Hunan University

[dtanak]

Hey guys I wanted to hear from people who really live in Changsha and or Hunan uni.

I'm currently studying in Beijing, I love this city, I've been here for 4 years, I feel my everything is here.(friends, teachers, ma fav. place to eat to hang, my gym...) But now I may have to move, I got so many stuff, like refigerator, diandongche etc....

I got a scholarship, I am really happy about it. but I didn't think I would get sent to another uni. Hunan uni., i know its a great school, but the whole starting over again thing is so hard and when I just got used to everything in Beijing. Just when I declaired Beijing as the city I love.

So people in Changsha please help get to know Hunan uni. and Changsha.

1.In Hunan uni. do the foreign kids take classes with the Chinese kids? cause in my current school( central uni. of economics and finance) all of the classes r sepparate, making it easy and not embarrissing to ask any kind of questions in class.

2.How is the dorm? roomy? bathroom per room? shower? roommates? can i choose to live alone? internet? privacy? r the main doors locked after a certain hour? food? teachers? campus? weather

3.How about the foreign student there? r there many? from which countries? r they nice?

4. the people there(in changsha) r they mostly old?

5. Living cost?

6.Shopping, places to hangout, gym, rockclimbbing, swimming?

well, please tell me everything uknow, it would help me alot know, THANKS GUYS!

[RahRah]

hey, one of my friends sent me an email with all of your questions because I live right down the road from HuDa and he thought I might be able to answer some of your questions. First, I need to ask you a couple questions to understand your situation: 1) are you studying Chinese language or are you studying an actual major? 2) if you're studying a major, are you undergrad or grad?

Changsha is very different from BJ. So, I think not expecting it to be like BJ is really important to liking this city. I've been living in this city for over 7 years now and one of the things I like most about it is that it is so un-Western. It really feels like China. In the last couple years, we've started getting a few more Western fastfood places and Starbucks, and I actually work in an American coffee shop. But, in general, the lifestyle here is pretty Chinese. There aren't many foreigners in Changsha- probably about 2,000 if you count the Germans and others living in the far distant suburbs. But, the foreigners that are here tend to be very friendly to other foreigners and since there are only a few places where the foreigners hang out, it's pretty easy to find the foreign community. And, the Changshanese are mostly very warm-hearted toward foreigners and will be eager to help you with anything you need. You might very possibly be the first foreigner they've ever talked to.

I think the foreign students at HuDa are mostly SE Asian, some Africans, some Koreans and Japanese, some from the Middle East, some Europeans, and a few Americans. I think the HuDa foreign student community is about 100 people. The two schools on either side of HuDa, being Central South and Hunan Normal, both have programs for foreigners to learn Chinese, each program having between 100 to 150 students. I think Central South also has quite a few foreigners getting their master's.

The main drawback to Changsha is the weather. Foreigners and Chinese alike all say the weather is terrible. The summers are hot and the winters are cold and most places don't have a/c or heat.

One of the best things about Changsha is the food... as long as you can eat spicy. The food here is great. It's super oily, but if you can get past that, the flavors are amazing. Another great thing about Changsha for you is that the cost of living will be much lower than BJ. Changsha is getting more and more expensive, but everything is still much cheaper than BJ.

As far as things to do in Changsha, there's tons of 'entertainment' type stuff because Changsha is famous for it's tv and ktv and bars and clubs. People actually fly here from other cities for our bars/clubs. Other than that, there's the 'mountain,' which is actually a big hill, but nice. And, there's tons of Chairman Mao places you can visit.

k. I gotta run. If you get to town and need a place to hang out and get adjusted, you're welcome to stop by our coffee shop. It's called the Fifth Tone and we're on XinMinLu. You can find a map on Douban.