out into the world and do something that pushes us outside our comfort zone, instead of staying in the sheltered environment that is school.

For my internship, I was assigned to work at Jingkids International for a week (as some of you might’ve guessed by now). And I’m really happy with my placement. I am very interested in writing, and this feels like an environment I can see myself working in. WAB seems to have gotten it right for the most part – at least they definitely did in my case. It’s really quite impressive how, year after year, they can manage to assign 100+ students individual internships for a whole week. And so far, at least in my experience, it’s going well. All the people are nice and the work feels meaningful and enjoyable. After all, I’m writing this article about it!

What’s more, a quick inquiry of my fellow interns suggests that I’m not the only one enjoying my time at Jingkids and they’re all very excited for the rest of the week. “I’m really looking forward to having the opportunity to write about things that I’m interested in and passionate about,” says Charlie V. Likewise, San H. is looking forward to “being able to see what it really is like in the real world and how a media company like this really works.” “I’m excited about getting new experiences and opportunities in a real workplace environment,” says Claire K. And Amber K. says she’s most excited about “[learning]from people who already have careers in fields that I am interested in potentially pursuing.”

Really, the most important thing any student should get out of this week is a fun experience, one in which they enjoy the work that they do and take something meaningful away from it. Even if it’s something as small as finding a new and great Mexican restaurant down the street.

KEEP READING: Period Talk: According to Students, It’s About Bloody Time

Images: San Hofstede