Who's going to BNU for 07/2006?

[adrianlondon]

Yes, this thread is about BNU, not BLCU. All you BLCU'ers have enough of your own threads.

Also (wow, I'm in a stroppy mood today!) this thread isn't to ask questions about BNU, or start dates, or the teachers, or the accommodation etc - just use the search facility, dump in "BNU" and pick the correct thread; there's bound to be one already.

This thread is for people who are going to BNU starting September 2006.

BNU, aka Beijing Shifan Daxue, aka BeiShiDa, aka Beijing Normal University, aka 北京师范大学

I'm Adrian, 37, currently living and working in central London. I work in IT as a freelance consultant so will just stop work in August for 6 months. Hopefully the money will last!

Four years ago, I studied Mandarin for 1.5 hours a week via private tuition for 2 years. Although my teacher is Taiwanese, he knows pinyin and simplified characters. I also have a Taiwanese partner who knows neither of those, so isn't much use to me

I studied for two years, so a total of 90 hours. Not much, admittedly, and I'm very lazy so didn't do much homework. I stopped the tuition 2 yers ago as I was forgetting more each week than I was learning! We were using Practical Chinese Reader. Not the new edition, the old one. I got half way through volume 2.

I'll be doing one semester at BNU and hopefully my small amount of Mandarin skill will be enough to lift be away from the total beginners class. I'll find out when they test me before the course starts.

I get the feeling there won't be many fellow Westerners joining me at BNU; hence this post. To see if I can flush any out ;)

[Jamoldo]

Adrian, Im from the US and will also be at BNU this fall and probably through the spring. Feel free to send me a PM. Might not reply for a while as I am out of the US and have little internet access. Have you gotten any mail or forms yet? I have not been able to check my US mail for over a month so I have no idea if we are supposed to recieve anything at all...

others feel free to PM me too or respond...

oh and I'm a 22 year old university grad who is a big football (european) fan, for starters...

Cheers

[adrianlondon]

When you say you haven't received any mail or forms ... I assume you mean the visa document and the acceptance letter? Yep, I've received them.

You can check they've been posted online at the same place on their website you used to register in the first place. Assuming you registered online, of course!

[katenici]

My name is Kat, I'll be at BNU through June 2007. I'm here on the University of California program, although my home school is UW-Madison, they're just to lazy to create their own program. There's around 15 people staying here through fall semester, after that there's only another 4 or 5 staying on for the full year.

[KingKitega]

I'm going to BNU this fall with my wife.

We're currently working in Hong Kong at the moment but we're from the UK originally (moved to HK last year). We're 26 and think it's a good time to have a career break! The main aim for us is to learn about our roots (since we're BBC) for 6 months initially, and probably stay on for another semester - unless it really really sucks!

We've not studied mandarin before but can say one or two words (literally) but hopefully coming from a cantonese background will help a little.

Glad I found this forum and looks like there are quite a few of you out there going to BNU in September. Looking forward to meeting some of you in person!

[Jamoldo]

I dont know if I have gotten the forms yet. I have been away from home for 6 weeks and wont know until next wek when i get home and check my postal mail!

i guess i can check the website.

[adrianlondon]

Check the website.

And reserve your accommodation if you require it.

Also, it's worth noting that on the same website you can register for a free airport pickup on certain days.

[Jamoldo]

Adrian, whats the login and password. I cant find them in my email unless I wrote them down somewhere and the school never bothered to email me. Ive reserved a room in Lanhui...

[adrianlondon]

Did you apply online?

I did, and I registered with a name and password which has been used throughout.

I've never had an email - it's all been online and then the letter in the post.

I guess you could try and register and see if it can pick up your application. Or ... go home and get your post

[Jamoldo]

I did apply onmline. I have the feeling they just gave me a password and admission number and there was no email, that we were just supposed to save it, which i think i did on my laptop...

[CBC_girl]

Hi, I'm Sandra, 25 (will turn 26 the day classes start!) from Edmonton, Canada. I just received confirmation yesterday that I will be attending BNU for the 2006/07 school term and am super excited!

I don't have any background in Mandarin, and my childhood Cantonese has gotten rusty. This will be my first time in China.

I hope that I'll get the chance to meet some of you in Beijing! I chose BNU because according to my research there are fewer Western students (i.e. English-speakers) so I thought that it would be easier to learn Chinese. However, I think that I'm going to get lonely and conversation-deprived not being able to express myself fully through Chinese. So maybe I'll be able to get my English "fix" from someone here .

[enceeno]

hi guys,

I'm some chinese guy originally from Vancouver Canada...now working in Calgary Canada...trying to get back to my roots as well

I'm also going to be at BNU this september..and I can't wait! I actually haven't bought my plane ticket yet...but I'm pretty sure that'll happen tomorrow ...cross my fingers

I was in China last summer visiting my buddy (from university) who works there now...and I had a blast...and I'm sure the rest of you will too...I plan on it anyways

My mandarin...well, scant amounts I guess...I live with a mandarin speaking family so it helps ..but my vocab is definitely less than a 4 year olds...I know so bc the 4 year old girl of this family knows more than I do haha

Anyways...keep messaging..would be nice to get to know u guys..

