The BLCU Blog

BLCU Q&A: Nut Allergies, Mobile Phones, Internet Restrictions

2012-03-29T01:56:00.000+01:00

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BLCU Q&A: Social Life On And Off Campus

2012-03-27T01:32:00.004+01:00

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BLCU Q&A: Daily Budget

2012-03-27T01:12:00.001+01:00

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BLCU Q&A: Are Other Universities Just As Good?

2012-03-27T00:44:00.003+01:00

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BLCU Q&A: Various Topics 1

2012-03-26T01:37:00.000+01:00

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BLCU Q&A: Arriving After Midnight

2012-03-25T20:08:00.000+01:00

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BLCU Q&A: Where To Book A Double Room?

2012-03-25T19:14:00.000+01:00

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BLCU Q&A: Do Classes Fill Up Quickly?

2012-03-25T18:45:00.001+01:00

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BLCU Q&A: Waiting On Admission Letters

2012-03-25T18:05:00.000+01:00

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Buying Fruit And Vegetables At BLCU

2011-11-21T11:51:00.000Z

Whether you're someone who eats out all the time or prefers to cook your own meals in the kitchen, this post might be of interest. If you're considering coming to study Chinese at the Beijing Language and Culture University, gathering as many tips beforehand is always a good idea - and that's what this blog aims to help you with.

I've already mentioned in previous posts that the on-campus accommodation comes with communal kitchens which allow you to do your own cooking. As such, the question inevitably arises: where should I buy fresh fruit and veg from?

Now, before even arriving in at BLCU, you will know the answer.

Image source

BLCU students are spoiled in that the best place to buy fresh fruit and vegetables is actually at the on-campus market just north of Dorm 17. This is on the west of campus and easy enough to find.

The market I'm talking about is fairly small and on the left side of the road, with a few independent stalls inside. Until 2011 it was located a little further along near the travel agency and bicycle repairs, but has since moved to this new location. Older students of BLCU will remember what I'm referring to.

The prices here are just as good as anywhere you will find off-campus and so is the selection. There is no need to haggle as they are not out to trick students - they want your long-term business. For all these reasons along with the convenience of it being on campus, I would recommend you buy your fresh fruit and veg here.

Closer to Dorm 17 and on the opposite side of the road is very small shop which sells fresh fruit all year round. I personally used to buy from here quite a lot and became a recognizable face to the owners who are very nice men (two brothers, I believe). In the end, though, I bought more from the larger stalls that I've already talked about because they were generally a tiny bit cheaper and also sold all the vegetables I needed.

One good thing about this small fruit shop is that during the summer months they sell baby coconuts cut open with straws in them to drink the milk through. I don't remember seeing the bigger market selling these, so perhaps that's on advantage this place has to offer. Of course, it may have changed by now, but something to consider all the same.

Take a look at both these places for yourself and then make up your own mind. It may be that the prices are almost the same and you prefer the look of the fruit at the smaller shop the the vegetables at the bigger market. Whatever the case, it's nice to know that you're not paying higher prices just because it's on the BLCU campus, so you can have some peace of mind in that regard!

Why not to buy fruit and vegetables at supermarkets

I would generally advise you to avoid buying fruit and vegetables from supermarkets. Why? Basically because they aren't as fresh and are kept on the shelf for longer. Also, the prices are typically quite a bit higher.

My recommendation would be that if you can get to an outdoor market instead of a supermarket, go for it.

Some people may feel that the hygiene standards are better in supermarkets and I would generally agree. But when it comes to fruit and veg I really never noticed any difference. In my one year stay at BLCU I never had a problem with the produce from the outdoor markets and doubt you will either. In both cases, you should still be washing it all before consuming.

This, then, is the short post on the issue of where to buy fresh fruit and veg during your time at BLCU. Maybe I've not said all that much, but I hope I've at least given you a definite answer on the topic.

Where do you think is the best place to buy fruit and veg around BLCU? Would you agree with what I've said? Please leave your thoughts and questions in the comments section below and thanks for reading The BLCU Blog. Be sure to check back for the next post!

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Medicine You Should Take To BLCU

2011-11-20T12:19:00.000Z

If you're going to study Chinese at the Beijing Language and Culture University, it would be a good idea to take some basic medicine and other supplies for your first few weeks.

Note that most, if not all, of this stuff can be bought in Beijing and the Wudaokou area (around BLCU) but by having some already with you it will make the first few weeks easier. The last thing you want to do is get ill early on and then have to go searching round shops and using your non-existant Chinese (if you're just starting to learn the language) to find what you need.

In this post I've come up with a very small and basic list of what I consider the most important and obvious items to pack in your medicine bag before leaving to China. I hope it helps!

Image source

Anti-diarrhoea - It won't be long before you need to take some diarrhoea relief medicine once you arrive in Beijing. Food standards are just not as high as in the West (or where you're from) and even if you think you have a strong immune system chances are you'll suffer from some diarrhoea early on. This is particularly true if you plan to enjoy some street food, but it can also be the result of eating in restaurants. Tap water is another big cause of diarrhoea - even if you haven't drank any, vegetables can be washed in it and served to you.

Probiotics - These come in pill or powder form and are useful for replacing the good bacteria lost in your gut after having diarrhoea. It is really a very effective way of treating the symptoms and I recommend you get hold of some before coming to BLCU. The popular Yakult drinks are full of probiotics but the sugar content is extremely high, so if you can't get hold of pills you can always pick up some of these instead. I've seen them in Beijing supermarkets during my time there.

Ibuprofen - As everyone knows, these are powerful pain killers and anti-inflammatories that are good for general use. If you're suffering from a fever, sore throat, headache or any other flu symptoms, these are a good place to start. Again, having a pack or two in your medicine bag will just give you some peace of mind and mean you don't need to go out when you're feeling sick to buy some.

Anti-allergy - A lot of people can suffer from allergies in Beijing, particularly during the summer months. I'm assuming it's partly because of the pollen but probably also to do with the poor air quality and pollution, as well as dust and other factors. Having some allergy relief pills will be very useful if you're someone who regularly suffers from hay fever or any other allergic reactions.

Lip balm and moisturiser - Due to the extreme dryness of the Beijing climate, you will soon find your lips and skin extremely dry and cracking. Bring along your favourite creams and chap sticks from home and it will make your first few weeks there much more comfortable. You can always buy replacements after a while. I found the skin on my hands cracking a lot and particularly my lips became very dry - not pleasant at all.

Where to buy

At the start of the post I said you can buy everything I've listed here in Beijing - and you can.

In the U-Centre, which is a big shopping complex in Wudaokou just a 10 minute walk from BLCU, you can find a Watson's pharmacy. It sells most of the Western brands you will need in terms of medicine and toiletries. It's definitely a great place to know about for Western students.

I believe Watsons is on the second of third floor so just take the escalators up and it should be easy to spot. Prices are good and you won't be ripped off - they should be similar to what you pay back home. It's a reputable chain that's all over Hong Kong as well.

Alternatively, there's another Watson's store (or is it a Manning's?) at the Lotus Centre. To get there, follow the road past the U-Centre and under the Wudaokou subway station. Pass the crossroads, continuing in the same direction. On your left you will see the towering Huaqing Jiayuan apartment complex. Keep going to the end of this road.

When you eventually come to the end of the road, on your right and at the corner of an even bigger crossroads is the Lotus Centre. You can access the Watson's or Manning's store (sorry, not sure which one it is!) from outside without actually going into the main shopping centre.

You'll know you're in the right place because on the opposite side of the road is a McDonald's branch and over the crossroads to the west are the towering Microsoft and Cernet buildings. It should be easy enough to find.

So these are your two options for buying western medicines and toiletries in the Wudaokou area and the best place to go for BLCU students.

That's it for this post. I hope you've found it useful and take on board my recommendations before heading off to study Chinese in Beijing. Please share your thoughts on what you consider the most essential medicines and items are for a BLCU student's medicine bag in the comments section below. If you have any further questions, please let me know and I will get back to you with an answer.

As ever, thanks for reading The BLCU Blog and I look forward to seeing you in the next post!

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Medical Examination At BLCU

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Paid VPN Software For BLCU Students

2011-11-19T16:23:00.001Z

There's a number of reasons you might want to consider paying for VPN software during your time at the Beijing Language and Culture University. A VPN is a virtual private network that will allow you to bypass the firewall in China and access restricted sites such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter - to name just a few.

You simply sign up for the service on their website, download and install the software and you're good to go. It usually works on a monthly subscription basis.

I have also written a post that mentions free VPN software and websites, but the truth is that good free software is very hard to come by and the website options are usually quite slow as far as performance is concerned. It can also be risky for security reasons - a friend of mine said his Facebook password was compromised after logging in through the popular Vtunnel service.

Paid solutions

There are two paid VPN softwares I can recommend if you are considering this option as an alternative to the free services. Certainly by paying for a VPN you will not have to worry about security threats or account compromises. The connection speed will also be far superior.

1. proXPN

Click image for website

2. PureVPN

Click image for website

Blocked in China

Many of your favourite websites might currently be blocked in China. As I have already mentioned, social networking sites such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are completely blocked. You can check this article on Wikipedia for a full and updated list of the main websites.

The blocked list also includes Google Docs, Picasa, Technorati and Blogspot, as well as many others. Unfortunately this is not going to change any time soon.

Although I never bothered with paid VPN software during my time at BLCU, if I had had enough money to spare I probably would have as it makes a big difference to your online experience and ease of use if you're a person that uses the internet a lot.

Well, that's it for this post. What has your experience been of using the internet in China and at BLCU? Would you recommend a paid VPN to fellow students or not? Let me know in the comments section and be sure to ask any questions you may have. Thanks for reading The BLCU Blog and see you in the next post!

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Skype And BLCU

2011-11-19T13:39:00.000Z

I have little doubt that Skype is going to become your best friend soon after arriving at the Beijing Language and Culture University. A bit of homesickness is to be expected and natural, but you can make the transition into Beijing life that must smoother by having a live video connection with friends and family back home.

