From Tamara

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First impressions are said to leave a lasting impression or so they say. I think that saying doesn’t apply to China. The first things to greet you here is a modern airport and English guiding signs along side standing guards and if one is careful to look out the transit shuttle between the passports check station and baggage claim station, barbwire fencing around the gapping spaces between pillars and underpasses. The city itself seems too also be filled with this kind of contradiction. Cranes can be seen throughout the region as building are being either torn down or built up. Even our residence is across from construction of two recently flattened buildings, I wake up early due to jet lag to the sound of breaking glass and jack hammering. Our living space is very much the same in size and space configuration as my one in Japan, even down to the desk and air conditioning unit. Despite the plush appearance of the lobby, a stroll down the hallway will reveal cracks and water damaged walls and though we lack internet at this time (and my internet jack is falling out of an undisclosed hole) and find the outlets to be sporadic,  with no fridge or kitchen but, the place is plush compared to other dorm dwellings.  To which I see the residents of such heading to a communal facility to get running water to lug back to their dorms which they share (my same size space) with 3-5 other people.

The faculty are nice and were kind enough to lead us around the campus, though we are unable to access most dining, recreational, or literature facilities due to lack of student ID cards. It’s too bad as many of the facilities look rather nice, including the beautiful library which is both modern and traditional looking at the same time. Though we do get use of the history department’s lounge from which the entrance is rather stunningly classical and the residential white Cat is very cute. Other than that building, we are rather far from anything practical (3 stop bus ride or 10yuan taxi ride from Wudaokou) and the local campus store closes fairly early but contain basic clothing, food and stationary supplies.

 They have set us up with small cute little phones that remind me of a pre-paid phone I got back in 2004 on my trip to Japan but, with less cute colors (though mine does have an adorable little seal sticker on it, thanks to a former student’s craftsmanship). We were also introduced to the subway and bus system both of which are very clean (though it is a weekend so this may not be the constant case), we had to buy commuter passes (20 yuan for the card (refundable when card is returned), 30yuan for actual travel) but the travel expensive is amazingly low at 2yuan for subway and 1yuan for the bus. They can be intimidating to use at first but following the crowd is the best bet plus there is English below most characters on bus and subway signs for easier understanding.

Shopping has been interesting, mostly due to currency. If your funds are unlimited, well I suppose this won’t apply but the rest of us, financially cautious college students, it’s a bit tricky to figure out. I recommend using your phone calculator to divide most prices by 6.2 as a general rule (though my exchange rate was 5.5 yuan to $1, differs when you come). Generally meal costs are around 4-15 yuan, in the department stores we’ve visited so far: shoes 99-200yuan ($15-$33) and clothing 55-300yuan ($9-$50). Given that 100yuan equals roughly $16 right now these aren’t bad prices. Beside all this, Beijing is a unique city, not exactly New York or Tokyo but more like San Francisco with constant flux of people and priorities. I’m glad to have come and look forward to learning as much as I can both from my internship and the locals.