[Jamoldo]

I'm from Baltimore Maryland and just graduated from university so I'm 22 years old. I spent last summer in Beijing taking some Mandarin courses through CET, though its safe to say that I have forgotten a fair share of it.

[hunxue]

I'll be there!

I'm a 21 year old American/Taiwanese with 1 year of (fading) Chinese experience. I also attempt to speak Portuguese and Japanese on occasion. All the travel preparations are finally complete; I have my ticket and my Visa should arrive Tuesday.

I'm still in disbelief... only six weeks or so until I leave the US for a whole year. I'm a little nervous and even more excited. Just bought a Canon Wordtank V80 for translating on the go. I was told it would be best to pack light and just buy clothes there. Also, someone suggested certain OTC medicines might be hard to find there, and I know multivitamins were pretty expensive in Taiwan. I'm assuming it would be legal to bring vitamins but I'm not sure where to check.

Lots of things to think about... I don't even know my class chedule and I don't see it anywhere on BNU's website. I'd like to know how much free time I'll have. Does anyone know anything about working as a student? I was supposed to complete an extensive TEFL course online before leaving but I'm pretty behind. Any extra cash would help immensely.

Anyway, I look forward to meeting some fellow BNU students though I'll probably be staying in an apartment off campus. Also, if anyone is interested in MMA, you'll probably find me here a lot. See you guys soon!

[roddy]

I count 7 so far, not bad

I'm not at BNU, but have lived nearby for over three years so I know the area fairly well - you may well see me plodding around campus at some point.

If you haven't seen them already, this topic on accomodation round and about might be useful, and there's a decent rundown on (wifi enabled) cafes as well.

Hunxue - clothes here are generally pretty cheap, and there's a number of places nearby to go shopping. Bringing in vitamins won't be a problem - extremely rare to even have your bags checked I think. As for working - chances are you will be fine. You'll certainly be able to pick up English tutoring work at the very least.

[crow610]

Yea for BNUrrrrs (just imagine the Beijing accent when you say this). I just graduated from UCSD and will be going on the 1 year program at BNU starting this fall. This will be my first time going to China after studying Chinese for 4 years in college. Looking forward to meeting some of you while studying at BNU.

[celine0123]

Nice to hear you guys want to study Chinese in BNU.I just graduated from BNU one year before,I have spent such wonderful time there.Now i am teaching chinese in Hangzhou,what a coincidence! I could never image i would teach chinese when i was in university.But i am very happy now,i like this job very much,and met a lot of interesting people!

For sure,BNU is a very nice choice for studying chinese there.Compared with other UNI,it's a tiny tiny campus,but there are lots of green trees.Don't forget to go to ShiChahai,it's a nice old Beijing district ten minutes by bus away from BNU.Although it's quite noisy in the evening,it's still a nice place to spent your nightlife,

Now,i still have many friends doing master in BNU,most of them study chinese language and literature.If you guys have any question about Chinese,life in Beijing or whatever,i am very glad to introduce them to you!

P.S. if you want have a short trip in Hangzhou,i'd like to show you the beautiful city!

[adrianlondon]

Thanks Celine for that lovely offer. Maybe I will get in touch with you (using this website) once I arrive in September to arrange a meetup between the people on this thread and your friends.

They can practice their "teaching Chinese" skills and we can practice our "asking questions" skills

Thanks everyone who's took time to post here. It's nice to see such a mix of people who have picked BNU. I'm quite an internet person so am not the sort to disappear from forums once I've taken all the info I need. In other words, I will still be posting here, talking about BNU and China life in general.

I'll also arrange a meet-up for us all. Of course, you won't have to turn up or anything, and I'll find a cafe with 'net access so I can log in here and moan if I'm left on my own ...

[KungFoo]

1 MORE!

I am studying in London, SOAS. We have our language year abroad at BNU. I am leaving in a month to start in September. I have all the regular classes as well Classical Chinese which we must do. I am studying towards the degree Economics and Chinese. The second year is abroad. The first year was actually very intensive, with about 15h a week of Chinese classes + lots of homework. I am probably just reaching intermediate level now.

I am 20 years old. LOVE playing football, so hope I can get a piece of that action in China. I also practice martial arts which shouldnt be a problem in China. I am very excited about going!! I am leaving about 10days before enrolment to get climatised, in a hotel as the uni apparently doesnt really want to know you before enrolment and theres no accomodation. I hear its almost all Koreans and Japanese on the course which should be helpful as we will need to talk Chinese to our classmates also....

It would be good to see you guys out there and share learning experiences. I have all the things sorted out, just need to pack now.

[adrianlondon]

I live next to SOAS; it's a small world

I haven't studied there, so I expect I'll be in a class at a much more beginner level than you. That's the thing - we all chat on here saying we're off to BNU and we'll probably never cross paths! I also heard that it was mainly Japanese and Koreans studying Mandarin at BNU. I think this means I'm going to have to work bloody hard at my character writing if I want to keep up.