The first week

The first week is over and finally I have some time to write everything down here.

Flight

The flight from Frankfurt via Hong Kong to Shanghai went completely smoothly. The food was okay and there was plenty of entertainment. I didn't sleep much because I found it very uncomfortable, but it didn't bother me much. From the airport, we took a taxi for about 50€ to the campus, as it takes about 3 hours by metro to get there. And even with the taxi, it's about 60km, which is more than from Jena to Erfurt.

Dormitory

We arrived at the dormitory around half past 2 and after some waiting, we finally got our rooms. Sophie immediately found a nice roommate with Lena. It was a bit difficult for Thomas as he couldn't name a roommate, but the next day Sebastian was in his room. So that also worked out. I have a single room with 8qm on the 5th floor. The view is nice, even though it's quite cramped. Each room has a balcony and a private bathroom. The standard is not particularly high, but for less than 1000€ per semester, it's completely fine and at least there is air conditioning.
After we had that, we were awake for over 24 hours with little sleep, looked for something to eat and then went to sleep.

Registration

Tongji University has the Siping Campus near the city center and the Jiading Campus, where we are. To do the registration, we had to travel between the two, which takes about 1.5 hours by bus or metro one way. It's quite annoying, but we have now completed the first part of it. We just need the documents for the residence permit. We now have Chinese bank accounts, which is very convenient, as everything is paid through the smartphone and we can now use it too. We also bought bicycles, as the campus is quite large and it makes it easier for us to get around.

Food

It's difficult to cook for ourselves here, as the kitchen is not that great and you have to have everything yourself (pots, cutlery...). So we eat out all the time and most things cost around 5€, are super delicious and filling. However, we usually don't know exactly what we ordered, as our Chinese is not sufficient for that. There are quite a few restaurants and snack bars on and around the campus, so we still have a lot to discover.

People

You get to know people very quickly here, whether in the dormitory or on the street. Sophie and Thomas already know some from the pre-departure meeting in Nuremberg and by now we have met new people on various occasions. French, Spanish, Italians and lots of Germans. And the Chinese are all super nice and helpful, especially the students, provided they understand what you want from them. I have already once left my bag with passport and wallet on the bus and a student made phone calls for me and even went back to the campus to get it for me. So here, there is no day without meeting someone new.
And for some Chinese people, we are a small attraction. There have already been two occasions where they took pictures of us.

Bicycles and other necessities

We bought bicycles, as the campus is quite large and it's easier to get from A to B. Furthermore, the rooms were only equipped with the essentials, so we have to get things like cleaning supplies, toilet paper, reading lamps, internet or even plants ourselves.

In general, I have to say that it is very nice here. We haven't really been to the city center yet, but that's still to come. What I have seen of the city so far is neither particularly beautiful nor ugly. It's just bigger, more crowded, and you almost always have to be careful not to get hit by a scooter, as they squeeze through everywhere. The distances here are simply enormous. It takes at least an hour by metro to get to the city center alone. There are often language barriers, but we're working on that and translator apps are quite good nowadays. However, surprisingly few people on campus speak English, even though there are many international students here.
Thomas and I have already been out partying once, which was really fun with ~10 Italians and 3 Germans. We had our own shuttle bus on the way there and at Fusion there were free drinks and good music. We definitely rocked the dance floor.

I could definitely write a lot more, but that's it for now. I'll try to find out the postal address and if necessary, I can also be reached by phone on WhatsApp. You just have to let me know in advance, as there is a time difference of about 6 hours. I have 100GB of data volume per month here for about 14€ per year, so that's not the problem.

As soon as I have the pictures from Thomas and Sophie, I will also post them here. I just unfortunately lost my camera, so some beautiful ones are gone :(

written by: Friedemann