Most of the people I met at BLCU used Skype on a regular basis and I suggest that if you haven't already got it installed on your laptop before going, you make it a top priority to do so too.

Free video calling

You don't need someone like me to tell you what Skype is. Today everyone knows its name. The beauty of it is that, unlike a few years ago, you can now stay in touch with friends and family in your home country completely free of charge.

To save yourself buying expensive international calling cards at BLCU or, even worse, making international calls from a mobile, spend some time introducing Skype to your parents if they don't already use the software. Create an account for them and show them how to use it.

Once you have it all up and running, you'll only be the click of a 'call' button away. There's really no substitute for it.

International calling

If, for some reason, you can't get hold of your friends or family on Skype directly during your time at BLCU, you can still use it to place cheap international calls.

If you're going to go this route, it might also be worth checking local deals for international calling cards and mobile sims. I know on campus there are usually a few offers to be found. Compare the prices of these types of packages against the international rates for Skype.

Some countries are cheaper to call than others and mobiles are almost always more expensive (except in a few cases such as China and Hong Kong which are pretty much as cheap as landlines).

You can add credit to your Skype account easily using a credit or debit card and then make calls as you would normally from any phone.

Not everyone knows this, but Skype also do pay-monthly plans. For example, you can subscribe to the Unlimited United States or Unlimited UK and Ireland package for €4.99/month, just as an example. This gives you unlimited landline and mobile calls to those countries. Just search your country of choice and you'll be able to see the pay-monthly options.

Also, if you decide to study at BLCU for a full year and subscribe to a 12 month Skype plan to cover you for your time there, you'll get a 15% discount upon signing up.

So these are some of the reasons I would suggest you look into Skype before heading off to China - not just for the free Skype-to-Skype service but for some of the pay services too.

If you aren't already running Skype, I hope this post has opened your eyes to how it can help keep you in touch with your friends and family during your time at BLCU.

Do you have anything to add? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below and be sure to leave any questions you may have there too. Thanks for reading The BLCU Blog and I hope to see you in the next post!

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Learn Chinese From The Locals At BLCU

2011-11-18T22:00:00.000Z

I think it's vitally important for people going to study Chinese at the Beijing Language and Culture University to understand that their progress in the language will not just be defined by attending classes.

Speaking with the locals is key to your improvement while at BLCU, both in terms of listening and speaking skills, but particularly speaking. Don't waste this valuable opportunity to make huge strides in your Mandarin by not bothering or being too shy to interact with them.

From my experience, the locals will always be happy to speak Chinese with you and are very generous in their compliments of your ability in the language - even if your just starting out. It's a very encouraging experience!

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Listening

You may be going to class every day and listening to your teacher talk, but what you have to realise quickly is that he or she is talking to your level of Chinese learner. They are not talking as they would out on the streets or with their friends outside the classroom.

To get this real brutal exposure to the Chinese language as it is really spoken in Beijing, the best place to start is with the locals - especially the ones with the broad accents that are hard to follow. Being able to understand what they are saying will become invaluable.

As Chinese has so many different accents, it can be a massive challenge for learners to be able to follow what a local is saying in their thick tongue. Beijing accent is no different and understanding it takes time.

The teachers you encounter at BLCU will not have especially strong accents compared to the likes of taxi drivers and other Beijing workers. If your teacher is the only person you listen to speaking Chinese on a regular basis, chances are that when you go further afield from the university you'll be surprised at how little you understand of what the locals are talking about.

The point I'm making here is that you should spend as much time as possible interacting with Chinese people OUTSIDE the university campus. Learn the nuances of their accent and imitate it as best you can. This will be the real test for how well your Mandarin is coming along, and being able to pull off a strong Beijing accent is always impressive!

When I moved off-campus during the summer of my year stay there and rented an apartment privately, I found it incredibly difficult to understand what my landlord was saying. I had no one to help translate (except if I was really struggling I could call up a friend at the university) and so it just came down to getting by as best I could, but I think it helped my understanding of the Beijing accent a lot.

Beijingers speak very quickly and with a slightly different tongue positioning than speakers in the rest of China. The men particularly can be hard to understand because they often speak with more slurred pronunciation and deeper vocals that seem to make it even more difficult to pick out the individual syllables.

Whether it be with your landlord, taxi drivers, people at markets, waiters at restaurants, or whomever else you come into contact with on a daily basis, always listen actively and try to engage with what they're saying. Make it your goal to be able to understand everything they're saying and always ask for them to explain in simpler words if your unsure.

This real exposure will often be just as beneficial - if not more - as the time spent in class listening to your teacher. Don't just stay in your comfort zone all the time: push your limits and your listening skills will improve much faster.

Speaking

Being able to listen to a speaker in Chinese is all well and good, but can you hold a proper conversation with a local beyond the broken attempts at basic sentences and one word answers to questions? If not, you need to look at why.

The reason your listening is probably better than your speaking is because you don't engage with the language enough in terms of your own attempts at producing it. It's not just about remembering grammar and new vocabulary - you also have to get out there and use it!

If you are not speaking Chinese with the locals and native students on a daily basis, you are throwing away the most valuable part of studying somewhere like BLCU. If you're just finishing class and then hiding in your room for the rest of the day, or spending all your time with English speakers (or people who speak the same language as you), you're speaking level is NEVER going to improve!

As with any university, just doing the bare minimum (i.e. attending classes) in and of itself will not take you very far. Most of the strides I made in spoken Chinese during my time in Beijing were because I was open to speaking the language with others - regularly. I even had a few close friends there who barely spoke a word of English, forcing us to communicate in Chinese whenever we hung out. And I don't mean language partners, I mean genuin friends.

Having some Chinese-only speaking friends is a good tactic and I would definitely recommend it to learners of the language. It forces you to engage with it at a level that you might not if they also spoke your first language.

Make an active effort to reproduce the accent you hear in Beijing as you'll never be in such a rich environment for learning this 'classic' style of Chinese again. It's considered very pleasant on the ears by Chinese all over the country and really authentic Mandarin.

Lastly, when you're speaking with Chinese people, don't be afraid to make mistakes. Make a conscious effort to listen to how the locals use the grammar and structure of sentences and then attempt to reproduce it yourself - particularly in their presence so that they can correct you when necessary.

This will compliment your in-class studies greatly and making a habit of it will make you a far more competent speaker of the language, without just being able to listen!

Sometimes I really don't understand why people bother with tutors and, to an extent, language partners during their time at BLCU. You can get just as valuable practice by getting out into the hustle and bustle of Beijing and speaking with the locals. Doing it this way doesn't require you to pay for their time or exchange English conversation in return!

I hope you keep this in mind and make the best use of your time at BLCU!

What are your thoughts on taking this type of strategy? Wouldn't you agree that it produces results faster than any other way of learning the language? Thanks for reading The BLCU Blog and I look forward to seeing you in the next post!

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3 Bakeries Near BLCU

2011-11-12T18:55:00.000Z

In this post I'm going to look at three popular bakeries near the Beijing Language and Culture University. Each is slightly different from the next, but there are many similarities between them all.

For anyone that is missing some western style snacks from home, this is a good and cheap way of getting a bit of variety from the usual Chinese cuisine you may be used to living in Beijing.

All three bakeries are located in Wudaokou, only a short walk from BLCU. I hope you enjoy the post!

1. Golden Phoenix

Golden Phoenix bakery, Wudaokou

Golden Phoenix is located in Wudoakou. From BLCU, take a right out of the southwest gate and head towards the subway station. On your left you will pass the U-Centre and on your right is a cinema (which only shows Chinese movies, I believe).

Continue straight on and under the subway bridge. Here you will come to a crossroads which you should pass through. To your left is now the Hauqing Jiayuan apartment complex and at the end of this road on the same side you can find the Golden Pheonix bakery. Nearby is a Mcdonald's, so keep an eye out for that if you're not sure.

This is the cheapest bakery I came across during my time in Beijing. For example, you can buy a box of eight fresh croissants for only 10 RMB. If that's not good value, I don't know what is. Large baguettes are also only 6 RMB.

They sell a variety of western style snacks, both savoury and sweet. Then there are also Chinese style cakes (lots of cream and fruit). I would say the choice and variety is pretty good, probably better than some of the other bakeries in fact.

The downside to this bakery is that there is a very limited seating area (up some spiral stairs on the second level that overlooks the shop foor). It's more a place to take away from.

2. Tous Les Jours

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Take the same directions as I gave for Golden Phoenix bakery, but when you come to the crossroads past the Wudaokou subway station, you will see it sitting in a square to your right. There is also a KFC outlet nearby.

Tous Les Jours comes across as being slightly more up-market than Golden Phoenix, perhaps on the same level as Paris Baguette.

The inside of the bakery looks much more like a cafe, with a great seating area similar to something you might expect in a Starbucks or coffee shop. There is also free wireless internet so people come here to relax with a drink and snack and browse the web.

Prices are a little more expensive than Golden Phoenix but still within most student's budget. The selection is perhaps also a little smaller but the general quality of the food is very high.

The garlic baguettes are delicious here, though maybe closer to 10 RMB and smaller than the ones at Golden Phoenix. Nonetheless, I would recommend them.

Tous Les Jours is definitely a place to come and spend some time relaxing with friends, but equally good for anyone who just wants to grab a quick snack or drink to take away.

3. Paris Baguette

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In 2011, Paris Baguette moved from the west side of the U-Centre building to a more prominent position at the front. As such, it's very easy to spot.

Take a right out of BLCU's southwest gate and before even getting to the Wudaokou subway station you will see the towering U-Centre on your left.

Paris Baguette used to be a personal favourite because of the amazing little cheesecakes they sell. In fact, they're not really like cold-set cheesecakes, more like sponge, and come in a few different flavours, including plain, mango and chocolate. I think they're around 15 RMB but could be more as my memory is getting worse the longer I've been away from BLCU.

Like Tous Les Jours, Paris Baguette offers a good seating area and free wireless internet access. It's a nice environment to come with some friends, order a drink and a few snacks and just relax.

