Fudan University Accommodation

[diste01]

Cool, thanks Stephanie! I guess make up tests are those you possibly fail correct? Well I hope i wont have to be there during that time then

What are the criteria to keep the scholarship for the second year (if any)? If I go below certain level they'll take it off me or how does it work?

[stephenieyuan]

No problem. I'm not sure...I'll wait for Edhi to answer those questions, since I haven't entered yet, either.

[philo_fd11]

Sama-sama!

A bit correction:

Terima kasih banyak ya! Aku tidak bisa berbicara bahasa Indonesia sangat sehat. Hanya sedikit!

"Sangat sehat" means very well but in the sense that you're not sick, we usually say "dengan baik" very well or "dengan lancar" fluently instead.

I used to teach Indonesian for ex-pats back home,

You're welcome, Stephanie!

Winter break: correct! it starts from January 19th 2013 - February 17th. There's also two important holiday this autumn semester: Mid Autumn Festival (Sep 30) and National Day (Oct 1) there'll be a week-long holiday around those dates. But if you want to travel on this holiday, plan ahead!

Make up tests (hopefully you don't need them *finger crossed*) & registration for spring semester: see stephanie's latest post!

"Reading week" Fudan apparently doesn't have that policy but the last two weeks of each semester (this autumn semester: Jan7 to 19) are reserved for exams, so we don't have class! The good news is English MA (EMA) courses usually finish early in autumn because most of the student want to be home for Christmas. But every department has different policy regarding this issue. As for my dept. (philosophy), all EMA courses finished by the third week of Dec. last autumn semester.

And a bit bad news for Stephanie, undergrad programs are tend to stick to the calendar so it's not very likely that you finish your classes before christmas

Course structure, course listing and enrollment:

Consult your dept. website for more precise information about course structure but all of EMA students have to take Chinese language courses in their first two semester. Well, that's a good chance to meet EMA student from other dept.

To see course listing and enrollment, go to:

http://yjsxk.fudan.edu.cn/wsxk/login.jsp

yes, after registration, you'll get your student ID by then that you can use to login to that website. The downside: the website doesn't have english version.

The website is for grad students, undergrads have to login from different website.

Traveling: have you heard of http://ctrip.com for cheap air tickets. Well, http://www.airasia.com doesn't have flight from/to Shanghai, the nearest airport is Hangzhou (about 1hr ride by super fast train). Also, http://www.china-sss.com Spring Air, the only low cost carrier in China, offers great deals for both domestic and international routes. They recently launch Shanghai - Bangkok route.

PS: Do you Facebook? Add me if you do. There's some info about scholarship student that I'd like to share (not publicly)

[diste01]

See...my broken Indonesian...Could I say "Aku tidak bisa berbicara bahasa Indonesia bagus?" or that'd still be incorrect? I'll add you on FB in a second.

Regarding holidays, you mentioned we might have time off around sep 30 oct 1 - any idea when exactly? I definitely wanna go travel if possible.

Sounds good with finishing early on EMA program. I'll be doing Chinese Economy. I had no plans of going back home this year as my parents want to come next year but I actually might do that! Or else study for exams instead and go home in January. 5 weeks break sounds absolutely amazing!

Hope I'll manage to sign up for courses... as you know I speak/read/write 0 chinese! It's going to be fun!

I looked at Spring Air btu didn't find them that cheap - was looking at flights to Japan. I noticed that China Eastern has lots of promos on domestic flights from time to time. And on top of that some philippino low cost airlines are having well priced tickets too! Wish there was some cheap flights to Mongolia. Regarding Air Asia, Im not a big fan actually. Used them many times and noticed that unless they have some massive promos their prices aren't that good anymore in my opinion. For example, Bangkok - Bali in high season now costs around $400 with Air Asia whereas Thai Airways is around $50 more but the difference in service is huge. However, if they have some reasonably priced flights from Hangzhou I'll definitely use them!

What about the issue of keeping the scholarship? What are we expected to do to keep them for the second year?

[philo_fd11]

It's very likely that we'll have a week of on the first week of Oct. But to be sure, we have to wait for official announcement from the Uni. at least a week before the actual holiday.

Don't ask why

[philo_fd11]

By the way, guys, don't forget to check ISO website for:

1. your student number

2. schedule for photo session for your student ID. Don't miss the dates! And the most important thing: strike your best pose

[diste01]

oh that's late flights will go up 300% compared with today I guess... anyway gotta wait and see.

I've got my student number but what can i do with it? I cant seem to be able to login on the dorm webpage

When/how do we schedule a photo session for the ID? Cant I just give them my passport photo? Cant remember reading about this in the handbook.

[stephenieyuan]

For some reason, I can't access my fudan email using my student number and last six digits of my passport number. :/ I've been trying for so long, but it won't work. I also can't login into the freshman site using either my application number or my student ID.

[philo_fd11]

Maybe you guys still have to wait until you are officially registered as student.

For student ID photo: http://www.fso.fudan.edu.cn/new01.aspx?Id=400

note: non-ICES = degree students (both undergrad and postgrad)

Basically you just go on the designated date, tell the staff there your student number, check if there's name misspelling etc., then strike a pose. It's like posing for your passport or driving license, you can't just give them your photo. Come early to avoid long queue

I think it wasn't in my hadbook too last year because I almost missed that

[stephenieyuan]

On my foreign students handbook for undergrad students, it says that after entering university, we can ask our counselor. Thanks!! Also, I think they meant GuoDing Road instead of GuoDong Road. Thanks for the link, @philo_fd11

[diste01]

Sounds good! i'll need to put in all those dates in the calendar or spreadsheet. So much to remember, here and there.

