Hello all! Week one of classes has successfully completed. It's been a little hectic because everyone is allowed to go to as many classes as they want ("shopping week") to better figure our which classes they want to take. A few of the most popular classes were definitely over-enrolled with close to 50 people attending last week. Yesterday at 5:00 they announced (they announce things by putting print-out on a white board- they think sending mass emails is too dangerous) who had been cut out of these classes to accommodate the 30 cap. Who gets cut and who stays in the classes are based solely on the order of signing up online- so if I happen to sign into the course registration page a few seconds earlier then I will be in the class and you won't. I don't think this is the best system, but it is definitely very Chinese. Master's students also get first preference because they have pretty stringent requirements for required courses. Many people are pretty upset about being cut out of classes they wanted to take, so we'll see what happens with that.
Well, I fortunately made it into both of the most sought after classes that I signed up for, so I am taking: Modern Sino-US relations, Anthropology and Chinese Studies, Social Issues of China's Modernization and Macroeconomics. I am also taking Environmental Economics, but will probably audit it if possible. Both the economics classes are taught by the same professor and are in English (yay!). It's very refreshing to go to classes in English and be able to understand everything and focus on the content of the material rather than trying to frantically translate and missing some of the meaning. I was also signed up for Chinese history after 1949, but it turns out there are between 100 and 300 pages of reading every week. In Chinese. I dropped that class. I'm not sure I ever had to do that much reading for one class in English. The professor sat we me at breakfast one morning and asked how I liked the class, etc. I said I enjoyed it, but there were a lot of readings. Then he said, Well isn't that why you came to China?
There are about 18 or so Chinese faculty who each teach one class, and seven international faculty who each teach two classes. Most of the Chinese faculty speak some or a lot of English, but none of the international faculty speak Chinese at all, which, I guess, is an advantage for me as an English speaker with Chinese professors. On the other hand, I think for the most part the Chinese students have better English than the international students' Chinese, mostly because they have been studying English a lot longer than we have been studying Chinese. I think they have more stringent admission requirements as well.
Well, I must do some reading now...toodles.
Happy Birthday Lizzie! And Anna!
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Something fishy
Fun story: I just got back from 沃尔玛 (walmart) after successfully finding a few school supplies. While waiting in line I put my basket in the pile of baskets, which was very precariously balanced, and being one who likes to make things orderly I tried to straighten the pile up so the baskets all fit together nicely. However the bottom basket just wouldn't fit so I lifted up the whole pile to try to fix the problem. And then I discovered that the reason it didn't fit was because there was a large fish in the bottom basket. Yes, an entire fish about a foot long sitting in the basket. And then I wondered how long has this fish been here and how long will it sit here until someone starts smelling it and removes it? Ahhh, China. Most large stores have curious piles of abandoned items at the cash register- items that people have decided not to buy right before then pay. Often times there are bags of food or vegetables just left there to wilt, looking sad and uneaten.
Aside from that we've mostly been attending orientation sessions about things like how to sign up for classes online (we need a 2 hour session to explain this because it is evidently very complicated), and how to do a fire drill. The American (international) faculty also introduced all of their classes today, which was nice partly because it was all in English and partly because all of the classes sound really interesting and the faculty as a whole are a very impressive group. I think at least two were involved in writing constitutions for countries such as Kosovo and Albania. I wish I could take more than one class in English.
The fire safety session was fun also: a man from the Nanjing fire department came and spoke about the dangers of fire and showed us multiple video clips of fire disasters that have happened in the past. He was very difficult to understand due to a thick accent, but he did suggest that if we need to jump out of a window we should use an umbrella- Mary Poppins style. After the talking part we did a fire drill and about a dozen soldier-y looking guys came to administer the drill. We all went outside like a normal fire drill, but then they lit a pile of wood and newspaper on fire and had brought put about thirty or forty fire extinguishers for us to practice putting out the fire. The fire went out almost immediately, but they advised us to keep spraying until the stuff in the extinguishers was all gone. When we left there was a small pond of while liquid in the courtyard. Great use of resources.