Here you can also buy really nice and well priced cinnamon buns, as well as a range of other sweet and savoury snacks. Again, like all bakeries you can also purchase big cakes for special occasions such as birthdays, though they can be pricey (easily over 100 RMB).

There is a good range of drinks, both hot and cold, including coffee and tea. I think you can even get bubble tea here and other popular sweet asian drinks. Sorry I can't remember specific details. I should have really written this post when I was still living in Beijing!

Other bakeries

There are a few other bakeries that I haven't mentioned so far in the BLCU area. One is by the chaoshifa supermarket on the southeast corner of campus (though obviously outside the university walls).

If you take a right turn out of the east gate you will soon come to a strip of restaurants on your right, including a Beijing Noodles outlet, a KFC and a popular student Japanese restaurant. There is also a Chinese pharmacy at the very end.

I think it's quite similar to Golden Phoenix in that there isn't any seating from what I remember. It's a good place to pick up some sliced western style bread in a variety of styles (wholegrain, white, etc.) and is in a convenient location being so close to campus.

Then there is also another bakery just in the car park opposite the U-Centre that I've already mentioned in Wudaokou. I can't remember if it's actually a Golden Phoenix chain or just a private bakery, but it's another good one to check out. Limited seating but good prices. Excellent pizza snacks with generous toppings.

Well, that's it for this post. Do you have any thoughts to add? What is your favourite bakery in the BLCU area? Have I missed anything out? Please leave your comments and questions in the comments section below. As always, thanks for reading The BLCU Blog and I hope to see you in the next post!

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Dorm 17 (International Student House), BLCU

2011-11-09T14:17:00.000Z

In this post I'm going to look at Dorm 17 on the Beijing Language and Culture University campus - also known as the International Students House.

It is the newest, most modern and by far the most popular student accommodation at BLCU (only completed in 2005).

According to its website, the building has a floor space of 28,000 square meters, 600 rooms and over 1,000 beds. Every year more than 3,000 international students stay here, hence the name.

I have put a lot of time into creating this post for the benefit of readers of this blog. I hope you find it useful and informative.

For Dorm 17's contact details see my BLCU Contacts page.

Image source

Where

Dorm 17 is located on the west side of the BLCU campus.

If you are standing at the south gate, perhaps after just being dropped off by taxi from the airport, head north along the road until you come to the crossroads in the centre of campus. Take a left here and continue along this road which heads west.

Initially on your left you will pass the new canteen buildings which tower over head and to your right you will see the BLCU library. These two buildings are just on the corner with the crossroads.

Passing them, you will now see the university sports ground to your right as well as the massive sports centre itself. It's quite an impressive building. On your left will be the tennis courts and statue of Confucius, the university's mascot, if you will.

Continuing along this road west, you will now see the basketball courts besides the tennis courts and over the road next to the sports centre are some badminton courts.

Before you come to the end of the road, several hundred yards west of the central crossroads we started at, you will notice a post office on the right and just next to it the Cernet building from which you can purchase Internet services for your room on campus (if you want unrestricted Internet access in China, consider the PureVPN or proXPN services. See my post about them here).

Having come all this way, you should have arrived at a new crossroads on the west of campus. This is also the west gate. Turn right (or north) on these crossroads and your will immediately see a set of big gates on your left, usually with a guard at the entrance point.

This is Dorm 17.

Costs

Like the Conference Centre (another popular student accommodation on the BLCU campus), the amount you pay for your room depends on the length of time you stay. Stay for longer and you will get a better rate.

If you are going to be studying at BLCU for a semester or more (20 weeks, 140 days) you will be able to secure the best room rate. Below I have set out the pricing scheme for both single and double (shared) rooms:

Single room: under 4 weeks (180 RMB per night); 4-6 weeks (140 RMB per night); 12 weeks (130 RMB per night); 20 weeks and above (120 RMB per night).

Double room: under 4 weeks (95 RMB per night); 4-6 weeks (75 RMB per night); 12 weeks (70 RMB per night); 20 weeks and above (65 RMB per night).

I believe you will be asked to pay down a deposit of one month's rent which you will get back at the time of leaving. Any damages incurred by you will be taken off this deposit.

You should pay for the entire time you plan to stay in one upfront payment to secure the best rate at the time of arriving. This will be expected and as far I know there is no option to 'pay as you go' for rooms.

Rooms

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The rooms in Dorm 17 are by far the best I have seen on campus. This is probably because it is the newest and most modern of all the student accommodation buildings.

The rooms are very large and spacious, well designed and nice on the eye. The light colour themes make them seem welcoming and clean. I would not hesitate to recommend Dorm 17 to any new comers to BLCU.

One thing you should know, however, is that for these very reasons Dorm 17 is notoriously difficult to get a room at. You may well have to book a good month or two in advance and even then the staff may tell you there are no free rooms at the current time. I also think they favour students already on campus over ones who are calling from other countries by phone.

I once called by phone and they told me there were no rooms available. As I was at BLCU at the time, I wondered over and spoke with the receptionist directly. She told me I there were in fact rooms available but that I should pay the deposit up front as soon as possible and that if I then changed my mind it was non-refundable. So they're not messing around.

South Korean agents are known to book out entire floors for their customers.

Now, with that bit of background information out the way, let's look at the rooms themselves in more detail.

All rooms have en-suit bathrooms of a nice standard certainly acceptable to western students. You will also have a single bed, spacious desk with nearby internet point, huge amount of wardrobe space (far superior to the Conference Centre), air conditioning units, refrigerator, television and telephone.

If you want to use the phone in your room, ask at reception. There will be some top up system or phone card you can purchase. It may well be, though, that to receive calls on it are free - even international calls (as is the case at the Conference Centre).

The flooring is done in tiles which keep it easy to clean and free of dust. It also gives to appearance of a lighter space.

I personally think Dorm 17 offer really excellent rooms.

Be warned, though, that the beds are quite hard and even 'uncomfortable' by western standards. This is definitely one area where the Conference Centre wins hands down, though all other dorms on campus have similar hard bedding. I think it's just the asian style, more of a liner than an actual mattress. It can take some getting used to.

College Perk Cafe

Image source

This is the western style cafe that is part of Dorm 17's ground floor. It sits just next to the lobby but must be accessed from round the front of the building (i.e. not accessible from within the lobby as such).

They offer similar food and drink to places like LaVita Cafe. If you want a coffee or slice of cake and are staying at Dorm 17, this may be a popular choice. It can get very busy during certain times of the day so if you're planning on coming here to do some study or meet up with a language partner or friends, it's best to get in early and secure some seats and a table.

College Perk is only a very small cafe, probably one of the smallest on campus, but is nonetheless popular. It has a cosy environment and offers both hard and soft (sofa) seating. The decor is well done and relaxing. I can see why a lot of people like to hang out here.

Shop

Image source

This is a small snack shop on the ground floor of Dorm 17, just to the left of the reception desk as you come in.

Here you can buy a variety of snacks, stationary, drinks and alcohol, as well as some other every day needs - you can even buy mobile phone credit which is always handy.

I believe it is the only place on campus where you can get hold of western alcohol such as vodka and whiskey, unlike most places that only stock beer and perhaps baijiu (China's answer to vodka, often around 50% proof).

So it's not a bad place to know about and very convenient for anyone living at Dorm 17.

Laundry

Image source

There are two laundry facilities available on each floor, one on each side of the building. To operate the machines you should find out from the reception what is required. It will probably be some kind of top-up card or coin system that you purchase in advance and is then compatible with the washing machines payment system.

Note that washing powder is not available in the laundry facilities and should be bought individually. The small shop on the ground floor may sell detergent, but I'm not sure. Otherwise, your best bet will be a local supermarket. The Friendship store on campus may also sell it, though I can't honestly remember.

You will probably be looking at 3-6 RMB per wash. The facilities are kept open from 7am-10pm every day.

Kitchens

Image source

As with laundry facilities, there are two kitchens on each floor, one on either side of the building.

Kitchen facilities are only very basic, offering hotplates, a microwave and sinks. If you want pots and pans, these will have to be purchased by yourself from locals supermarkets or shops. The same goes for crockery and other utensils.

I can say without doubt that Dorm 17's kitchens are the best on campus. Certainly compared to the Conference Centre's tiny room on floor 7, having two large kitchens per floor is very impressive. Other dorms will usually have one per floor, but probably not to the same high standard you will find here. This is a reflection of the fact that Dorm 17 is still BLCU's newest and most modern student accommodation building.

Internet

Note: if you want unrestricted Internet access in China, consider the PureVPN or proXPN services. See my post about them here.

College Perk Cafe on the ground floor provides a free wireless service that is not passworded. It can be reached from Dorm 17's lobby area by reception, though the signal is obviously strongest closer to the Cafe itself.

You may also be able to pick up some other random wifi connections in the area, but not all of them are unprotected (i.e. don't require a password). From my experience the wifi connections can be a little unreliable, especially around peak times when there are a lot of people using them. But you can't complain when it's free, right?

If you want internet in your room, this has to be arranged at the Cernet building on campus, just next to the post office that I mentioned in the 'where' section of this post. Packages start from around 60 RMB per month for limited usage and go up to around 150 RMB per month for unlimited usage. Frankly, it's not cheap at all.

Having never stayed at Dorm 17 myself, I can't comment on whether the free wifi signals in the area reach any of the lower floor rooms, but I suppose it's possible - I just wouldn't count on it.

You will often see people sitting in the lobby with their laptops, taking advantage of the wifi. The same goes for College Perk Cafe which is usually busy with internet users having a coffee and surfing the web.

So, here I'm going to end my post on Dorm 17. Now it's your turn - what do you think about it? Have you stayed here and would you recommend it to others? Any tips or suggestions that I've missed out on? Please leave any comments or questions in the comments section below and I will reply as soon as possible. As ever, thanks for reading The BLCU Blog and I hope to see you in the next post!