And here is the question for $1million! I want to open a bank account in China in USD. Any ideas what I can do as a student?

I could open it up here in Thailand but fees are outrageous and I'd need to pay in USD20,000 into it right away. Maintenance fee USD30 a month... joke! As soon as I land in China my status from employed becomes a student... so I can forget Citi Bank and similar I guess...

I opened a double currency account in Bank of China last week (THB and RMB) but the card I got is Union Pay and RMB12 fee per transaction... I know I can use it everywhere in China but I guess I'll have problem with shopping online like flights and other things... The reason I opened it was not to travel with any cash and to have it directly in RMB (they have really good exchange rate!). Also keeping cash in RMB isn't something I wanna do although there're some rumours that it may appreciate in coming months so could be worth it.

Do you guys know anything about it?

My other option is to fly next week to Hong Kong and open a USD or HKG account for free in HSBC or Standard Chartered. You don't need to be a resident but have to come to HK by yourself and pay in around USD1000 to have it free. They won't open a bank account online. Then here comes a ticket USD300 or so for a flight, flights from Shanghai are looking similar + hotel + visit friends + go out and it's getting super expensive! This is not the amount of money I'd like to spend on opening a bank account...

Any tips or ideas what I could do? I have no clue what's available for me in China.

[philo_fd11]

First thing first,

In case it's not written in the handbook: Scholarship students have to set up an account at Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) Fudan branch (it's next to main gate) and report the account number to the ISO at designated time. Your monthly living stipend (and other allowance, if any) will be transferred directly to your account. The downside: There's no english-speaking staff and the application forms are all in Chinese so it helps to have a Chinese speaking person along to simplify the transaction. Come early to avoid long queue, there'll be Chinese-scale long queue around registration week since Chinese student also have to go there for tuition payment etc.

I personally don't have experience with opening USD account in China. But my friend set up an EUR savings account at Bank of China (BOC) here. So, I guees it's not difficult to establish savings account in foreign currency in China, or at least in big cities like Shanghai. Have you browsed BOC or ICBC websites?

[diste01]

Yeap this info is there. Agricultural Bank of China sounds so bad though. I'll research first before I say more but I don't think they'd have foreign currency accounts...

It sounds like nobody will speak english even in institutions like banks! Probably due to location but Fudan should do something about it... I mean, it's just common sense... no english at the dorm like you said... I also called in some time ago and heard some noise (chinese), so i say "can i speak to someone in english?" i received a simple "no". Then called again later and they gave the phone to some random student lol. They really need to put their shit together

I have checked BOC and ICBC sites briefly but to be honest no site is sufficient to know exactly whats up. Was just hoping to get some detailed info in case you guys did that before. There're always hidden fees, tips on "better" accounts and so on. Anyway, it's cool. I'll need to research a little more and figure out what I should do.

[diste01]

All right, my bad but we shifted away a bit from the dorm subject...

I wanted to get back to the issue of bringing back friends to dorms... I mean, I'll have some friends visiting now and then and even though I'll live in a small cage I don't mind if some stay with me. At the end of the day they come to hang out and explore a bit of the city while Im at uni, working, busy, whatever!

So in terms of security, are all dorms (main building + affiliated) in the same complex surrounded by a wall/fence etc? Just thinking if there's a secuirty at every building or there's 1-2 gates and thats where they're at + I'd imagine they're walking around. If someone comes visit it'd be good if I dont have to babysit them and so they could go to the shop or some other places by themselves without me with a student ID. Plan B however, is that if they cause problems I'll buy them a bottle of baijiu... i hope it'll work!

Also, any VPNs you can recommend for Mac? Ideally a free one of course

[stephenieyuan]

Haha, I don't know about the bank accounts...Can't help there! I have two bank accounts that I use just because I try not to carry cash on my and also for convenience. No idea about keeping money in USD. I have a BoA card, so I don't worry about that...

There are one or two security guards at the dorm gate on every shift. If you are a foreigner, you are more likely to get in without them stopping you, but you have to have a student card. Your friends can also pretend like they're talking and not even paying attention to the guards and just keep walking. You can also give them your card and tell them to give it back to you through a gate so you can get in, OR you can give them your card, let your friend go in first, and then go in. If they recognize you, they will let you in and maybe ask where your card is. If they ask, say you forgot it. They could also just let you in. I don't know, I've always gotten away with going in when I didn't live there because they recognized me and they were really nice about it. Sometimes, I would have to leave a personal document there like my license or something and sign in.

[stephenieyuan]

Also, freegate 31 is the one I'm using now and it's pretty good. I don't know about VPNs. I tried setting one up before I came and it didn't work

[diste01]

OK ill look into VPMs on this and other forums. There must be some commonly used by the majority.

In term of dorms/security issue, Im not really worrying about it that much. I just would prefer to know the situation before I get there. I speak 0 chinese and I reckon they speak 0 english so ill keep talking in english and they should let me go after a few times they should know my face if I try to catch eye contact and say hello or something. Unless the turnover is so bad they have new guards every week/month.

Cool then, things are looking good!

[stephenieyuan]

Yay! I'm so excited for school to start! Haha, I sound like a 5 year old, but I really am!

[diste01]

Same same, I finished my undergrad in 2010 so its been over 2 years now! Im ready to go back but more so Im looking forward to actually living in China, this experience sounds priceless!

By the way, to stay on topic, is the fence around the dorms "burglar friendly"? I think a few posts above you or Edih made a point about gates being closed and security guys sleeping. Are they ok to climb and jump over? Or they're one of those tall walls with broken glass on top?

[stephenieyuan]

I think there are those spikey wires at the top of them, not sure, but I don't think they are easy to climb. There's usually one security guard in the little station and one outside checking for cards.