The city of Shanghai

Nǐ hǎo!

I would like to welcome you to China and the city of Shanghai! I’m glad to participate in this blog and to share experiences of studying abroad. I hope my input would give you a good view of living and studying in Shanghai! In this first blog I would like to give you an introduction of this metropolis.

First of all, I’m honored for going on exchange to China and to live in Shanghai in particular. Before the application procedure to study abroad began, I had made a shortlist of my preferences where to go. On the top of that list was Shanghai. I was really glad when I found out that students from Tilburg University (TiU) are able to go there. There are several universities in Shanghai such as Fudan University, Tongji University, and Jiaotong University. The first and the third actually have an exchange program with TiU and my preference was to go to Fudan University. One of the main reasons was that it is one of the best universities of China. In fact, I’ve learned from fellow Chinese students that it is really a big thing to study at Fudan.

The university itself covers numerous different schools and these are mainly located in the north of Shanghai. The main campus is huge and it takes at least a half hour to walk from one side to another. Students usually rent a dormitory room at the campus and various facilities are located nearby. One of them is the School of Management, which is an independent school within the university. I’m following courses of the so called International MBA program. I’m living in a compound outside the campus, between the university and the city center.

To give a brief description of my classmates, the students have already obtained their master’s degree, worked for couple of years, and they went back to the university to better themselves even more. They are therefore a couple years older than the normal Dutch master student. It is really interesting to hear stories about their working experience and they have usually worked for big companies, e.g. Citi group, Tsingtao Beer, and Siemens. Moreover, their study backgrounds vary from all types of fields. They are all very interested to meet Western students and it is for me the same the other way around.

This was a short introduction for studying at Fudan University. There is a lot to tell more and I’ll do this in the next blog posts. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact me!

See you soon!

Richard

E: r.n.d.s.jacobs@uvt.nl

Zài jiàn Shanghai

I have been back now for nearly a week and I must say that I am in some ways really glad to be back. For me the exchange experience has been less drastic than for others, for I have lived in several countries already and have moved a lot throughout my childhood. However, having never lived in a large city before it was quite a change for me. Having now returned home the differences between living in a small village in Holland and a metropolis in China become evident.

Upon my arrival the first thing I saw was a large banner which awaited me at the arrival gate at Dusseldorf airport. Finally, I was no longer a minority! I was among my friends, family and girlfriend once again! We headed over to the nearest bar to have a small celebration. I had to walk over to the bar to order because as we sat down we were not helped. It was the first real difference I noticed, for in Western society labor is a large cost for businesses while in Asia labor is cheap and service is second nature.

My father in Shanghai

As mentioned my father arrived a day before the New Year which we celebrated extensively! And now I will add a picture of the speed at which we travel from Pu Dong International Airport to the outer city ring. The Maglev goes 430Kmph!!! On January first we spend the day relaxing and not doing much, I had to walk over East Nanjing Road from People square to the Bund, which on the morning of January first proved to be quite the challenge. It was crowded with people and the walk took me twice as long!

Arriving at the hotel we planned to spend the rest of the day visiting the Fake Market to show them what Shanghai has to offer. He was very pleased to find some of his watched copied and at over an hundredth of the price! The fake market is quite the experience, shop sellers calling and pulling you into their shops. The best response to give them is “Bu yao, xie xie.” Which literally translates to “Need not, thank you.” There are several fake markets scattered around Shanghai, the largest being in the Science and Technology Museum subway stop. My personal favorite is the one on West Nanjing Road, for it has the shops sorted by floors. Some of the shops have secret hidden compartments where you have to crawl through clothing racks to get to the secret room behind. And if you are nice enough you can then again go through the second compartment into the ‘ultra’ secret room. All in all it’s a lot of fun but be sure to inform yourself about the ‘real’ prices beforehand. Anyone reading this please ask me for information on any item. I think I have a vague understanding of what one should pay after my time there! (in the picture btw you can see the top floor of the market…yes, only in China)

Merry Chrismas and a Happy New Year!!!