Related posts:

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The Conference Centre, BLCU

2011-11-04T20:45:00.000Z

In this post I'm going to talk about the Conference Centre on the Beijing Language and Culture University campus. I've spent several hours constructing this post and it's the result of the knowledge of four months spent living there.

I will look at where you can find the Conference Centre, what the costs of staying there are, what happens if you want to leave early but have already paid, the restaurant and breakfast buffet service, the cafe (called Nowhere Cafe), the rooms, kitchen and laundry facilities, the small shop on the ground floor as well as internet availability.

In my opinion, the Conference Centre is definitely one of the best places to stay at BLCU along with Dorm 17. I hope you find the information that follows useful and informative.

You can find contact details for the Conference Centre on my BLCU Contacts page.

The Conference Centre on the BLCU campus

Where

The Conference Centre is at the north of the BLCU campus and very central. If you are standing at the south gate (where the taxis will likely drop you off if you have just arrived from the airport) it's a short two minute walk straight ahead.

Continue north past the crossroads which marks the centre of campus. On the left you will notice the library building and on the right you will see the ICBC bank - the only proper bank on the BLCU campus, though there are a few ATM machines scattered about (for more info, see my Ultimate Guide To Banking At BLCU).

Immediately ahead, and at the northern-most part of campus, is the Conference Centre. Just to it's right is an ATM booth. The entrance should be easy to spot. The library building, which I mentioned, sits directly in front of it (note that the library can be conveniently accessed via a discrete back entrance and also one round the eastern side. These enter into a print shop and a snack shop respectively).

To the west of the Conference Centre - or to your left as you are facing it - is the university sports centre and sports ground. It's a huge building and hard to miss.

There is nothing further north of the Conference Centre, only the campus boundary marked by a high wall.

Costs

The amount each student pays the Conference Centre varies. This is because your room rate depends on the amount of time you book for.

If you are going to be staying for a whole semester, you will be entitled to the best single room rate of 120 RMB per night. However, the condition is that you pay up front for the full 120 days. I advise you do it this way.

If you are NOT going to be staying for four months or longer, you will be charged slightly more. When I was there in 2010-11, I believe the rate for students staying short term was about 135 RMB per night. The prices may have since gone up, but I doubt it.

However, even for shorter term students, I think you will still be expected to pay for the full duration of the stay. So, if you are staying for two months, you should pay two months up front at the time of your arrival and check in.

On the wall behind reception, there is a plaque with a price scheme which lists single rooms at around 165 RMB per night. If you are only staying for a few nights, you may be charged this higher rate. This is more for business people who are only passing through BLCU and will not affect most students.

Deposit: The Conference Centre will ask for one month's rent as a deposit. This is returned to you when you leave. If anything in the room is broken during your stay, damage costs will be taken off this deposit.

On the subject of your deposit, I believe that soon after you first arrive you will receive a checklist/inventory of furniture and other items in your room. If anything is already damaged, be sure to note it down so they don't wrongly assume it was your fault. In my case, there were no problems.

It's also worth pointing out that room rates include a daily buffet breakfast which I will talk about in the food section below.

Leaving early

It is possible to leave early and receive a refund for the remaining time you paid for. However, if you paid for four months and decide to leave early, the cheaper room rate will no longer be valid as you have broken the agreement.

In this case, you will be charged the slightly higher room rate that reflects the time you have stayed. In most cases, this will probably end up being in the region of 135 RMB instead of 120 RMB per night.

One thing to keep in mind, though, is that you should be sure to give them as much notice as possible before you leave. This gives them time to get your refund together and any other admin duties they will need to perform on their side.

I would suggest anything from a couple weeks onwards should be enough time for them. They will probably want to know an exact date, so try to make your mind up as soon as possible. This will also mean having new accommodation arrangements ready for when you leave.

If you say you are going to be leaving and then pull out at last minute, it's not a massive problem and you are still entitled to the room, but I doubt they will appreciate getting messed around and may not be so courteous if the situation arises again in the future.

Anyone who has been to BLCU will know that the staff at receptions can be difficult and rude if they don't like your attitude. This is true of all accommodation on the BLCU campus. They have to deal with hundreds of people and problems every day. The secret is to be very polite, patient and understanding. Getting angry at them won't get you very far - after all, you're the foreigner in THEIR country!

Restaurant and Breakfast

The Conference Centre has a restaurant on the ground floor which serves traditional Chinese cuisine. Prices are very decent and a group of people can often enjoy a big meal for a mere 30 RMB per head. The selection is very good.

The restaurant floor is spread over quite a big area though it quickly fills up at peak times. If you're not early, you'll most likely have to queue for seats. I recommend either going before it gets busy (around 11:30am) or otherwise towards the end of service (just after 2pm).

Tea is complimentary with meals or alternatively you can order soft drinks or beers from the menu.

I personally recommend trying the lamb dish with cumin and spices (very much in the vein of Xingjiang cuisine that you can experience at the Muslim restaurant on campus), the Peking duck which is very good value here, the sweet and sour eggplant which is exceptional on a good day, and of course the sweet and sour pork and fish.

Perhaps these recommendations says more about my personal taste than yours! Of course, there's also many other great dishes which you can try from the menu and I certainly recommend you be a bit experimental. If it looks good, give it a try!

I mentioned in the costs section that room rates include a daily buffet breakfast. This starts early (before 7am) but also finishes relatively early (around 8am). If you want to enjoy this inclusive breakfast, I suggest getting there as early as possible. Doing it this way will ensure you get the freshest food and also enough time to enjoy it before it starts getting too busy.

The breakfast buffet includes a variety of baozi (filled steamed buns), steamed bread, vegetables, boiled eggs, congee (Chinese porridge), some Chinese-style sweets, tea, coffee and hot milk. It's a fairly simple and limited selection but for most mornings it's more than welcomed - especially considering that it's worked into the room rate.

No other accommodation on campus offers this inclusive breakfast (or any breakfast service, for that matter) so in many ways students staying at the Conference Centre as spoiled! It's definitely an attractive perk.

Nowhere Cafe

This is a small western style cafe on the second floor of the Conference Centre that overlooks the main restaurant. It's a popular place for students that stay here to meet up with private Chinese tutors or language partners, and there's a bulletin board that is usually plastered with ads for such.

On the whole though, I wouldn't recommend Nowhere Cafe. Convenience aside, it's slightly more expensive (still cheap by western standards) than places like LaVita Cafe and frankly isn't as good.

One good thing is that it does offer wireless internet, but that can be connected to from the lobby downstairs. Unfortunately it doesn't reach the rooms.

The cafe is made up of three separate areas: a small inside section with a few tables and the service counter itself, then an area just outside the entrance that overlooks the Conference Centre restaurant below on the ground floor, and finally a completely separate seating area in a room of its own with some soft couches and tables.

You can find this separate seating area just in front of the 2nd floor lifts.

All the food you would expect on a western menu in China is available: pastas, salads, fries, sandwiches, sweets, etc. (no pizzas!). But as I already mentioned, I would definitely recommend LaVita Cafe over this place any day.

Rooms

There are only single rooms available at the Conference Centre. On the very top floor there are some sort of business suits, but these will be of no concern to you if you're a student. They are also a lot more expensive.

The Conference Centre, by it's very name, has facilities for conferences and as such there are sometimes events held there which mean guests and speakers. I assume it's with respect to these functions that the suits on the top floor have relevance.

Unfortunately I have no pictures, so I will do my best to describe the single rooms.

They are small rooms, no more than a few meters long by a few wide: enough to fit a single bed, desk, wardrobe, television, small fridge (under the TV) and telephone (on which you can receive international calls without charge).

All rooms have an en-suit bathroom consisting of a large mirror, sink, toilet and shower. I would say it comes up to a western standard (unlike the squat toilet facilities in teaching buildings) and is very acceptable for the price.

Showers are not built into separate cubicles but are instead open-plan with a shower curtain that can be pulled across to stop water splashing everywhere. That doesn't, however, stop the floor getting wet.

Toilet paper is provided but not on an unlimited basis. You will probably receive one roll per week. If you need more than that, you can buy them from the small shop downstairs or else from the local supermarkets and other campus shops.

Towels are not provided, but your bed sheets will be changed each week by the maids. Your room will also be cleaned on a weekly basis. All accommodation on campus have this service.

Beware: The maids will knock once and walk right in when on their cleaning rounds. They have keycards and so can access the room when you are out. If you don't want them to come in, shout through the door to alert them, preferably in Chinese, but they will probably get the idea in English as well. If in doubt, just say "no" or "bu yao" (don't want).

If you have denied the maids access to your room for whatever reason, sometimes they will try coming back later or else you may have to wait until the following week.

There is built-in air conditioning in all rooms. These can be controlled by a dial on the wall. However, they don't start pumping out cold air until the summer months. As such, you can sometimes be very hot and uncomfortable if the heat comes early in the year.

I don't know whether it's up to the building's management to control when the air conditioning system is turned on or if it's beyond their control. It seems to come on at the same time all across campus, if I remember correctly. This could point to it being controlled by the university rather than individual accommodation buildings.

Whatever the case, I remember the summer I was there it took a whole month of sweating in my room before it was finally turned on for everyone. I hope you don't have to go through the same discomfort!

The television has a range of channels but they are all in Chinese, except CCTV 9 which is an English state-run news channel. Sometimes it also includes educational documentaries, but only ones that the Chinese government want you to see! I think there may also be an international music channel.

The beds are comfortable and definitely the best mattresses on campus. At other accommodation you will find they supply the hard Chinese-style ones instead of the soft ones we have got used to in the west. For Asian students, this is probably not a problem.

Rooms are supplied with a kettle and cup, as well as an ashtray. I don't know of any rules against smoking in the rooms and certainly when I was there many people did it.

The desk is spacious enough to study comfortably on and the wardrobe big enough to keep most clothes you will bring with you or buy once there. Of course, there is shelf space as well as hanging space, though I can't remember if hangers are supplied or not. It may be that there are a few already there but you might need to pick some extra ones up from a local supermarket.