I finally got a tour of the library as well. It is very nice and new and shiny looking and has many, many books in Chinese and in English and also subscribes to a number of English language magazines and newspapers. There is a wonderful terrace on the fifth floor with benches and tables and nice plants and a nice view of the city. It looks like a good place to study when it doesn't feel like one is swimming when outside.
I am very happy to report that we have access to very modern washing machines and dryers (!), which is a relief in this fog-like humidity. Nothing seems to ever, ever dry here. And it only costs 3RMB for each machine. 好便宜!
Well, we're off the the public security bureau tomorrow morning bright and early to get residence permits, so that's all for now.
Aside from that we've mostly been attending orientation sessions about things like how to sign up for classes online (we need a 2 hour session to explain this because it is evidently very complicated), and how to do a fire drill. The American (international) faculty also introduced all of their classes today, which was nice partly because it was all in English and partly because all of the classes sound really interesting and the faculty as a whole are a very impressive group. I think at least two were involved in writing constitutions for countries such as Kosovo and Albania. I wish I could take more than one class in English.
The fire safety session was fun also: a man from the Nanjing fire department came and spoke about the dangers of fire and showed us multiple video clips of fire disasters that have happened in the past. He was very difficult to understand due to a thick accent, but he did suggest that if we need to jump out of a window we should use an umbrella- Mary Poppins style. After the talking part we did a fire drill and about a dozen soldier-y looking guys came to administer the drill. We all went outside like a normal fire drill, but then they lit a pile of wood and newspaper on fire and had brought put about thirty or forty fire extinguishers for us to practice putting out the fire. The fire went out almost immediately, but they advised us to keep spraying until the stuff in the extinguishers was all gone. When we left there was a small pond of while liquid in the courtyard. Great use of resources.
I finally got a tour of the library as well. It is very nice and new and shiny looking and has many, many books in Chinese and in English and also subscribes to a number of English language magazines and newspapers. There is a wonderful terrace on the fifth floor with benches and tables and nice plants and a nice view of the city. It looks like a good place to study when it doesn't feel like one is swimming when outside.
I am very happy to report that we have access to very modern washing machines and dryers (!), which is a relief in this fog-like humidity. Nothing seems to ever, ever dry here. And it only costs 3RMB for each machine. 好便宜!
Well, we're off the the public security bureau tomorrow morning bright and early to get residence permits, so that's all for now.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Week One in Nanjing
Hello all! I've decided to continue this blog to keep everyone updated to my adventures (and misadventures) over here in China. I will be doing a one year program at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center taking classes in Chinese history, economics, etc. I arrived in Nanjing on Saturday night after a very long and arduous trip that included three different plane flights (Boston to New York, New York to Beijing and finally Beijing to Nanjing). The second, from JFK to Beijing, was on a plane with two levels- first class and business class on the top level and everyone else on the bottom level. And although my ticket led me to believe that the flight from JFK to Nanjing was direct, it was, in fact, not. Upon arriving in Beijing three of us on the flight were continuing on to Nanjing and a woman was waiting to bring us to that flight. It turns out that the flight into Beijing arrived late, so we had to rush through the airport, which was almost completely empty at this late hour, to make it to the flight to Nanjing, which was already boarded an waiting for the three of us. Anyway, it was a long journey that finally ended at about midnight China time.
The Center (as it is called) is located in downtown Nanjing at the corner of two major roads and prominently labeled. It's on the campus of Nanjing University, which I'm told is one of the best universities in China and enrolls around 50,000 students. Right now, it seems like a dauntingly large campus, but it's very pretty and I will post pictures once I have them. The Center has a few buildings of its own- a dormitory building and a very large building of classrooms, offices and faculty apartments. The larger building is newly built and mostly glass on the outside. There is a nice courtyard between the two buildings with a lily pond and koi fish. There are also assorted rooftop terraces throughout the buildings.