Christmas and New Years Eve were a lot of fun! For Christmas we decided to celebrate it with a large group of people and not go out for dinner but for the first time in Shanghai cook a home-cooked-meal! We were with 5 Swedish, 4 Germans and a Dutch guy, me! So everyone set out to cook their national dish. The Swedes went to Ikea and got Swedish Meatballs and Glugg with of course mashed potato. The Germans made potato salad with Schnitzels and a fresh salad. And what did I, the Dutch guy do? I simply bought a lot of Heineken! Along with Christmas decorations and I helped out wherever possible, because I can’t really cook! So eating out in Shanghai was not a problem for me! It was funny to see how different nationalities all have their own little traditions. The Swedes watch Donald Duck episodes at 4 in the afternoon. While the Germans, when entering a home, have to spend at least 5 minutes admiring the Christmas tree. We Dutch don’t really have a Christmas tradition but my tales of this long bearded white male on a horse who has black guys as his helpers/slaves, did get everyone laughing!

Studying in Shanghai at SJTU

During my time in Shanghai, I of course also went to University. Some might forget this reading my blogs about Inner Mongolia, Tibet and Hong Kong, the constant parties and excursions I plan with my friends and fellow exchange students. However, one needs to consider something very important when on exchange. You have a lot of spare time!

When on exchange, and you travel to a country far away enough you leave everything behind. Your girlfriend, your family, your friends, your sport and even your own stuff! Keep in mind you can only bring a certain amount of kilo’s with you on the plane! So you spend hardly any time with them, this gives you so much time to do all the other stuff. Spending your days on the internet, simply browsing and looking at video’s or pictures is also over. For the internet in Shanghai was so drastically slow, it makes it so time consuming you simply leave it be.

University life is very different from in the Netherlands. The classes are hands on and you really need to prepare. Part of the grade ranging from 20 to 50 percent of the grade includes; class attendance and class participation. This means you need to answer questions and show up for class. This does not automatically count for all lectures but it does for the majority. Some teachers give out surprise quizzes, which you need to complete before you leave. Its mainly done to check attendance but the quizzes are marked and affect your class participation grade!The university takes up very little time as far as lectures are concerned. For every class there is only 1 lecture a week which consists of 2 hours in a smaller classroom with roughly 30-40 students. We exchange students always sit at the front because the Chinese students always arrive earlier than we do and occupy the back rows. They do this because most of them simply sleep during lectures. The most memorable phrase I will probably hear in my life is when our lecturer said: “And now a question for the exchange students because all my Chinese students are sleeping.” We looked back and indeed all of them were heads down on their desks!

The end

I've been putting this off for way too long, because this will mark the definite and final end of my exchange period.

I wanted to talk about how I felt after leaving South-Korea, and how I feel about the country after a while of adjusting to the life back in the Netherlands.

My friends left the dormitory and the country a day before I left, which is exactly one month ago. We had a goodbye party the evening before, which was very emotional. All the girls cried when we had to part and the entire evening was a little awkward with a 'last-time' atmosphere.
It certainly hasn't gotten much easier for me to get back into the rhythm at home. I purchased a smart phone with the sole purpose of keeping in contact with everyone there. I even made a facebook, a social network which I used to resent, but it is not the same.

I know I'm sounding really melancholic and I can imagine many people will feel as if I am over-reacting, but I can say I made some friends there who I will never forget.

Am I Chinese?

One of the assignments of our exchange is to describe the different stages we experience while being abroad. The first stage being the honeymoon period; arriving here everything is different and all experiences are new and exciting. This was very true for me in the beginning, having hardly slept on the plane I arrived at 7 am in the morning and stayed awake until the early hours of the following day! Mainly due because you arrive in an environment where you need to keep going. One needs to get registered, find your room, explore your surroundings and make new friends. This is especially difficult and exciting when you are in an environment where you do not speak the language and the culture is drastically different from what you are used to.

Hong Kong

My trip to Hong Kong I had planned well in advance, I had arranged to be there when my uncle would also be there so he could show me around the city where he has stationed his company and one of his factories. I fly to Hong Kong for roughly 90 euro’s each way which for European standards can be considered reasonably cheap! Arriving in Hong Kong you immediately notice the cleanliness of the place. They are extremely cautious of infection and bacteria, there are signs everywhere: indicating the amount of times the conveyer belt is disinfected per day, the fine for spitting in public (as the Chinese often do) and the fine for littering. The city is clean and calm for Shanghai and Beijing standards, people wait in line, no one pushes or shoves. People are polite and say thank you and beckon you to go in front. Everyone is in harmony and it does not matter which nationality, race, age or gender you are.