Well, I think that covers the room situation. If there's anything else you would like to know, leave a comment at the end and I will get back to you.

Kitchen

You can find a kitchen on the 7th floor. There should be one or two hotplates on which you can cook though there is no microwave. I would assume there is a sink, but I honestly can't remember.

Cooking equipment is not provided, but pots and pans can be picked up fairly cheaply at local supermarkets, as can all other kitchen utensils and crockery.

I don't believe students really use the kitchen at the Conference Centre that much as eating out is just so cheap for most people. However, for anyone that really likes to do their own cooking, the option is there.

Laundry

There are washing machines (upright) and tumble dryers on floors 4 and 6.

In order to use the machines you will need to ask reception for a laundry card. There may be a small deposit for this but it is very convenient and you will get it back once the card has been returned. Then it's just a case of topping up the card whenever you need to.

Note that any unused money on the laundry card will NOT be refunded!

I honestly can't remember exactly how much it costs to do a wash, but it's very cheap - probably in the region of 3-6 RMB. Washing powder is not supplied and the Conference Centre do not sell it so be sure to buy some at the supermarket.

I would guess that dryers are about the same cost. If I find out, I will update this section. Alternatively, if anyone reading this knows, please leave a comment and I will be very grateful!

Shop

There is a very basic stall on the ground floor opposite reception and by the elevators. It is run by a friendly Chinese man who stands there all day, every day. Only occasionally will you find him absent, usually because he's gone to get lunch or dinner.

Here you can buy snacks, drinks, ice creams, cigarettes, toilet roll, beer and alcohol, etc. If there's something very basic you need, chances are he might have it, though it's mainly for food. If not, I suggest going to the Friendship store near LaVita Cafe on campus.

The prices are very reasonable and it's certainly convenient for anyone who stays at the Conference Centre.

I would be very surprised if he's no longer there, but I suppose it's possible. Certainly in January 2011 he still was. If he's not, please let me know in the comments and I will remove this section.

Internet

The only wireless internet available at the Conference Centre is the one provided by Nowhere Cafe on the 2nd floor. It's not always the best or most reliable connection, but if you're patient it will usually work in the end.

If you want internet in your room, that's a whole other problem. To do this you have to go to the Cernet office on campus which is just next to the post office, opposite the basketball courts and by the west gate. There is a range of packages you can buy depending on your personal usage.

Cernet's unlimited internet package is about 120-150 RMB per month. Alternatively you can get cheaper packages with limited bandwidth, but it's still not THAT cheap, like you might expect in China.

In any case, that's for another post and not something I'm going to get into here!

So, I hope you've found this information useful. What has your experience been of staying at the Conference Centre on the BLCU campus? If you have any comments or further questions, please leave them in the comments section below. As always, thanks for reading The BLCU Blog and I hope to see you in the next post.

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Medical Examination At BLCU

2011-07-13T03:07:00.000+01:00

In this post I thought we could take a look at the medical examination you will probably have to do once you arrive at the Beijing Language and Culture University. It is a basic health check that every student is required to undergo, unless you have the results of a health check from your own country of origin that the Chinese government recognises.

An American friend of mine at BLCU had the tests done in the US before coming to Beijing so that he wouldn't have to do them there, but BLCU didn't recognise the certificates and he was required to retake the tests anyway. So keep this in mind if you are thinking along the same lines. Your health check certificates from home may not be accepted in China.

The medical for BLCU cost 600 RMB and was organised within the first week of term starting. Coaches would take a different group of students to a hospital about half an hour away each day at 14:00. You would be assigned which day you were going during the registration period.

Once at the hospital, the queues were quite long and when you eventually did get to to the front you were registered and told to get some paperwork signed at 6 different rooms. Each room performed different tests including blood tests, scans and so on. Waiting to be seen didn't take too long as normally there were only a few students ahead of you at each area.

When all your tests were done you could head back to the coach and wait for everyone else to finish. All in all it didn't take more than an hour or two and you were back at BLCU before long. I can't remember if you were issued your results straight away or whether the university got them a few days later. Either way, I still have my certificates bearing the all important official seal of approval from the Chinese government.

If it emerges that you have any serious illnesses, I believe it is grounds to refuse you entry to the course at BLCU and deport you back home. So it's something to be taken seriously.

Now let's take a quick look at the 3 test papers I received after completing the medical examination.

As you can see, this is some sort of scan, but I'm not sure what is shows. Is it a heart scan or something? Perhaps someone reading this who is studying medicine or works in the healthcare sector might be able to tell just by looking at it. Either way, I don't know, but it's one of two pieces of paper I got back from my tests.

The title of this page is "Physical Examination Record For Foreigner And The Personnel From Hong Kong Macao And Taiwan".

I have deliberately cut off the top section of this page as it shows personal information including full name, gender, date of birth, nationality, passport or ID no., and the school you are applying to (which in my case was BLCU). These details are all given in both English and Chinese.

As the image quality is not great, I will briefly run through what the various boxes show. In order, under the section titled "Medicine & Surgery", we have: height, weight, blood pressure, development, nutritional level, pulse rate, skin, lymph nodes, thyroid, head and neck, spine, extremities, heart, lungs, cardiovascular system, chest, abdomen, nervous system, and other. All my results show "no abnormal findings". I wonder why they didn't pick up on my asthma in the "lungs" section?

Under the section at the bottom titled "E.N.T" we have: uncorrected vision, corrected vision, hearing, colour sense, eyes, ears, nose, throat, tonsils, and other. Again, all the tests here show "no abnormal findings" except that they have picked up on my short-sightedness in uncorrected vision.

This is the back of the page we have just looked at above. We can see sections for chest x-ray, ECG, b-ultrasonic, laboratory test, and suggestions at the very bottom. You can also make out the official stamp of approval at the bottom right of the page, the doctor's name and date (March 10, 2010).

So this has been the little insight I've offered to readers of my blog regarding the medical examination done at BLCU when you first arrive. I hope you've found it useful or at least you now know what to expect. If you have any comments or further questions, please leave them in the comments section below. As always, thanks for reading The BLCU Blog and I hope to see you in the next post.

Medicine You Should Take To BLCU

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A Typical Day At BLCU

2011-07-12T02:53:00.000+01:00

In this post I want to give readers a window into a day at the Beijing Language and Culture University. Of course, each day is different and so is each student, but I will nonetheless recount a typical day for me when I studied at BLCU. This is a fairly large task and I will attempt to go into as much depth as I feel necessary to convey a true sense of the experience.

You should also read the guest post by my friend Ray So on An Introduction To Life At BLCU for his perspective of things. In it, he does a brief outline of one of his "typical days". For the sake of this post, I have split the day into morning, afternoon and evening.

A photo of the sun through the trees taken at BLCU

Mornings

We would wake up around 07:00 and prepare for the 4 hours of morning classes that start at 08:30 and finish at 12:30 (single semester students start and finish half an hour earlier). We would have breakfast and coffee at home in our apartment before setting off on the 10 minute or so bicycle ride into campus (see my Ultimate Guide To Bicycles At BLCU).

In the mornings the roads were very busy so we would take a route through the university just north of BLCU. This was the best way when coming from Hanting Jiayuan, our apartment complex at the time.

Entering BLCU through the east gate, we would park our bikes outside the north wing of Building 1 where our classroom was located. We always climbed the flights of stairs instead of taking the lifts as it saved time. Queues for the lifts were always busy at this time of morning and you could end up waiting a while to get in one. It was better not to be late.

If you are late for class it is disruptive to the lesson and disrespectful to the teacher. That's not to say we weren't late on our fair share of occasions, but we certainly made every effort not to be. As I mention in 5 Disadvantages Of Living Off-Campus At BLCU, our morning commute took longer than for those staying on campus.

4 hours of morning classes would be separated by a 5 minute break after the firs hour, then a 15 minute break after the second, and finally another 5 minute break after the third. Some mornings went quicker than others depending on the specific classes and teachers we had.

Actually, we only had two teachers at any one time. One was for speaking and listening and the other was for reading, writing and grammar. In the first term, our teacher for the former was very boring, however in our second term we got a much more interesting and experienced one. I never had any problems with our teacher for the latter subjects, who was also our main teacher in that we had her for the majority of the time in any given week.

Classes would usually start with a dictation of the previous day's words whereby students selected the previous day would come up to the board and write characters read out by the teacher. The rest of the class would also have to take part and write out the characters on sheets of paper.

People usually shied away from being chosen to come to the board for dictation, but it was a good way to test yourself under controlled conditions and with a bit of pressure to perform in front of the class. Of course, a lot of people did a horrible job because they hadn't learned the new vocabulary items the previous night (including myself on many occasions), but for those who took it seriously it was a good opportunity to see how much you could remember.

Revising for dictation was a time when using flashcards really helped me a lot (see my post on Building Good Study Habits At BLCU and 7 Study Tips For Success At BLCU to read more about using flashcards as a study aid).

Afternoons

After class, we would usually head to somewhere like LaVita Cafe for a coffee and sandwich or the Muslim restaurant on campus for some noodles and meat skewers. Alternatively, if we felt like cooking ourselves, we would go by the vegetable market on the north-west of campus, pick up some different things and head back to the apartment.

At home we would usually have some food in the fridge which we could also cook up with the vegetables to make a nice lunch. I talk about this as being a good option for vegetarians in my post Vegetarian Food At BLCU, as they might appreciate being able to cook their own fresh vegetables, whether it be in their apartment or in one of the kitchen areas provided at the on-campus accommodation.

With lunch taken care of, the afternoon is free. If you are doing the intensive course at BLCU you will have 2 more hours of classes starting at 14:00. Thankfully, that wasn't the case for us. 4 hours in the morning is honestly more than enough, no matter how hardcore you plan on studying Chinese.

In the afternoons I might head to the gym, we might watch a film bought from the DVD store under Redhouse in Wudaokou (I really should do a brief post on that) for only 9 RMB or so, we might go out into Beijing via the subway (see my post on How To Get A Transport Card At BLCU) to do some sightseeing or just to get out of the BLCU area for a while.

