The first week of school is finally over!!!!! Yay :D
When I first found out that classes are only once a week, I was super happy. Then I got worried but I realized that each class was going to be three hours long and I knew I could never focus for that long. The good thing was that there are two 15 min. breaks after 50 min. of class time. Guanghua tower (the tallest building in Fudan) is the building where most students go for classes. Guanghua tower has a secret hidden elevator where it can take you to a M floor. This M floor is supposedly fire proof and the floor looks like it is an unfinished construction wall site. The elevator is hard to find on the first floor because it is hidden behind a fire escape door. If you are on any floor beside the first, you can find it easily as it is right across the bathrooms. All my classes are in Guanghua tower except for two classes which are in Teaching building No. 6. Teaching building No. 6 is in the southern parts are Fudan University so you basically walk straight down since dorms are in the northern part of Fudan. Beware, the bathrooms in building 6 does not have an actual toilet so you have to squat. Guanghua tower has an actual toilet so that building is better. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: My friends that are dorming in Unijia (another dorm on campus that is supposedly "New") sucks. Some people told me that the living condition in Unijia is not for living humans. There is no hot water, the walls and bathroom have molds, and the internet connection is only at you doorstep if you bought internet. I heard some students from Unijia is forming a rally to improve the condition since it is more expensive to live there than the dorms and because Fudan was advertising Unijia. Friday was the day of the scavenger hunt. We formed a team of four and wondered around campus. We took pictures with statues that was around campus to earn extra points but is wasn't necessary since my group was the first to arrive at the final destination. Each of us got a cup with "Fudan University" on it and a red envelope. Later that same day, I got to make dumplings and eat it for free. It was really fun and I made friends with some Korean who came to Shanghai to study Chinese.
Saturday and Sunday was Ice Breaking days. On Saturday, my buddy went to the event too because he didn't have work so he could come. We got to learn a little more about each other. He asked me how I got into this University if I didn't take the HSK(it is like the SAT or ACT). Apparently, international students are suppose to know a certain amount of Chinese in order to study at Fudan. Maybe because I was an Exchange student that I didn't have to take the HSK but I told him I didn't take one. On Sunday, I got to do paper cutting and tie a Chinese Knot. They also gave us a snack and a bookmarker to remember. The paper cutting was easy since you just follow the line. The knot tying was very hard at the beginning but I got the hang of it and my knot came out better than others. Although the events were fun and exploring China for the first time was great, I was kind of frustrated during the week that I was in Shanghai. I think my frustration was because I could not understand some phrases when people are talking to me in Mandarin. At 9:00 a.m., there was a presentation on how to use Alipay, Taobao (shopping), Wechat, Didi (taxi), Meituan (food), Ofo (bike), and Baidu (map). They went over the basics stuff on how to make an account, how to link your card to the account, and how to use the app. Alipay is similar to Wechat pay. You can use both apps to pay for items that you want but Alipay is more used for Utility bills and Taobao. Taobao is part of the same company as Alipay therefore will only accept Alipay when you are buying items. Wechat is more convenient when you are out shopping in person. With Wechat, you can meet new people, see what others are doing, transfer money, etc. Wechat also has Didi and Meituan in it if you do not want to download the actual app. Meituan is an app like yelp but you can order take out food and get it deliver at a cheap price. Majority of the time, you will also get a discount when you order a lot of food from the same store. I felt sorry for the delivery guy because the deliver fee was maybe 3 or 4RMB and it was raining the day I ordered take out. The delivery system is amazing though because the actual delivery time is always shorter than the estimated deliver time. There was once where I got a free 2 Liter Sprite for free because our total order bill was over 100RMB. Ofo is a bike app like Biki in Hawaii. For Ofo, you first have to make an account, make a safety deposit of 199RMB (you will get it back when you leave China), and put money on your account to ride the bike. The bike is yellow like the app. You can find the bike anywhere that allows the bike to be parked so basically everywhere. To ride the bike, you scan the QR code on the bike, receive a pin on your phone, punch it in, it will unlock, and then you can just start riding to your destination. I don't know if there is a plan or not but it will only cost you 1RMB per hour. Today is the day where I got my Campus Card (ID Card). First, I had to go to building 10 to take a picture for the ID card and then go to building 77 to get the actual ID card. The people that were taking picture that me that you do not have to take a picture here to put on your ID, you can also give them a picture to use for your ID with a USB. I think the background for the ID picture has to be a solid single color. It seems that the card cost 20RMB but the worker doing ID saw that our student ID number started with 1534 so it was free. Remember to bring your admission notice paper and your passport when getting your ID card. This card is used when you need to use the library and getting food at the cafeteria. The office is only open on Wednesdays so there might be a long line.