Beijing

My trip to Beijing with my girlfriend begins with a 1300km train ride from Shanghai Hongqiao to Beijing South Railway station, luckily the ride travels at a speed of 300 kilometers per hour so the ride takes less than 5 hours. It was nice to show her what the Chinese are able to build. The Chinese have been busy over the last few decades to build large landmarks that prove Chinese engineering and moral. The Bullet train ride only costs 65 euro’s each way, the seats are like an airplane and all face in the forward direction, they are turned around as the train stops to face the other way on the journey back. It’s quite an experience with all the Chinese surrounding you carrying their packets full of meat and treats for friends and family in the other of the two cities.

In Shanghai we had been so busy visiting sights, meeting friends, going to clubs and along all of this studying. We were so exhausted that the first two days we spend relaxing and enjoying being together after so long. We ate at our hostel and the next days just walked around the city center. The first thing we visited was the Olympic City. The Watercube after the Birdsnest were very impressive and it was nice to see it up close. It was hard to imagine it being packed with so many people from all over the world for the opening ceremony. It’s a shame that the huge stadium is no longer in use, apart from being a tourist attraction. After the Olympic city which is only accessible by tuk tuk, because the metro line to the city is closed and therefore no longer in use, we visited the center of the city. Walking through the main shopping street which, after seeing East Nanjing Road in Shanghai, is a little disappointing. But the food market is one of a kind. Live scorpions on a stick along with a wide variety of other bugs which can be eaten after being deep fried alive.Arriving at Beijing we notice instantly some of the main differences between Shanghai and the Capital namely the price and the crowdedness. Firstly tickets for the subway are half the price of what they are in Shanghai, 2RMB which boils down to €0,25 and for students its only 1,2RMB, too bad we found that out once we got back in Shanghai! Secondly, in Beijing it does not matter what day or time of day it is, it’s always busy in the subway. We thought that we knew what crowded meant when we saw people pushing and elbowing their way in the subways at rush hour in Shanghai but that just a normal ride in the subways of Beijing.

The third day went a little more according to plan; we left early on a prescheduled tour of the city and the wall. We had booked a small group tour but because we arrived out of season we were the only participants. This meant that we received a private tour of first Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and later the Great Wall. All of which were equally impressive, our guide spoke slowly because his English was not all too great. The Forbidden City is overwhelming; buildings are huge and show the vastness of the Ming Dynasty. Along with the huge Tiananmen Square which in China, in contrary to the rest of the world, is famous for being next to the final resting place of Mao Zendong, not at all for the reasons the rest of the world knows of its existence. These phenomenons are a constant reminder of the influence the Chinese have on their people.

After the square and the city we drove a long way to the wall, stopping on the way to look at a jade factory. The wall was even more impressive than the previous two sites. We visited the original wall in Inner Mongolia, but this was something completely different. This wall has been restored and maintained and is a very impressive sight to see. We had 3 hours to walk up and down the wall so we had to hurry, it’s a long way to the top and we needed a few rest stops which were more than welcome to enjoy the sights. Once at the top we were however more than rewarded by the beautiful views and finally some fresh air!

It was a shame that our visit had to end the day after, our train would leave at 3pm so we decided to take all of our stuff and visit the Summer Palace before left. It was a big mistake, I had to carry our 20kg carry on all the way up the summer palace hill and then through the sights to the subway and then finally sleep in the train. The Palace was quite impressive and beautiful its located on a hill next to a lake. It includes a more than 700m painted gallery, several temples, halls and other recreational buildings. The most impressive thing about the 2,2 square kilometer vast lake is that it is entirely man made! The soil used to excavate the lake was used to build the large hill on which the palace is build. As mentioned before these large and extensive builds just keep showing the power of the Chinese.

We enjoyed our time together; it was much needed after being apart from so long. After our trip to Beijing we had a few more days in Shanghai but then her time here in China also had to end.