If we were really in a study mood or it was exam time, we might head to a Starbucks or another cafe around campus to get a bit of work done. The options were endless really and it's hard to say what a "typical afternoon" would consist of. It also very much depended on the time of year, as during winter when it's -20°C and windy you're certainly not going anywhere!

Of course, due to us living in an apartment, we would have to go grocery shopping on a regular basis. This would probably be done once or twice a week. So if we needed to make a trip out to the supermarket, such as the one under Wudaokou's U-Centre where Grandma's Kitchen is located (see my post on 5 Restaurants Near BLCU You Might Not Know About), the afternoons were the best time to do it.

Evenings

With the day coming to an end, dinner was a first priority. Again, we might go out to eat or cook in the apartment, but quite often we would go out due to how cheap food is in Beijing. Often eating out is just as cheap as cooking yourself, though possibly not as healthy, and it certainly saves on washing up!

The evening was really the time to start looking over the day's lesson and previewing the next one. Perhaps we would make up new flashcards for vocab items we would soon be learning or otherwise practice reading and translating the dialogues in the textbooks. This consistency towards our studies helped our Mandarin progress a lot in the long-term as I have already talked about in several other posts.

A lot of students choose to go out drinking and socialising at the various bars and clubs in the BLCU area (specifically Wudaokou) as the evening draws closer. I did this a lot too during the first semester but by the second time round I had began focusing more on my studies and as a result went out much less.

Instead I would see friends a bit during the day, maybe have a meal with some of them or chat at the gym (though I admittedly stopped going there as much too!). I'm not saying you have to become a social recluse to make strides in your Mandarin studies. In fact, the best way is to get out and talk with the locals as much as possible, whether that be in bars and clubs or anywhere else. This was just a lifestyle change I chose to make.

By 22:00 it was time to sleep and get stuff ready for the next day.

So has this given you an insight into a day at BLCU? Of course, this is just an example from my life, but nonetheless, I hope it's been of some interest. Can you sum up your typical day at BLCU? Please leave any comments or questions in the comments section below and thanks for reading The BLCU Blog. I hope to see you in the next post.

If you enjoyed this post, you can subscribe to The BLCU Blog for free updates. You can also follow us on Twitter and like our Facebook page. Thank you very much for your support!

5 Disadvantages Of Living Off-Campus At BLCU

2011-07-11T02:31:00.000+01:00

Having done the post on 5 Advantages Of Living Off-Campus At BLCU, this seemed like a natural follow up. So now I'm going to look at some of the disadvantages. Hopefully this will let you keep an open mind with regards to accommodation at the Beijing Language and Culture University and allow you make a more guided decision on where you want to stay.

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Rent must be negotiated

Unlike with accommodation on campus, when renting an apartment you're going to have to do some haggling to get the cheapest price. Lanlords are going to be aware that you're a foreigner and probably try to overcharge you a little initially.

However, there are also a lot of landlords who have been renting to foreigners in the BLCU area for years and would rather have a continuous income than an empty apartment as the result of overcharging. These landlords will offer you the best price from the beginning.

It's really just about having a look around the area first so you know what you can expect to pay. Also ask friends who rent off-campus what they pay. This way you won't get caught out when the landlord offers you a price and you're unsure about whether it's a good deal or not.

You will find that most landlords will be open to coming down in price a bit, especially if you make it clear from the beginning that you think what they're asking is unreasonable. Be quite pushy in your negotiating and threaten to walk away if they don't budge on the price. Then, if you don't get a call within a day or two it will be a sure sign that the price they offered was their lowest.

Agent fees

My experience was that most agencies will try to charge you one month's rent as an agent fee. However, when I told them I was unwilling to pay this and walked away to look elsewhere, they came after me with the offer to drop it altogether. So you should do the same.

There's no need to pay agency fees although they will make it look like it's not open to negotiation in the beginning. Don't fall for the trap. My system always worked and I've always told others to do the same. At the end of the day, they want your business.

Some agencies, on the other hand, will not ask for any fee. So just make sure you get this point clear before you even start wasting your time discussing and viewing potential apartments with them. If they will not budge on the matter, simply go elsewhere.

I dealt with A LOT of agencies during my time at BLCU and I know how they work. If you don't pay the fee, the landlord will instead.

This section on agent fees as well as the previous bit on negotiating your rent just goes to highlight some of the stress of the apartment hunt, so do be prepared for that but don't let it put you off. Having your own apartment is definitely worth it in the end, especially after you're been living in a tiny room on campus.

No room service

You've been living on campus and have got used to the room service every day. They make your bed, clean your bathroom and empty your trash. Well, if you move off-campus that's obviously going to change. You're going to have to do all the cleaning yourself unless you hire a cleaner (as a lot of people choose to do).

I think you can find cleaners for as little as 15-30 RMB per hour. Have them come round to your apartment once a week or so and give it a thorough clean. You will definitely have to do a bit of negotiating for a good price though as they will probably offer quite a high rate at first.

So although you won't be getting free room service, this way still works out very cheap while allowing you all the benefits of living off-campus. Is this really even a disadvantage? Hardly, but worth mentioning.

Wake up earlier

This point is certainly true. You will have to wake up quite a bit earlier to get to class at the same time as those living on campus.

Most apartment buildings will have a lot of floors and probably only two lifts servicing them all. Apartments at Furin Jiayuan near BLCU's east gate, for example, have almost 30 floors. As such, you can be waiting a while before the lift arrives, especially if it's at a busy time.

You will also have to make the longer trip into campus. However, if you buy a bicycle (see my Ultimate Guide To Bicycles At BLCU) this should cut the commute time right down to a few minutes. Depending on where you live though, you may still have to factor in for a 15-20 minute commute to class each morning. Chances are that in the beginning you will probably be walking.

So compared to the 5 minutes or less it takes those living on campus to get to class, your trip might suddenly start looking a lot longer. Plus, in spite of all the Beijing weather, the -20°C it can drop to in winter or the almost 40°C it can climb to in summer, you're still going to have to do it. Every morning. Come rain or shine, as they say.

If I'm being honest, living off-campus probably did result in me being late to class more often than I would had I stayed on campus instead. I didn't mind it though as the advantages still outweighed the disadvantages in my mind.

Usage charges

Finally, living off-campus means you're going to be paying for your water, gas and electricity. For me, though, that usually amounted to no more than 100 RMB or so extra a month. On campus accommodation has already factored in your usage and that is reflected in the higher accommodation rates, so really you're still saving money or just paying the same.

One thing that IS a bother though is having to go and manually top up your electricity card. This can be done at a place in Wudaokou just across the road from Huaqing Jiayuan's west gate. The building is called something like "State Grid" and I think the writing is in green. It shouldn't be too hard to spot, just a bit further down from an estate agency.

The same street has a pharmacy on the corner of the crossroads where the Microsoft and Cernet buildings are located. Ganghes Indian restaurant that I talk about in 5 Restaurants Near BLCU You Might Not Know About is just round the corner from here too.

To top up gas, you will probably have to go to a bank as I don't think you can do it at the State Grid building, though it might be worth trying. The trouble is, not all banks do it. The bank where I used to top up gas is a bit hard to describe to anyone new to BLCU, but I will try anyway.

If you are at the crossroads in Wudaokou I just mentioned (having come from BLCU), take a right turn heading north. Follow the road straight and then round to the right. On the left a bit further along you should see a bank. Inside they have a machine which will allow you to insert your gas card and top it up. You might need to ask an assistant for some help though as it can be a bit tricky at first.

So really the disadvantage to usage charges isn't how much it costs but the awkwardness of always having to go out of your way to top up the various cards. Be smart and add as much cash to them as you will need for the foreseeable future and this will reduce the number of trips you need to make during the semester.

Well, that's it folks. These have been my 5 disadvantages to living off-campus at BLCU. I hope they were informative and helpful. I'd like to hear what YOU think are the main disadvantages in the comments section below, or if you have any further questions, please leave them there too. Thanks for reading The BLCU Blog and I hope to see you in the next post!

If you enjoyed this post, you can subscribe to The BLCU Blog for free updates. You can also follow us on Twitter and like our Facebook page. Thank you very much for your support!

The BLCU Blog Weekly Roundup: 04 - 10 July, 2011

2011-07-10T10:26:00.001+01:00

Thank you to everyone who's been reading and visiting The BLCU Blog this week and please remember to subscribe if you've been enjoying the content I'm putting out so far.

The posts here now add up to over 31,000 words, so there's already a lot of content to look through for anyone who is new to the blog. Please take your time and have a good browse. I've put a lot of work into it so far and I really hope others are finding it useful.

Below you can see the posts which I've done this week. You can also find last week's roundup here.

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The Ultimate Guide to Bicycles At BLCU
If you're planning on coming to study Chinese at The Beijing Language and Culture University for a semester or more, investing in a new or second-hand bicycle would be an excellent idea.

5 Advantages Of Living Off-Campus At BLCU
In this post I'm going to look at some of the upsides of living off-campus to give you a better idea of why you might want to do it during your time at BLCU.

7 Study Tips For Success At BLCU
In this post I’m going to share with you seven study tips that helped me get scores of around 90% in the exams at the Beijing Language and Culture University.

How To Book Accommodation At BLCU
I’ve noticed that there is still a lot of confusion with regards to booking accommodation at the Beijing Language and Culture University and exactly how one ought to go about it.

Vegetarian Food At BLCU
This is a little post for any vegetarians that are going to study at the Beijing Language and Culture University.

If you enjoyed this post, you can subscribe to The BLCU Blog for free updates. You can also follow us on Twitter and like our Facebook page. Thank you very much for your support!

Vegetarian Food At BLCU

2011-07-10T09:59:00.001+01:00

This is a little post for any vegetarians that are going to study at the Beijing Language and Culture University. Perhaps you're wondering if there's any vegetarian eateries in the area? Well, prateeksha in the comments section kindly pointed me to a thread over on Chinese-Forums. In it I read that there are in fact two vegetarian restaurants behind the Microsoft building in Wudaokou. However, having never been to either of them, I am not in a position to further comment. Be sure to check them out for yourself though if you're interested!

