BLCU Fall 2010

[Stitch]

Unfortunately, I am busy with work today, but I am always open to meeting new people. I'll post my number again for anybody who wants to get in touch with a fellow English speaker: 155 010 99533. For those who also want to meet and aren't hesitant about posting your phone number, this may be as good a place as any to do so.

jmhcali, is the Friendly Cafe different from Hope Cafe? I tend to go to Hope Cafe every other day for lunch or dinner.

I just came back from lunch with some local friends, who showed me a Cantonese restaurant just to the west of BLCU. The prices are higher than those of the on campus restaurants, but the food was quite good. It's in the same plaza as a pizza place and across the street from a "Mr. Pizza." Maybe we can also build a small database here of local places we find and our personal reviews.

[jmhcali]

Hope Cafe, I meant. Anyway I'll be there, yellow shirt girl with cellphone, scratching my mosquito bites.

[Stitch]

Sorry I wasn't able to meet you jmhcali. I wanted to meet people today, but I had a hike with some coworkers up to the top of the Fragrant Hills, and after that I was pretty wiped out. Hopefully people from the forum can get together sometime soon after more people get settled in with their various housing arrangements. No rush, most of us have around 6 months to a year here.

[jmhcali]

No worries, I didn't get there until almost 7:45 anyway, so I wasn't expecting to meet anyone by that point. I got a call at 6:30 from a friend on Skype and she wanted to tell me all about What The Dog Did, etc.

[ksl0588]

Hey guys, is it true that dorm17 is much cheaper than conference center?

[Jess]

The conference centre is 115RMB/night if you stay for 120 days or longer, this is the same price as Dorm 17. If you are staying for less than 120 days then it is more expensive.

[Stitch]

Went with some local friends to Sanlitun over the weekend and picked up a few DVDs. Getting a little movie night together with some of our fellow students. Anybody who wants to join is welcome, just send me a text beforehand so we can get a feel for the number of people: 155 010 99533. I've got Salt with Angelina Jolie, Green Zone with Matt Damon, Repo Men with Jude Law and Forest Whitaker, Kick Ass with Nicholas Cage and Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Fogell in Superbad), and The Expendables with seemingly every action movie star ever ever. I also have the HBO miniseries Generation Kill, but that's too long for one night. Also, since it seems like dorms rooms are small all around, if anybody has any ideas for where to set up a laptop to watch the movies, let me know. I'll scope out the library in a few minutes and see if they have any rooms.

[ksl0588]

Oh okay coz i live in the conference center at the moment and I payed a total of 12750 for around 3 months stay. hehe was just wondering how much it in dorm 17

[ksl0588]

anyone else stayin here at the conference center?

[Jess]

Yep I am, but only until the end of the month when I move into an apartment

[Yan88]

Hi all

My names Yan and I'll be studying at BLCU for 12 weeks in September! Im arriving on Monday from New Zealand and am staying in a hotel for a week until i find a more permanent place! I'm keen to find an apartment of some sort close to the University so if anybody is keen also do let me know. I'm really looking forward to meeting new people! If you guys are around I'm keen to meet up! Just give me an email y.ong88@hotmail.com

[iLLBunch]

Hi guys,

My name is Matt, from Milan, Italy.

I arrived here 2 days ago and I'm going to attend the short term intensive course from the 16th of sept.

I've been fightin' with the jet lag but now I'm feeling better, so I'd like to know if getting a room in the dorms is as crazy as I heard.

I tried to call from home a week ago, but they told me that everything is booked...gosh!

The second problem is about the tuition fee : I was planning to send a back transfer from my bank in Italy, but now I see that they want the original of the payment receipt...and if I send the payment with my bank in Italy it will be impossible to have the original.

Is it a good solution to open an Bank Of China account and then send the payment from there?

I need to find a way as soon as possible, as I have to register between the 13th and the 15th of this month....

3rd issue : how does it work with China Mobile?

I went there today and the guy (who could barely speak english) tried to sell me a card with 300 minutes/month of conversation for 7 months for 880 rmb.

I was not so sure about it, so he told me he could do it for 600...I said I needed to think about it, as it wasn't clear how the price could drop of the 30%!

Was he tryin' to scam me or did I lose a bargain?