Visitors

My mom, brother and later my girlfriend finally came to visit me in Shanghai! This was a relief because I missed them quite a bit! I managed to wait with visiting the main sights here in Shanghai because I knew I’d have to visit them with my mom, dad, brother and girlfriend. All of them would be picked up my mom and brother were first to visit. What pleased me the most was that I was finally able to show them some of the things I told them about such as; the pushing and pulling to get in the subways, the constant spitting on the street and the little corner shops and street food sellers. Let them experience a slice of my Shanghai that was my goal. I had such a wonderful time with them and was sad to see them go after only 8 days. During their stay I was extremely busy with the University. I had so much homework to do during their stay. I would wake up at 8 to travel around 45 minutes to their hotel which was located in the center of the city, People’s Square. We would then go sightseeing through the city and at the end of the day I would then take one of the last subways home. Arriving home at eleven at night I would study until 3 in the morning then quickly get some sleep and the next day again. It was quite exhausting but the only way to make the most of their stay while not affecting my school work.

Most memorable was also the scooter ride I took with my little brother to and from the university. Being only 15 years of age I let him ride my scooter through the busy streets of Shanghai which was quite a frightening experience, seeing as he had never before ridden a scooter! The other highlight that stands out over the rest was the Shanghai ERA Acrobatic Performance. A friend of mine had managed to get me amazing seats to the jaw dropping performance! I think they both also enjoyed our trip to Hangzhou where we cycled round the lake and got to enjoy the sights of West Lake. For them though, I think, the best were the trips to the various fake markets. Haggling with the shop owners and constantly being amazed by the vast variety of products available for next to nothing prices. They were so keen to make sure they had enough presents and gadgets that even on our way back to the airport we had to make a small detour to get the final things from the market! Thank you both again so much for coming!

With the first group of visitors out the door it was only two days later that finally my girlfriend came to visit me! Those two days were spent being extremely busy with homework because I did not want to do the same as I had done during the previous week. This was made even more difficult because another friend came who also wanted to spend time with me during those two days of rest. We went out every night even the night before my girlfriend would arrive! I came home at 4, it was carnival but it meant I had only two hours of sleep in for I had to be at the airport at 8 to pick her up. Luckily she was worn out from the flight so we had a relaxing first day.

With Joske, my girlfriend, it was pretty much the same routine; the Pudong Boulevard, the skyscrapers, East Nanjing Road, fake market, temples and restaurants, nothing was spared. Luckily she would stay more than two weeks so we had time to spread it out and avoid having such a hectic schedule. I was so pleased that I was able to show her where I lived and showing her what is beyond my living room wall, for this is all she saw when we would Skype. She got to meet my friends, join me in class to the university, and most importantly get a taste of Shanghai Nightlife. I’m sure the Crazy Vodka Party will not soon be forgotten!

To do something special together we decided to take go away for a few days, just the two of us, and visit the capital of China, but more on that in my next blog.

[PHOTO BLOG] Seoul Lantern Festival 2011

From the 4th of November until the 20th, the Seoul Lantern Festival took place. It's a very popular event, with an enormous amount of gorgeous lanterns which are put into Cheonggyecheon stream. The types range from historical buildings to superheroes to fairytales and many more. I'll let the pictures do the talking from now on.

What still freaks me out

I know it has been really long since I last wrote a blog, and I think it is about time for a new one.

We have been asked (already some time ago, but I am still going to write about it) to write about how we feel about our host country now. There were 4 phases an exchange student was said to go through: the honeymoon phase; the negotiation phase; the adjustment phase; the mastery phase.

After returning from Inner Mongolia

After a tiresome but unforgettable week in Inner Mongolia, life in Shanghai could go on. This really is one of the most diverse places to live. I eat twice a week at our local Muslim restaurant. Freshly made noodles with vegetables and meat, however what kind of meat you are never quite sure, the only thing you know for sure is that it’s not pork! Other days you eat at the Park Hyatt, located on the 101^st floor of the highest building in Shanghai. These are just some of the large differences in standards Shanghai has to offer.

