Being an exchange student sort of feels like you're starting college again, and it's been quite fun to get situated in a new school. This first week, I've been overwhelmed with quite a few new experiences, and I'll touch on some of them in this post :) Below is a photo taken before my first day of classes, with some friends, old and new.
FOOD
Arguably the MOST IMPORTANT (b/c if you're not well fed you can't study well and explore and have fun, right??). Unlike at Penn, the cafeterias here (hence forth known as canteens) are quite amazing. My favorite is called Zijing Yuan, which is a 1 minute bike ride from my dorm. Another one 2 minutes away opens until 10pm (Penn get on this!). The combo of how cheap, yummy, and extensive the food options are make me a big fan.
The left in total only cost ~$4-5. 😱
At these canteens, there are foods I look forward to eating every few months or so back in the States, but I get to eat here EVERY DAY. There's every Chinese dish under the sun here, every region's well-known dishes, comfort food, every kind of noodle soup, bibimbap combos, personal hot pots/dry pots (all customizable of course), pastries, and Tsinghua-produced drinks/desserts/ice cream in the warmer weather. And guess what, the food is all subsidized partially so every meal I've had has cost less than the equivalent of $3. The bowl of noodle soup on the right cost only $1.50! Most of the time meals are~10 yuan, which is not even $2.
For breakfast, I've gotten a tea egg for 0.60 yuan and savory crepe (煎饼, pictured below) for like $1. The down side of such great food and tons of people = long lines for the most tasty things. During peak hours for lunch, you can't find any seats and no parking spots for your bike. Another cute thing is that during the recent holiday, Lantern Festival 元宵节, every canteen offered rice balls filled with sesame known as tang yuan 汤圆, which is the food to eat on the holiday. (Pictured below.) One of my goals over the semester is to be able to eat at every one of the canteens and find out the best foods at each one :)
I'm also a big cafe fan, so I hope to hit each of the cafes (there's a cafe campus map that shows all the locations of cafes), and unlike at Penn, each cafe I've been to has had room for me to chill and do some work! Not real work yet though, I've yet to really start homework hehe. I've also gone out to eat outside of canteens, and it's still really affordable. A hotpot restaurant literally in one of our dorms costs around 35 yuan (<$6) for a very filling personal hotpot (move aside, chicken over rice). Nearby in Wudaokou, a shopping/food area, delicious dinners can probably cost ~$10/person. :')
Classes
So far for the first week, I've only sat in on a bunch of classes, since it's "shopping period." My first on that Monday was a Computational Biology class (haha). It was supposed to be all in English, but once the professor asked if we all understood Chinese, he began talking about genetics and cancer cells and stuff IN CHINESE. After some hard focusing, I decided to give up - I could understand pretty well, but not enough to survive a partially coding-based Chinese class :o Another funny thing is that during the 2.5 hour long classes, there are breaks every 45 minutes, which is signaled over the loudspeakers by a very recognizable piano tune. At first, I thought it was a cellphone ringing, but nope! Another day, I sat in on a class called "Face to Face with Entrepreneurs," where entrepreneurs came to give lectures. Again, I thought my Chinese listening was OK right until the speaker began talking about blockchain and AI with Chinese phrases I've never heard of before. Thus, I realized I should stick to the Chinese classes intended for international students.
My business classes are all in English and seem to be interesting! I'm just not used to the thought of homework and exams after a long 2 months of break haha. Fortunately, through some of these classes, I've made friends with whom I've begun to explore Beijing! More on that later.
Here, most kids also take night classes, ones that last from 7:20pm till 9:45pm. Needless to say, I was really tired that Monday night, biking back from a class building far away from my dorm. Surprisingly, there were at least a thousand other kids pedaling away on the central road of campus, so I slowly followed the packs of bikers back to my dorm. One thing I learned: there is a never-ending stream of people biking to classes and other places, so I better pedal fast and get accustomed to the bike traffic and be alert in case any cars/motorcycles come by way. My thighs/calves have been quite sore/tired ever since needing to bike everywhere for the first week! I think I've gotten better though.
Exploring Beijing
During my first weekend here, my new friends and I explored 5 places: Tsinghua Art Museum, Wudaokou, nearby Peking University, a large park/historical site called Yuan Ming Yuan, and 798 Art District. We either biked or used subway to get to these places (I feel like a real Beijinger!). Here are a collection of some photos:
Tsinghua Art Museum
Architecture exhibit!
Right: Model of a probably famous Chinese building - they didn't use nails or things so they designed every piece to fit well into each other!
Right: interactive part where they let you figure out how these pieces fit together.
Textiles/clothes exhibit
Left: covers for wooden fans :o how fancy. Lots of symbolism and "auspicious designs" in these, as the museum emphasized.
Yuan Ming Yuan Park
Right: It was only a day after the Chinese New Year celebration period was officially over, so there were still some festive decorations.
Right: after walking past lots of water and getting lost a bit, we were able to see the family of black swans that immigrated here to Beijing ON THEIR OWN from Australia! (Talk about illegal immigrants :o They even have their own statue!)
Right: venturing precariously onto an island that probably used to have a small house.
798 Art District
This area used to be a military site I think? But it was turned into an area with tons of art galleries and cafes. :) Fortunately my friends from Penn were in Beijing for spring break and came to visit me!! (the two sitting next to me on the right)
Left: Painting of the famous sailor/explorer Zheng He + lots of his important people I think.
Left: cute sculptures along the small paths in this art district.
Left: wall art on the side of a building
Left: Copper sculpture I believe? Reminds me a little of The Great Wave of Kanagawa.
With all the walking and biking and exploring within Tsinghua and outside, it's been tiring, but exciting. Gonna continue to approach this semester abroad with the energy and openness of a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed froshie. 😊