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Even though during my one year stay at BLCU I never personally came across any strictly vegetarian restaurants in the area, I want to make something clear: Chinese cuisine is famous for its great vegetable dishes. They do wonderful things with them. An example that I loved is sweet and sour eggplant, but you will find hundreds and hundreds of vegetable dishes.

Most menus in Chinese restaurants will have a section exclusively for vegetable dishes, just as they will for meats, noodles, rice, etc. Chances are good that you will also see pictures on the menus in restaurants around BLCU along with English translations.

So don't worry if you're vegetarian and going to BLCU. You will have plenty of choice in China and most likely fall in love with the food. Because it's so cheap, you can try a lot of different vegetables dishes too.

One problem raised by prateeksha in the comments section of my post 5 Restaurants Near BLCU You Might Not Know About is that vegetables can still be cooked in animal fat. Although I don't know how common this is, I suppose it is sometimes done. If you're a vegan (don't eat any animal products) then this might be hard to get around.

I will point out, though, that from my research I believe the most commonly used cooking oils in China are rapeseed and soy. Peanut oil's popularity has diminished over the last 15 years due to price increases. As such, you will probably not come across many vegetable dishes which have been cooked in animal fat. One way to tell is whether or not the fat/oil solidifies as the food cools down. If it does, it's a sure sign of animal fat or saturated oils (such as palm oil) which are not good for you and best avoided anyway.

If you end up renting an apartment off-campus (see my post 5 Advantages Of Living Off-Campus At BLCU) you will be able to buy fresh vegetables of your choice from local markets and cook them at home. This is something we often did when we felt like a healthy vegetable meal. It also means you know exactly what's going into the dish as you have total control over preparing it.

The canteens on campus always offer a lot of vegetable options too. It is also a very cheap place to eat with portions only costing a few yuan each. So really, if you're a vegetarian or vegan, I don't think you're going to have any real problems at BLCU. If anything, you'll probably be pleasantly surprised with just how much choice there is.

Now it's over to you. What have your favourites vegetable dishes been during your time at BLCU? Anything you would recommend to others like my sweet and sour eggplant? As always, thanks for reading The BLCU Blog and see you in the next post.

If you enjoyed this post, you can subscribe to The BLCU Blog for free updates. You can also follow us on Twitter and like our Facebook page. Thank you very much for your support!

How To Book Accommodation At BLCU

2011-07-06T04:01:00.003+01:00

I’ve noticed that there is still a lot of confusion with regards to booking accommodation at the Beijing Language and Culture University and exactly how one ought to go about it. In this short post I'm going to look at some of the reasons for this confusion and exactly what your options are. Be warned though, you may not like what you're about to read!

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So what's the problem and what are your options?

The truth is, unless you use a Chinese immersion program such as blcu.org, blcu-china.org or CUCAS there’s really only one way you can go about booking accommodation at BLCU and that’s to phone the respective on-campus accommodations up and make a reservation with them directly.

Whether it be Dorm 17, the Conference Centre or any of the other dorms on campus (though I’m not familiar with the process for scholarship students who will probably be staying at Dorm 1), this booking process will be the same.

The problem for most people and the joke of it all is that at a university catering to thousands of foreigners each year, the people working in the receptions of the on-campus accommodation buildings hardly speak a word of English. As such, you’re going to have to rely on Chinese to get the booking made. If you can’t speak Chinese, the best thing to do would be to find someone who can call on your behalf. If you have some basic spoken Mandarin, it may be enough to get the job done.

If you’re mad about this crappy situation, don’t worry, you wouldn’t be the first person. The lack of English speakers available to help with accommodation bookings at BLCU is a problem they have had for many years and why they haven’t made efforts to improve this situation I have no idea.

Because of this, the whole application process is made unnecessarily difficult for many prospective students and probably one of the big reasons immersion programs such as the ones I mentioned at the start of this post enjoy so much success with BLCU applicants.

Booking accommodation over the phone

When calling to book accommodation, the only details you will need to give them is your full name, the type of room you want to book (single or double) and the dates you wish to stay. That’s it. This information should be enough to get your name put down in the reservation book until you arrive in person at BLCU.

Keep in mind that as a new term approaches, available places at all the on-campus accommodation are going to be filling up fast. As such, you should aim to decide where you want to stay and then reserve a room as soon as possible. The last thing you want to do is arrive at BLCU without accommodation (see my post on Arriving At BLCU Without Accommodation).

At the same time, if you call too early, for example at the end of the previous semester, the rooms will probably still be full and you will be told to call back at a later date. Therefore, the best time to call is in the middle of the break between one semester and the next, or at least a good few weeks after the previous semester has finished.

If you are going to BLCU for a short-term program or summer course you still need to bear this advice in mind for making your accommodation bookings. In the latter case, keep calling them once the previous semester has ended to ensure you get a spot in time for the start of the summer course.

Conclusion

What? Finished already? Yep, afraid so.

I know this post has been brief but I think I’ve got the message across and made it clear that, basically, booking accommodation at BLCU is a pain in the butt and there are no quick solutions unless you can make the booking over the phone in Mandarin or enroll with an immersion program who will do it all for you.

All the same, I hope this clarification has helped a bit. At least you now know where you stand and exactly what the situation is regarding booking accommodation at BLCU, even if I didn't give you the answers you were expecting (or hoping for)! Sometimes the truth hurts.

For a full list of BLCU accommodation contact numbers, see the BLCU Contacts page of this blog.

What was your experience of booking accommodation at BLCU? Please leave your comments or any further questions you may have in the comments section below. Thanks for reading The BLCU Blog and see you in the next post!

If you enjoyed this post, you can subscribe to The BLCU Blog for free updates. You can also follow us on Twitter and like our Facebook page. Thank you very much for your support!

7 Study Tips For Success At BLCU

2011-07-05T06:56:00.002+01:00

In this post I’m going to share with you seven study tips that helped me get scores of around 90% in the exams at the Beijing Language and Culture University. These are the methods that I found to be most effective in improving my Mandarin and I’d like to pass them onto you.

If you have already studied Chinese in the past you may be familiar with the ideas found below. Otherwise, I hope it opens your eyes a bit to what I believe is going to result in you getting the most of your time at BLCU with regards to studying Mandarin. I’ve been working on this post all morning so I hope it’s been worth it. Enjoy.

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1. Flashcards

I’ve already talked about using flashcards as a study aid for learning Mandarin in my post Building Good Study Habits At BLCU. The idea is to write the Chinese character(s) on one side and the English translation and pinyin on the other. Then you are going to simply work through the flashcards until you have committed them all to memory.

I guess you could say flashcards work on the same principles as the “look, cover, produce” system in which you are first examining the material, then you are covering it and attempting to produce it from your own memory. This forces your brain to make connections and I personally found it an excellent way to remember new vocabulary in Mandarin.

Every two or three days you will be getting a new set of vocabulary at BLCU so you will constantly have to be committing it to memory and going back over it if you don’t want to be left behind. You will also have to make time for revising old vocab sets as well as committing new ones.

Flascards will help with all of this by simplifying the process to a tried-and-tested system that a lot of the best students will be incorporating into their study routine.

They key to working with flashcards is to use them on a regular basis, even if the time you give to reviewing old items are only a few minutes a day it will help keep the memories and connections fresh in your brain.

Come exam time, all the effort you will have put into your flashcard work will begin to pay off and should make the whole experience less stressful. Which leads me onto my next point.

2. Take exams seriously

A lot of students at BLCU don’t do as well in their exams as they could do. This is partly down to a bad work-ethic but there are also other reasons. In the end though, if you want to get the most out of your time at BLCU, you should use the exams as a positive challenge and not something you just want to get out of the way. Take them seriously.

Although in the grand scheme of things, the result you get on your certificates might not count for that much after you leave BLCU, it WILL reflect how hard you worked and more than likely how much you learned. If you can pass the exams with scores of 90% and more, it’s definitely a good measure of your progress in Mandarin.

This may seem obvious, but a lot of people don’t look at it this way. They don’t see it as potentially the best time to make real steps forward in the language and really test yourself under controlled conditions. Chances are that the students who work hardest through the exam period will also remember more in the long-term. The more you put in, the more you will get out.

During my first semester at BLCU I didn’t consider the exams that important and failed a number of them. In the second semester I re-evaluated why I was there and decided I was just wasting my time by not stepping up to the challenge.

Today I’m still convinced that if I hadn’t made that change to taking exams more seriously I would have ultimately learned a lot less during my time in Beijing. Your attitude to exams is often reflected on your attitude to your Mandarin studies as a whole.

3. Study on the weekends too

I bet you didn’t expect to see this on my list, did you? You’re probably thinking I’m some kind of masochist by now. Well, before you jump to any conclusions, hear me out.

It’s tempting to have the weekends off, especially if you think you’ve done a good job throughout the week. And I don’t disagree with you. But what I will say is this: studying on the weekends is like throwing petrol on a bomb fire. The Mandarin bomb fire. Your progress is going to explode.

This is because consistency is key with your studies at BLCU and arguably with anything in life that you strive to succeed at. Ok, so not everyone is coming to BLCU with the intention of working so hard, but for those that are taking their learning seriously and really want to see big results, keeping a bit of study up through the weekends is really going to help you in the long-term.

If you can make it a commitment to do the same amount of study outside class EVERY day of the week, it’s going go get easier and more natural as times goes by. I guarantee that by keeping up the momentum you are going to see more results faster in your Mandarin.

So if you’re doing 4 hours of classes and 1-2 hours of extra study on weekdays, on the weekends just aim to get those 1-2 extra hours in like usual. You don’t need to do the whole 5-6 hours that you would normally get by going to classes. Now THAT would be masochistic.

