My First Week in China/Finding Housing

     So far, this week has been beyond hectic. From getting my Chinese phone number all figured out, to setting up a bank account all in my second language along with everything else in between, this experience has been quite draining. However, I was fortunate enough to miss out on much of the chaos house hunting brought on. This is because I was able to secure a relatively large two bedroom apartment before I left the United States; I was able to take over a friend's lease who was living here during the spring and summer!
     However, there were many who were not as lucky as me; their house hunting experiences seemed to range from stressful to soul-crushing. For example, although I had heard that finding housing would be stressful, I never realized that landlords could turn down students due to the fact that they were foreigners. Fortunately, very few students who faced this outright discrimination, but for those who did, it was understandably extremely tiresome and an terrible way to start off the year.

For those who are interested in the house hunting process, here are some tips!
-Find a really nice landlord!
This is VERY important because there are landlords out there who will cheat you and will not pay for repairs on your house!
-If you are planning on being in Nanjing for the winter, get a place with heating!
Although Nanjing doesn't get terribly cold, there is no central heating system, meaning that many stores and buildings (including the classrooms) have a weak and/or no heating system. Thus, it's pretty nice to have a good heating system when you come home.
-All of the houses in Gulou (the district where the old Nanjing University campus is located) are VERY old and pretty decrepit, so don't hold out for a really nice apartment. Also, they're expensive to boot (awful awful), and there's no way to get around that (I paid $4000 RMB a month for a two bedroom, or about $606 USD) .
Feel free to comment with any more suggestions or questions below!

     Despite having a stressful week, there were some enjoyable moments. Exploring Nanjing, trying new food, and meeting new people is always fun. In addition, although the health check up in itself wasn't the most exhilarating activity, getting the results back from the health check up was strangely enjoyable. I, along with many other students, were able to see our blood types for the very first time, and were eager to compare our results.
     I do apologize, I do not have many terribly exciting experiences to share at the moment, I will share more about my adventures around Nanjing in my next blog post!

The Purpose of this Blog

A picture of me!

     This blog is specifically created to document my experiences abroad through the Chinese Flagship Program and to help those who are particularly interested in this program know what to expect both during the registration process as well as during the program itself. This means that I will be recording some of my experiences applying to Capstone and related scholarships, but the bulk of my posts will consist of my day-to-day life during my time abroad. Questions and comments in English and Mandarin are encouraged.