Preparing For Studies

Spring break is over and it was time to orientate for university life.

At first I checked in on my student dormitory which is called “international student dormitory 2.” It is a bit ironic because at front desk staff barely speaks even a word in English. I still managed to have my room: I have shared bathroom and small entrance hall with one person, my own room is around 20 square meters, shape of a corridor having kind of window. By that I mean that I can see outside but I have to look a through the corner of other person room so I even that I can open window if flatmate window is not open it won’t help me at all. Heating system is under central control system so it can’t be adjusted so at the moment it is maybe around +25 degrees in the room because system is obviously on “winter adjust.” Besides those few little details it is okay, life has made really easy: Room is cleaned daily and bed sheets changed weekly.

After settling down on my new home I needed to register at Beijing Normal University (BNU), which was a show of its own indeed… First of all I needed to a decent amount of different documents with me like visa application, invitation letter, residence permit, passport, insurance papers etc… Whole process was in one meeting room where was different desks (I think 6 different) each one handling one thing and I needed to queue separately on each one. The whole process took me few hours, luckily I was there in the morning because on afternoon there was a much longer queue. Result: I got my student ID, small red student book which is full of characters and one stamp (no clue where it is used for) and three other books: Guide to studying at BNU, BNU rules and regulations and a handbook for international students.

I was signed up to study in College of Chinese Language and Culture (CCLC), so it means for next 3,5 months I will be studying Chinese. A day after registration there was a language placement test so they could put us all in correct groups according our Chinese level. I walked to the classroom where the test was held and I don’t remember when was the last time I have felt myself so stupid. Test included three parts: Listening, reading/writing (95 mcq questions) and the oral part, all in CHINESE!! I didn’t even know where to write my name on exam paper and I was proud of myself as I was able to follow numbers that which question on listening part was on. I scored 22/95 by purely guessing, it think I haven’t ever complete exam so quickly.  Then the oral part where teacher asked me do I speak Chinese. I answered that I know numbers and few basic sentences and random words. She looked at me and told, “thank you, we will put you on beginners group.” I smiled and said thank you.

 On third day there was an opening ceremony. Almost three hour long session in lecture hall for all new internationals spoken in Chinese but there was three interpreter who translated the ceremony in English, Korean and Japanese. The ceremony itself was full of talks about thanking everyone and telling how good university BNU, and then of course about laws and regulations in China what we should be aware of starting from the basics: “Don't take black taxi”, “Pay attention to traffic”, “Be aware of pickpockets”, “Carry your passport always with you and be aware of your visa expiration” etc…

After the ceremony we got our group adjustments and schedules and needed to buy books demanded. Now I have six books to study Chinese with. Workbook and textbook on each colour: Two blue ones (intensive reading), two yellow ones (conversation) and two green ones (listening). At least books are in English and Chinese so I might have even a little hope, we will see what is the reality soon…

Positive: Now I finally know what I will study here and how my schedules will be.

Negative: I have no idea which class I will have when (just look at my weekly schedule).