BLCU - skype and hot water

[tarur]

Hi,

I have a couple of questions to those who have studied in short course or lived in BLCU recently.

1. Does Internet cafes in BLCU have Skype available?

2. It's forbidden to do any cooking in dorm rooms, right? Is there always hot water available in dorms?

3. There is a test in the beginning to find an appropriate level group to each student? What is the test like before short courses? Consisting of which parts and how long time? Can it be compared to HSK tests?

[Craig]

I havn't seen any internet cafe computer with Skype installed but if you have a laptop you can use it anywhere there is internet (room, cafe ect).

Not sure about the dorms since i never lived in one, but i do know they have hot plates on each floor of the foreign students dorm.

Yes there is a test at the start of the year, it is a Mock HSK and is almost identical in format and time to the intermediate.

[galaygobi]

Just finishing up the 20-week program at BLCU right now. Regarding the test, I was told when I registered back in December that it would be a mock HSK. However, the test I received was basically a bunch of words in hanzi, and you have to write the pinyin. My conversation test basically went like this (in Chinese of course):

How long have you studied in China?

What school did you study at?

Are you of Chinese descent? (Since I look Chinese )

The test is a pretty bad way to gauge level since recognizing characters and writing pinyin doesn't say alot.

[stephanhodges]

AFAIK, you can also run Skype from a usb memory stick. So, you don't need to install it.

[tarur]

Thanks a lot, Stephanhodges

for this valuable piece of information!! Skype really seems to work from a memory stick!

[roddy]

You'll not necessarily have a USB socket in internet cafes though.

[stephanhodges]

You'll not necessarily have a USB socket in internet cafes though

Ahh, I wondered about that. I thought that if the connection speeds were generally pretty high, that they'd also have fairly modern computers

[redpixel]

The "official" BLCU internet café, on the bottom floor of JiaoYiLou (ZhuLou), has fairly modern computers and USB sockets available. They also have quite a large number of programs installed if you go to a folder on the desktop called GongJu or something like that (they are not on the Start menu though). For Skype I'm not sure if it's installed or not, but if you can run it from a USB stick it shouldn't be a problem. MSN and other messengers are available. If you want a webcam they also have a few webcam computers available, but at a higher rate (3Y per hour instead of 2Y per hour, provided that you have a card).

It's forbidden to cook in your campus room. Hot tap water is (in theory) available at all times and from 8:00-22:00 or so you can get thermoses with hot drinkable water in the washroom.

[etcetera24]

Communal kitchens on each floor... I believe kitchens in old dorms have a little double burner gas stove while kitchens in the new dorms use hotplates.

No communal fridge but you have a little one in your room.

Theoretically no cooking allowed in dorm rooms but my Korean roomate cooked elaborate meals in our room all the time using a little hotplate and didn't get into trouble. Although I don't recommend this if you want to remain on good terms with your roommate -- I hated how the smell of onion and kimchi permeated everything, especially since she never opened the window.

[Madot]

The prices mentioned for the "official" BLCU cybercafe sound wonderful but I was going to bring my laptop which has Wifi. Does anyone know about BLCU "hot spots" and what, if anything, they might cost?

Mado

[Madot]

Yes, I've given in. No point in bringing a laptop with a broken screen and hoping to have it repaired. I am buying a new one.

Mado

[roddy]

Not sure about hotspots on campus, but there are a ton a ten minute walk away in Wudaokou - look for cafes named Scuplting in Time, Cava, Lush, among many others. All free (bar the price of your coffee)

[tarur]

Thanks redpixel,

now I can relax. I don't want to cook in my room but I need to have a cup of coffee in the morning without leaving the dorm. If thermoses and hot drinkable water is available in dorms it is enough.

[etcetera24]

No problem with getting hot drinking water in the room - the old dorms had thermoses of water while the new dorm is actually equipped with electric kettles.

Convenient for making 方便面 to kill off late night hunger pangs