First of all, I want to
apologize for the late post. For some reason, I couldn’t get the VPN to work so
I couldn’t get on my blog page. Now it’s working again, so here goes my second
post in Shanghai.
Tip 1: Yes, some
websites don’t work in China without a VPN because of the censorship. Thankfully,
USC students can use the school’s VPN for free. Just search for VPN on USC’s
website and you’ll be able to download it! (If it doesn’t work on the first
time, try a few more times because that’s what I had to do.)
It’s already been a
month since I arrived in Shanghai. Shanghai is very lively and interesting, and
it makes me sad that I’m only here for one semester. Although I have so much to
share about the city, I’m going to leave that for the next blog and first tell
you about how the school’s going for me.
Now that I’m free from
being stressed out about course registration, I am appreciating how big and
nice the campus is. Four of my classes are in the building called Guanghua—precisely
it’s two tall towers linked together. It’s one of the newest buildings on
campus where many foreign exchange students have their classes. It’s about a fifteen
minute walk from the international student dorms, which is located in the
farthest north side of the campus.
 |
| The massive Guanghua Building |
The statue of Mao on campus.
There are cats everywhere on the campus.
On Mondays I have two
classes on the southern campus, and it takes me about 20-25 minutes by walking.
Unlike Guanghua, other “teaching buildings” are pretty old looking. Especially
the restrooms are very old and traditional. Although I’m from Korea and was
used to squat toilets, these buildings took it to a whole new level and made it
one long connected squat toilet. My Chinese friend said even she has only seen these
kinds in really rural areas.
Just in case you were having a hard time picturing it.
Most students ride
their bikes to class and many students also have electric scooters. I don’t
have a bike or an electric scooter but I like riding in the back of them. The
bikes have a “back seat” so lots of people bike around with another person
sitting in the back. Since there are so many population riding bikes and
scooters, you need to be very careful to not get hit by one.
Tip 2: If you are
going to purchase a bike, it is better to get a secondhand one, because bikes
get stolen very often. It is also good to get at least two locks.
All my classes are
taught in English, and I am mostly satisfied with them. Many of my classes are
in the late evening though, and all except my Chinese class are taught only
once a week, so the classes go on for 2 or 3 hours. It’s weird being in class
until 8 or 9pm, but I guess that’s better than having 8am classes.
Although most of my
classes have only a handful of—or sometimes none—Chinese students, my
Organizational Behavior course has about 80 Chinese students. It all depends on
the subject and whether it is a required course for them or not. Even if there
are not many Chinese students in class, it is interesting to hear their
perspectives on some of the issues that come up during class. Also, since Fudan
receives exchange students from varies countries, you get to be in an extremely
internationalized classroom, sharing ideas and thoughts with students from all
over the world. It’s an awesome experience that you can’t easily get in South
Carolina.
One thing I want to
say before I move on: be prepared for some frustration. I have to admit, the
first few weeks here was quite…challenging. I didn’t like the fact that I had
so little information about how the school system worked here. There was an
orientation for business exchange students but it was held in the second week
of school. The class registration process was very difficult because of some
technological issues and because I could not get in contact with my advisor at
USC during the registration period.
Nevertheless, it is
important to remember that you need to be on top of things, making sure you get
all the information you need. Don’t be hesitant to ask questions to the
coordinator at Fudan and to offices at USC, and if they can’t help, ask other
students until you get all the answers you need. You’re expected to find out
and solve lots of things on your own. Although the idea can be scary, it’s all
part of the study abroad experience. If you just ask the right questions to the
right people, you will be able to get all the info and help you need. (I hope I
didn’t sound too preachy there.)
Tip 3: Fudan
University (and probably most other Chinese colleges) has a two-week add/drop
period at the beginning of the semester. That’s when the professors don’t take
attendance and you can try as many classes as you want.
Outside of class, I
have joined two student organizations. One is the school’s international relations
organization which I signed up for on the student organization recruiting day.
I met a good Chinese-Korean friend named Haewol through the organization. I
also joined a Korean Marketing organization, which is a small organization made
up of Korean students from all over Shanghai. One benefit from participating in
this organization is that I get to travel farther away from Fudan because the
meetings are held outside of the school’s district. There are lots of other
opportunities open to foreign students if you just look for them. Usually
Chinese students are very motivated to learn English, so they would be glad to
have English speakers join their clubs.
I'm going to end this post with my favorite drink ever: Coco milk tea with pearl jelly. It's so good I drink it almost every day. I'll be back with more
stories about my life in Shanghai!