The city never sleeps and is never dull, that is one way to describe this place. You go to a house party of a friend of a friend and you meet a guy who works at the German Embassy. After a few beers he informs you about a German Conference that will be held the next day. With the promises of free beer and German sausage we head out. We end up that day at the garden Intercontinental Hotel in the Expo area of Shanghai. Surrounded by skyscrapers we stand in this beautifully decorated garden drinking Paulaner Weizen and having some traditional German sausages and sauerkraut. Mingling with German expats stationed here in Shanghai we have a wonderful night which off course ended with a large bus taking us to Zapatas a notorious Shanghai Expat club!

VIDEO BLOG: Daily commute in Korea

Since my dorm is about 25 minutes away from the university here, I thought it would be nice to record my daily trip to the university for future students and other people who might be interested. Click "Read more" to see the video.

Inner Mongolia blog long overdue

Dear all,

I've been crazy busy the last month and don't know where to start. At the end of September I started of on my first trip. After heavy discussion, me and four of my friends decided to go to Inner Mongolia, which is located in the north of China. We did not go to Hainan or Macau or the Yellow mountains because these are traditionally the more tourist places and seeing as we were traveling in the 7 Day National Holiday we thought it would be wiser to avoid those places. So we left by plane with a company called China-SSS which in my personal opinion can be referred to from now on as China-Ass. I must mention it is the RyanAir of China but the trip was not pleasant. Throughout the flight someone was screaming nonstop through the microphone in Chinese, it turned out this was advertisement and the seats were smaller than anything I have ever experienced. I’m 1.85m and I could not sit straight and had to sit sideways to fit into those ‘for Chinese made’ seats. Just another way of experiencing Chine!

Culture shock, or the lack thereof

I’m sure everyone has heard of culture shock, it is the difficulty people have adjusting to a new culture which differs greatly from their own. In general, people tend to go through four major phases when going through culture shock; the honeymoon phase, the negotiation phase,  adjustment phase and finally the mastery phase.

It differs per person whether someone goes through these stages and also to which extent one experiences these different stages. 

Singa after three months!

All the group projects are due the coming weeks, we have only one week of lectures left and the finals finish in 20 days….. AAAAH the Singapore experience is coming to an end!!!! How crazy is this, as I can remember arriving as the day of yesterday. Everything about Singapore seemed exciting and perfect, well now we know better ;). My parents and brother visited me last week and they pointed out the cultural differences to me again, while for me this all got normal and I’m used to it. We spend 5 days in Bali and 6 days in Singapore and it was good to show them all the places I’m spending my time here.

It’s hard to get a real impression of Singaporean people as they have very different personalities, but especially act differently in different contexts. In school I found out that there is a huge difference between the students in my marketing/business classes and my sociology class. In marketing and business they are not that keen on working with exchange students, they are competitive and go for their own success. In sociology class I made some true friends, we have lunch together, we talk about various topics and I get the feeling they actually do fun things next to their study and CV boosting activities. This is quite rare here in SMU!

Short blog: Everything is going its course

It has once again been quite a while since my last blog. Since the last blog I’ve gotten the results of my midterms which have all gone very well; all my grades were above the average of the classes so I am very satisfied with my academic results.

Back to Business

After ten fantastic days of acclimatization, enjoying the city and going out a lot, it was time to find an apartment and getting ready for Peking University. On Sunday during my long search for five minutes, a message popped up on the Facebook page of our exchange (yes we have Facebook here, thanks to the VPN of Tilburg University :). The message was from a small cute Norwegian girl, who looked for a flat mate. Exactly in the area I wanted to live in, between the university and the lively student area Wudaokou. One phone call, a taxi ride of €2,30 and forty minutes later, I had an apartment!!! Yes lucky bastard, were the words of many people who had been looking for an apartment like this for many days.
Two days after that was the introduction and the registration on the campus of Peking University, which they call “Beda” here. The campus is huge and beautiful, with its big lake, small bridges and old Chinese style buildings.

The main building of our business school: Guanghua School of Management is, on top of that, the fanciest one of all. Registration and the campus tour where not impressive, however

Sinchon

This blog will be a little different.
I here present you a video for you to enjoy, about the area 'Sinchon' which is the area that is mostly visited by students from our university, Yonsei. All of the bigger universities have these designated "area's" which are usually named after the uni it belongs to. For example, Ehwa, the womens university close to us, has "Ehdae". Hongshik, another university close to us, has "Hongdae".
Hope you guys like it!