BLCU scholarship students

[anniuska]

Hallo everybody! This forum is really useful and helpful... thanks to all of you!

I'm italian and my english is not perfect, so sorry about it...

I would like to ask, do anybody of you know where the scholarship students lives in the BLCU...

As the accomodation is payed by the government I think it is not not allowed for them to stay in the expensive buildings, is it right?

Thanks for your help!

Anna

[shadopup]

As a scholarship student you will stay in dormitory 1. It is similar to dormitory 2 next door which is only for Chinese students. Your living conditions are slightly better than your Chinese neighbours.

You are allowed to stay in the more expensive dormitories but you will have to pay the difference in price between the more expensive/better dormitory and dormitory 1. I know this because I accidentally stayed in one for a week.

I live in building 1 now. It's liveable but it is pretty subpar. I'm thinking of moving for the last two months of my stay to a nicer dorm with air conditioning. If you want I can describe to you the conditions of building 1. I have a few pictures and can take more if anyone is curious...

[anniuska]

Dear shadopup, thank you for your information! In few days I will know if I'll get the scholarship or not. I applyed for the scholarship through the Italian Ministry of foreign affairs, but the money are offered by the Chinese government...

I stayed in BLCU in the summer of 2004, and attended the 4 weeks language program and I stayed in building 5. The building was really dirty and there was a lot of cockroach...but I stayed there because it was only for a month... :-(

Are cockroach a problem of building 1 too?

I would be glad if you could explane me what are the differences between building 1 and building 5... and maybe post some pitcure too, it would be great!!

Thank you!!

Anna

[anniuska]

I've seen that you already posted building !1 conditions in this thread http://www.chinese-forums.com/showthread.php?p=68126#post68126,

I'm really scared by the cockroaches, I dont't think I could stay there for a year!!

Anyway, what's the price for a room there? so I can count, what's the price difference if I'll stay in nicer buildings...

Thanks!

Anna

[shadopup]

Cockroaches are thankfully a minor problem at least in my room. I just bought some creap cockroach traps from the local supermarket (Chao Shi Fa) that last up to 3 months and I haven't seen a cockroach since.

You will see the occasional bug in the public washrooms.

Since I don't pay I'm not entirely sure on the price but I think it's around 37Y/day

[Jikolp]

Hi!

I may stay at BLCU for a 4-weeks summer course /summer 2009/ and I admit I got a little bit scared while reading about cockroaches! I´ve got a scholarship (汉语桥奖学金) for 4 weeks and I would be really interested in the dormitories´ conditions.

Do summer short-term students with scholarship stay in the lowest ones? If I´m willing to pay the difference, how can I change room? (About how much does that cost?) Is that really possible, how much Chinese is needed? (Since by that time I will be around intermediate-lower intermediate level) In the room, is there a place where I could lock in my valuables? How´s it with internet? Is it extra charge to have (fast!) net in the room? Do rooms have a separate bathroom (that´s the most important!). I would be really interested, since I would not really want to spend those hopefully beautiful 4 weeks in a hole with cockroaches. Thanks a lot!!!

[eddie9684]

if your really afraid, then just pay the difference and stay in one better.....

and in all my time here in Beijing all ive seen is a mini cockroach, not like the ones that i used to see in my country...

when i stayed at building 9 like 1 month ago there was many scholarship students, so you may be living there, who knows..

[yueni]

I just got into China yesterday, and this is what the living conditions for scholarship students are from the scholarship. As a general scholar, we get a 2 person room. I am in building 9, and I think that that is where the bulk of the students live. Bathrooms and toilets are communal. There's a separate room for showers with 3 stalls, and another room with toilets, also 3 stalls. The toilets are all squatting toilets.

I am hoping to get a room in either dorm 7 (where the master's students live) or dorm 8 (where the PhD students live). Dorm 7 contains 2 person rooms, but they get private bathrooms. Dorm 8 are single person rooms with private baths.

A dorm 9 room costs 35 kuai a day for one year. A dorm 7 room costs 50 kuai a day for one year and a dorm 9 room costs 90 kuai a day for one year. To 'upgrade' you have to pay the difference. So if I can get a spot in dorm 7, then I have to pay 15 kuai extra a day to them.

Dorm 17 and the conference center are not included in this. If a scholarship student decides to live at either of those locations (or off-campus), they will lose the lodging portion of their scholarship. The money is not refunded to them. When I checked at the Conference Center, it costs 115 kuai for a period of 5 months or longer (the money is due in cash immediately; alternatively, you can pay 600 kuai as a 3 day deposit to get cash). Otherwise it's 198 kuai per day.