Thanks for the help, see ya soon! ;)

Matt

[alisa b]

Guys, I'll take semester language course at BLCU. Can't decide between Regular and Intensive courses, can anybody describe the diffrence. how many people at the class at the Intensive courses. Thanks.

[ynnamari]

Ni Hao!

I'm staying at the Conference Center too.

I'm taking the intensive one semester course in Mandarin.

Does anyone else stay in the CC?

[alisa b]

Hi)

Thanks for your post. It's really useful. I can't decide between Intensive and Regular courses. can you describe me the differance between them.

Looking Forward For Your Answer

Alisa

[camilla]

Hi everybody!! i just arrived beijing, i'll take the regular course for this semester. but i don't want to stay at the dorms. Is anybody looking for a roommate?

I'm 26, italian, very easygoing!! for now i'm staying in a rathole of hotel near the subway station but tomorrow i'll enroll and leave the place!

[VivianP]

Hi ynnamari

I'm also staying at the Conference Center, just checked in today. Doing the same course as you - intensive. Perhaps I'll meet you soon at the tests on Thursday? I'm Vivian from Australia How about you?

Alisa - have you enrolled yourself in the intensive or regular? Coz if you're on the intensive they won't let you change to regular but you can upgrade of course because they get more money. I'm trying to go down to regular just so I have a bit more time to do other things outside of school but they won't let me. Also the intensive course is a bit of a rip off compared to regular course (RMB 11,600 for 20hr per week regular course, versus RMB19,100 for 30 hr per week intensive course so its a lot more money). You can get private tuition outside for cheaper and more flexible - but that means your regular course will still go slower than the intensive guys. So the question is how much you want to learn, if you have anything you want to do outside of learning mandarin, and how much you want to spend.

Hope that helps.

Viv

[travelgirl]

hey everyone..!!!

i also arrived yesterday and so far it's very difficult here.The worst think is that i book my room in build.17 and pay an amount before i come here but they gave me a double one.What the hell???I don't if anyone agrees with me but the ones that are in front desk suck!!!!!! :angry:

i m also to the intensive course.see you guys in replacement test.I m the only greek girl so you gonna find easy

hope while time goes things will be better

[bnjmn]

hey everyone..!!!

i also arrived yesterday and so far it's very difficult here.The worst think is that i book my room in build.17 and pay an amount before i come here but they gave me a double one.What the hell???I don't if anyone agrees with me but the ones that are in front desk suck!!!!!!

i m also to the intensive course.see you guys in replacement test.I m the only greek girl so you gonna find easy

hope while time goes things will be better

welcome to china, you'll find out quickly that service in china is not the best in the world. "fuwuyuans" in restuarants,service desks etc. in china do not know how to treat and deal with foreign customers, they are not there to help you if it would be a hassle to them and usually try to pass responsibility to others or lie to get you away, and most times makes you frustrated. have to get used to it, its their culture and way to survive here. but i must say, dorm 17 fuwuyuans are one of the nicer ones here in china, speaking a little english and sometimes like to have small conversations.

also, dorm 17 single rooms are known to be impossible to get, and seems like the only way is through an agent (i did). seems like you went through an agent, should talk to them about the room situation. most times you have to fight to get what you want.

3rd issue : how does it work with China Mobile?

I went there today and the guy (who could barely speak english) tried to sell me a card with 300 minutes/month of conversation for 7 months for 880 rmb.

I was not so sure about it, so he told me he could do it for 600...I said I needed to think about it, as it wasn't clear how the price could drop of the 30%!

Was he tryin' to scam me or did I lose a bargain?

sounds like a scam. there's a post someone about how to get a card on this forum.

i dont remember how i got my china mobile as it was a year ago when i barely understood chinese and someone helped me, but i know you would want to get a prepaid card 'sim ka', and getting a new number costs vary between like 60-200? depending on the popularity of the mobile number. if you're not chinese and superstitious, you can go for the cheapest one which would probably have lot of '4's in the number im guessing. and then topping the card with 50/100 credit. depending on how much you call, a 100 should last 1-2months. im using a china mobile 'm-zone' package, which charges me 16kuai/month for i dont pay for incoming calls, and 15kuai for gps 150mb data - useful for my iphone.