To load money on the card, you can do wechat pay by adding "fduxxb" on wechat. There are pictures on the bottom showing how to reload your card with wechat because I can't type the chinese character. After wechat sends you a conformation notice that you have paid Fudan, you will have to go a machine in the cafeteria and accept the money that you were trying to put in your card. It is the second app on the machine. The first lunch i got at school was really good and it only cost me 6.8 RMB. Today is officially the Orientation presented by a new coordinator of Foreign Student Affair, Amy. Lucy (the old coordinated) had left with a new replacement. Amy went over many important things that was already in the attachment in the email that was sent out before coming to China.
Registering your visa is done when you are first checked into the dorms. They will ask for your passport to check you in. The second step is to make your payments for dorm, electricity, and water. You pay the full amount of money for the dorms online like how you pay the down deposit. The third step is to pay for you mandatory insurance of 400RMB. The last step of changing your visa only applies to you if you are studying at China for a year because those students were issued a X1 visa that allows one entry for a period of 30 days and they have to change it to resident visa. Today was also a day were Fudan students organized another presentation but this time, it was about different attraction and food all over China. We also played a telephone game for prizes. Today is the first day of Orientation week. The students at Fudan planned events that would help international students get used to China and how to survive. Todays event was "Learning about Fudan History" and "Exploring Shanghai". At the Fudan History Museum, I learned that Fudan went through many hardships to keep the school running from troubling principal to not enough funding for school. The museum also showed us who was their first female principal, their first female graduate, and how Fudan became Fudan. I also took a picture with Fudan first gate.
The second event happened later that same day at 19:30. Exploring Shanghai was showing us location of famous tourist destination and how to get there. They also showed us some chinese snacks and gave us some sample on them too. My flight to Shanghai was at 20:50 and I arrived at Shanghai at 23:15. By the time I got out of the airport, it was 23:50. My friends and I have booked a hotel that was a 25 minute car ride because that hotel would pick us up from the airport for free and we were scared to take a taxi straight to school at midnight. We stayed the night at the hotel and went to check into our dormitory the next day at 13:30.
In order to check into the dormitory, you will need your admission notice paper and your passport. There was a guy that helped me fill in the paperwork since I could not read chinese. You will look over the paper work to see if it is correct and then sign a contract for the dorm. You are required to give 200RMB as a down payment for the dorm. If you have a single room, you have to pay an extra 100RMB for electricity and water and keep reloading your electricity card to get electricity. For double room, if you check in first before your roommate, you will pay first for the electricity and your dorm mate will pay next when there is no more electricity. After paying everything, you can go to your dorm and settle down. They said orientation week will tell you what to do next about paying for dorms, getting ID, etc. Today, my aunty and her family went to Shaoguan, Zhongshan to pray. The car ride to Shaoguan take three hours from Guangdong. When we got to the temple, if was really crowded. It cost 15RMB to get in and there was some rules when inside. The temple was huge, lots of different Buddha all around, donation boxes everywhere, lanterns to hang your prayers, and a dragon to touch for good luck.
IMPORTANT FACT: It is nice to take pictures of amazing things but DO NOT TAKE A SELFIE WITH BUDDHA. It is consider "bad/rude". It is okay to take a pictures of the temple, buddha, and its surrounding but do not take a selfie with buddha. You probably won't get scolded but you will get some looks. In order to open a bank account in china, you will need your passport and a China's phone number. For the sims card, I went to "China Mobile" to get a number and pick a plan. I chose a plan that would allow me to make calls because T-Mobile lets me have unlimited messaging and unlimited 2G of data. My phone (One plus 5T) lets me have two sims cards in it so it really helps me a lot. My plan cost me 58rmb which includes 100 minutes of calling a month. They also give an extra 50 minutes of calling and they give a discount of 20rmb for 12 months for the plan. You will need your passport to buy a sim and get a phone plan.
For the bank account, The only bank that I found that would allow a student with an X2 visa is China Construction Bank. Try go with a person that can help you out with the process because the person opening the account for you might not be able you if you do not know any Chinese. I was lucky enough to go with my aunty and get her help to open an account. P.S. In china, receiving messages are FREE. You will only get charged when you send a message. |
|