I should also add that they won't upgrade you if you come before classes start as they are still waiting for all the students to arrive to see what rooms they have available. So I'm having to wait a week. I was told to wait until 1 Sept to let them know if there are better rooms available. They will upgrade me at that time. =)

[Jikolp]

Well, I don´t know how it is with short-term (4 weeks) scholarship students.

Which Buildings have double/single rooms with separate bathroom?? To me B17 is not necessary, I just want to have my own bathroom, that´s all I need....

As for upgrading... hmmm, I don´t know. Waiting one week when I stay only 4 sounds weird a little bit. To be honest, I don´t understand why you simply can´t book a room.... The faster you are, the better you get and finito.

[yueni]

Which Buildings have double/single rooms with separate bathroom?? To me B17 is not necessary, I just want to have my own bathroom, that´s all I need....

Those are buildings 7&8. I think 4 and 6 also have private bathrooms as well.

As for upgrading... hmmm, I don´t know. Waiting one week when I stay only 4 sounds weird a little bit. To be honest, I don´t understand why you simply can´t book a room.... The faster you are, the better you get and finito.

This is because they give priority to Masters and PhD students for the better rooms. All of those rooms are already reserved for those students. I have to wait a week for school to start, which is when they know whether the Masters and PhD students have elected to remain in the assigned rooms or if they have decided to move off campus etc., and then they assign the rest of the students there.

For a 4 week scholar, I'm afraid I don't know what the procedure is.

[Ariane]

I'm in Dorm 9 too! I probably won't upgrade though. Just because I'm not planning on spending a lot of time in my dorm anyhow. If I'm only there to sleep, I don't really mind. The squat toilets are kinda scary, but I'm getting used to them. Though I am here for a year, so I'll probably stick it out for the one semester and see how that goes. I can always upgrade later.

[yueni]

Yeah, after a few days in dorm 9, I decided not to upgrade since it's free lodging. I'm used to squatting toilets, though the toilets in this dorm look pretty dodgy anyway. =P I guess it's a good thing they're not attached to our bedrooms?

[Ariane]

I can't even begin to imagine how awful that would smell.

I might actually be upgrading, I found another girl who wants to move out as well... of course, we're running into the chinese translation problem. But as far as I can tell, we just have to check at the housing office on september 1st and they'll tell us if we can switch around.

I have a friend who is in dorm 4 and I would LOVE to stay there, but I'm not sure if they'll let us pay the difference.

[yueni]

Good luck on getting moved. I'm not sure if dorm 4 & 6 are allowable for upgrades. I know that 7 & 8 are. I'm just going to stay put for now. The rooms aren't too bad, and it's not like I'm living in the toilets or bathrooms.

[kante]

moving to dorm 4 is possible.

i paid 800 yuan for 30 days to move from dorm 1 to 4

[nietzsche]

@ kante Hi, can you please tell me you upgraded to a double or single room for 800 RMB?

And is there anyone who can tell me the prices of upgradable dorms for scholarship students such as dorm 4, 6 or 8??

I'd really appreciate that.

Thanks

[kante]

i upgraded to a double room, single room would have been way more expensive.

if you are lucky, you get a good room mate...

I was not asked who I would like to stay together with but you could try to ask for the nationality... If there is a possibility, you should try to get an Asian room mate, most of them are nice, calm and clean.

Here are the prices for 4-6 weeks (per night):

dorm 4 (double room): 66 kuai (single room would be 120 kuai)

dorm 6 (double): 60 kuai

dorm 8 (obviously there are only single rooms): 110 kuai

where are you from and are you enrolled in this year's summer program?

[nietzsche]

Thanks a lot. I hope I can get a single room as soon as I arrive there because I have heard that they dont let you move before all other students arrive but I am thinking of a way to get the room I want and I dont think I'll get a roommate. I want to stay alone since I'll be staying there for a year. I'm from Turkey and I'm enrolled in the one year program. Thanks again for your help. By the way do you know anything about if it is possible for the scholarship students to move to one of the dorms you have mentioned? I emailed them and asked but no reply came out.

[kante]

I was a scholarship student as well (only summer course) and I could change my room ;) as already mentioned, i was in dorm 1 first, after one terrible night there, i moved to dorm 4.

if you stay there for one year, the price per night will be even a bit lower.

by the way, how did you obtain this scholarship for a whole year? i am also looking for something like that, but so far i have only found scholarships for students who have already enrolled in university. i am still in school and graduate next year, so i would like to stay one year in beijing, and after that study in university.

[nietzsche]

Well that's good news about changing dorms! Thanks.

And I applied the hanban via the Confucius Institute here, and I have been taking Chinese courses. My Chinese teacher wrote me a reference letter and I am a Master student studying on Asia, those maybe the reasons. Actually I was offered not a short term but only a long term scholarship.