4. Preview and review lessons

I don’t think I need to go into too much detail on this one as it should be pretty self-explanatory. In keeping with the theme of consistency in your Mandarin studies, by previewing lessons the night before you are going to make life a lot easier for yourself at BLCU.

If you turn up to class and all the material that day is new for you, it’s going to be like getting thrown in the deep end before you can properly swim. Keeping up with the pace and exercises will become quite stressful and certainly take a lot of the enjoyment out of the learning process. You will feel as though you’re falling behind when you can’t answer questions or read certain passages and this in turn will make you less motivated.

If you have, on the other hand, previewed the new class material the night before you’re going to go in feeling confident and already treating it as a revision session. Classmates are going to think you’re naturally good at Mandarin but in fact you’re just putting in the work. There are no shortcuts and anyone that thinks so is mistaken. It’s just about building productive study habits and finding a good work-ethic.

You should also be sure to review the material after class and keep coming back to it over the weeks and months that follow. This will make exams a breeze and mean that you don’t need to put in a lot of extra time when they finally arrive because you will have been studying consistently throughout the semester.

5. Find a study routine

Pretty soon after you settle in at BLCU and your classes start you should be trying to come up with a study routine that works for you. This means that it fits around your lifestyle and doesn’t constrict you from enjoying the social side of the BLCU experience and all the other great things that come with it.

For me, I got into the routine of working for a couple hours in the evenings and preferred to take the afternoons off to relax after class. I would also do a few hours over the weekends as I’ve already mentioned. This worked great for me and it might work great for you too, but whatever routine you settle on, it’s probably going to take some trial and error before you’re really happy with it.

So try to find a study routine that you’re comfortable with and you can commit yourself to over the long-term. Don’t overestimate how much you can do on a daily basis but at the same time don’t be afraid of a little honest work.

If you’re consistent in your efforts and can follow a study routine from day to day that works for you, you’re guaranteed to be successful in your Mandarin studies at BLCU. Taking a bit of a structured and disciplined approach instead of winging it the whole time will make all the difference. Just watch and see.

6. Electronic dictionaries

I’ve already talked briefly about using electronic dictionaries in my post Building Good Study Habits At BLCU but I think it deserves a spot on this list too.

Investing in a good Chinese-English electronic dictionary is going to make your whole experience of studying Mandarin so much easier. Every day you’re going to come across new characters you don’t recognise and so the ability to check what they mean instantly and from anywhere is going to become a very valuable tool for your learning. After you’ve checked a character a few times it’s going to start sticking and eventually you’ll remember it for good.

The reasons electronic dictionaries work so well is because they allow for you to write the character on the screen with a stylus and then check definitions. If you had to search for it in a conventional paper dictionary it would take ages and be nearly impossible unless you knew the method for doing so.

You may think you don’t need to buy an electronic dictionary and I would definitely agree with you IF you have an iPhone or iPod Touch or any other compatible smartphone (running Android, for example) that will allow you to download free Chinese dictionary apps such as Pleco or KTdict C-E. That is what I did and it offered most of the functions that a physical electronic dictionary would.

However, if you can’t get these free apps for your smartphone, investing in an electronic dictionary is going to save you a lot of time in the long-term and really aid tremendously in your Mandarin studies.

7. Don’t be shy

This is one trap that gets a lot of students at BLCU. They’re too afraid of making mistakes when talking in Chinese and so just do the bare minimum. Although I know it’s not strictly a study tip, it’s still something I have to mention in this post.

By not going out and talking with the locals and making an effort to engage with Mandarin outside the classroom on a day to day basis, you’re only letting yourself down. Don’t slip into bad habits with your oral practice as it should really be the most important part of your studies.

It’s all very well being able to read and write Chinese but that alone isn’t going to get you very far when you can hardly string a sentence together or your pronunciation is terrible. Work hard at conquering your shyness and embarrassment towards making mistakes in your spoken Chinese and instead strive to learn from every mistake in every situation.

If you’re not going to take advantage of living in Beijing when class is over, you might as well have stayed in your own country. You need to realise how valuable it is to be studying Chinese in China and that a lot of people would cut off their right arm for the same opportunity you have.

So get out there and get talking with those locals and make every day count. Leave BLCU knowing that you made a hundred thousand mistakes with Chinese but that you also learned a hundred thousand lessons about how to do it the right way. Your mistakes will teach you more than your successes and by embarrassing yourself in certain situations I guarantee that you won’t make the same mistake again.

So these have been my seven study tips for success at BLCU. What advice would YOU give to others to get the most out of their time? Please leave your comments and questions in the comments section below. As always, thanks for reading The BLCU Blog and I hope to see you in the next post!

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5 Advantages Of Living Off-Campus At BLCU

2011-07-04T09:34:00.006+01:00

During the one-year that I studied at the Beijing Language and Culture University, I lived both on and off-campus. In this post I'm going to look at some of the upsides of living off-campus to give you a better idea of why you might want to do it during your time at BLCU. I hope you find the information useful.

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1. Cheaper rates

Living off-campus can be cheaper than on-campus accommodation depending on where you decide to stay. For example, if you're living at the Conference Centre or in a single dorm room such as at Dorm 17, you're going to be paying at least 120 RMB per night. This adds up to roughly 3,600 RMB per month. However, if you're in a double room at one of the dorms then you're likely only paying 60 RMB per night or 1,800 RMB per month.

Renting an apartment off-campus can be expensive or cheap. It really depends what kind of place you're looking for. However, I would say that the average apartment in the BLCU area that comes up to an acceptable standard for foreigners should cost around 4,000-6,000 RMB per month. The best idea is to split the cost of an apartment between two or three of you, thus taking the cost per person down to around 2,000-3,000 RMB.

As you can see from these calculations, I would expect the average BLCU student renting off-campus to pay around the same if not LESS than staying on-campus. Using myself as an example, I was staying at the Conference Centre throughout my first semester and paying 3,600 RMB per month for a tiny en-suit room. Then when I moved off-campus over summer I rented a brand-new modern studio apartment with my girlfriend for only 2,000 RMB each. That's a sizeable monthly saving for much nicer accommodation.

Of course, you have some extra charges living off-campus such as electricity, water and gas bills, but these don't usually amount to more than a hundred RMB per month. As such, for a lot of people it can still work out cheaper than living on-campus.

2. BIGGER (and better) accommodation

In almost every case, off-campus accommodation gives you a bigger bang for your buck. Ok, so you don't have the convenience of being on-campus the whole time but who cares? By paying to be on campus you're sacrificing a lot more than you may realise in terms of what you're getting for your money.

For around 5,000 RMB per month at somewhere like Huaqing Jiayuan (near the BLCU east gate) you could share a two-bedroom apartment with up to 100 square feet of floor space. You're bedroom alone will probably be bigger than what you had on-campus (unless you were renting a single dorm room in which case it might not) and that's before you even get onto the living room, kitchen and bathrooms.

Most of these off-campus apartments also come with great furnishing such as flat screen TVs, double-beds, water dispensers (see my post on How To Get A 12L Water Tank At BLCU), quality air conditioners, fridge-freezers in the kitchen - just to name a few. I should mention here that internet service also tends to be substantially cheaper than on-campus.

3. Social advantages

One thing worth mentioning is how living off-campus at BLCU offers advantages for your social life. For starters, there are no curfews imposed on who is allowed to visit you at certain times. With on-campus accommodation, on the other hand, a lot of the dorms enforce visiting hours (some more strictly than others, with places like the Conference Centre not seeming to care at all about who comes or goes) and it is also university policy that no one is allowed to stay in your room other than yourself or your room mate (in the case of staying in a double room).

It is also worth mentioning here that BLCU's on-campus accommodation does not allow boys and girls to share rooms. This means that if you are coming to BLCU with your boyfriend or girlfriend you will have to take separate accommodation. I think this is motivation enough for a lot of couples who want to live together to rent off-campus instead where they can do as they please.

So with these things in mind, if you rent your own apartment off-campus you will have some social perks not enjoyed by students renting on-campus. You can throw parties and have friends stay over whenever you like. If they want to stay the night that's also entirely up to you. No one is going to tell you otherwise (unless you have a disagreeable flatmate).

4. Having your own kitchen

One of the things a lot of students really miss is being able to cook their own meals. I'm not saying this applies to everyone because not everyone cooks, but it's definitely still worth mentioning. By renting off-campus you will get your own kitchen and probably a decent-sized one too.

As far as I know, all of the dorms on campus (the Conference Centre included) offer kitchen facilities, but the truth is not many people use them and they're fairly limited anyway. Generally they will just consist of a few microwaves and hotplates (no pots or pans). I remember the Conference Centre kitchen was pretty unclean too, though the ones I saw at Dorm 17 seemed to be well-maintained and a pleasure to use.

My point is that if you decide to rent an apartment off-campus you will have a kitchen all to yourself and be able to invite friends round for home-cooked meals if that's something you like doing. This therefore also ties in to the social advantages of living off-campus.

5. Exposure to Beijing life

Finally, by living off-campus you will be more exposed to Beijing life as it really is. You will have left the safety bubble of the BLCU campus and gone out into the wild, so to speak. Some things will become more complicated and bring with them a certain amount of stress, such as communicating with your landlord and organising rental contracts, etc., but this should be what coming to Beijing and China is partly about.

You're here to learn about a different culture and how to speak the language after all, so you shouldn't be afraid to make the most of it and venture a bit into the unknown. It's not going to be easy and smooth-sailing all the time but nothing ever is, not even at home. In the end it's all about learning as much as you can in the time you have.

View living off-campus as another opportunity to broaden your China and BLCU experience. You will see another side to life there that people staying on campus the whole time won't get. It may also result in you having more interaction with the locals and probably improved Mandarin over the long-term too.

So these have been my five advantages to living off-campus at BLCU. Of course, this has by no means been an exhaustive list, but hopefully it's scratched the surface and given you some useful insights. What have your experiences been with living off-campus at BLCU? Please leave your comments and questions in the comments section below and thanks for reading The BLCU Blog. I look forward to seeing you in the next post!

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