Overall, my first impressions of Nanjing are that it is a more manageable size at 3 million people than Beijing at 12 million people. There is also lots of vegetation, which appreciate, and blue-ish skies with real clouds. Nanjing is known as one of the four furnaces of China because of its hot, humid weather during the summer. Indeed, we were told that this summer has been one of the most humid on recent memory, and let me tell you it is very, very humid. Our dorm rooms are air conditioned, but that only seems to make it cold and damp and not remove any of the humidity. The pages of my books have all warped and our bathroom floor seems to be in a constant state of slippery wetness. I'm unclear whether this will change in the near future.
My room is fairly small, with a bed, a desk and shelf complex, a wardrobe like thing built into the wall, and a bathroom. It does have two very large windows that have a nice view onto the road below. My roommate is Chinese and funnily enough went to the Capital University of Economics and Business, where my abroad program was located last year. It seems that there are a fair amount of students who went there on this program.
The first week of our time here is orientation to the Center and classes and Nanjing in general. Yesterday we spent almost the whole day listening to talks about the Center and the computer network and other aspects of life here. About half was in English and half in Chinese. My Chinese abilities are certainly not what they were when I left China last time and I think the first few weeks of classes will be very difficult...we'll see.
Well, it seems to be breakfast time, so I'll sign off now. The cafeteria in the Center serves all three meals a day, but at very restricted times (11:20-12:15 for lunch), so one must be proactive in getting there on time. But, the upside is it that it is extremely cheap. My breakfast yesterday, which was a cup of soy milk, a steamed bun and a bowl of rice porridge was 1.6 RMB or about 25 cents. Lunch was 3 RMB. yum yum.
One of the city gates in Xuanwu Lake park
The Center (as it is called) is located in downtown Nanjing at the corner of two major roads and prominently labeled. It's on the campus of Nanjing University, which I'm told is one of the best universities in China and enrolls around 50,000 students. Right now, it seems like a dauntingly large campus, but it's very pretty and I will post pictures once I have them. The Center has a few buildings of its own- a dormitory building and a very large building of classrooms, offices and faculty apartments. The larger building is newly built and mostly glass on the outside. There is a nice courtyard between the two buildings with a lily pond and koi fish. There are also assorted rooftop terraces throughout the buildings.
Overall, my first impressions of Nanjing are that it is a more manageable size at 3 million people than Beijing at 12 million people. There is also lots of vegetation, which appreciate, and blue-ish skies with real clouds. Nanjing is known as one of the four furnaces of China because of its hot, humid weather during the summer. Indeed, we were told that this summer has been one of the most humid on recent memory, and let me tell you it is very, very humid. Our dorm rooms are air conditioned, but that only seems to make it cold and damp and not remove any of the humidity. The pages of my books have all warped and our bathroom floor seems to be in a constant state of slippery wetness. I'm unclear whether this will change in the near future.
My room is fairly small, with a bed, a desk and shelf complex, a wardrobe like thing built into the wall, and a bathroom. It does have two very large windows that have a nice view onto the road below. My roommate is Chinese and funnily enough went to the Capital University of Economics and Business, where my abroad program was located last year. It seems that there are a fair amount of students who went there on this program.
The first week of our time here is orientation to the Center and classes and Nanjing in general. Yesterday we spent almost the whole day listening to talks about the Center and the computer network and other aspects of life here. About half was in English and half in Chinese. My Chinese abilities are certainly not what they were when I left China last time and I think the first few weeks of classes will be very difficult...we'll see.
Well, it seems to be breakfast time, so I'll sign off now. The cafeteria in the Center serves all three meals a day, but at very restricted times (11:20-12:15 for lunch), so one must be proactive in getting there on time. But, the upside is it that it is extremely cheap. My breakfast yesterday, which was a cup of soy milk, a steamed bun and a bowl of rice porridge was 1.6 RMB or about 25 cents. Lunch was 3 RMB. yum yum.
One of the city gates in Xuanwu Lake park
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)