Settling in

(A sunset view of TianJin from just outside our dorms) 

This month we will be talking about what it’s been like to settle in. The weather has been really hot, and we’ve all struggled with the heat and humidity (our aircons were put to the lowest temperature possible). Most of us seem to be adjusted now however there are times when it is still too hot.  

 
(TianJin Eye) 

The campus is massive and every time we go out, we seem to find a new road or building, however most of what we need is close to each other, all our classes are close to our dorms along with the main canteen, halal canteen, and Wumart (we love Wumart) all being within walking distance. There are many different sports courts/pitches in campus and almost all of them are free use (volleyball is the only one we’ve found so far that you need to be in a club in order to use).  

 
(Map of campus) 

Our classes start at 8.30 in the morning and go on until about 12 noon (give or take a few mins depending on the teacher) leaving the rest of the afternoon free, unless you have an afternoon class (roughly 14.00-15.35). the bottom class (F class) is taught in both English and Mandarin so it is easier for new speakers to ask questions and to understand the work, the next up (E class) has mostly mandarin with a small amount of English (common questions would be understood by the teacher whereas more complex ones would need to be asked in mandarin). After that all the higher up classes are taught fully in mandarin where the teachers speak very little English so you’d need to ask any questions in mandarin.  

 
(Classroom) 

The classes are determined by pupils’ results on a comprehension exam which we had to take shortly after arrival, it consisted of a written paper (listening, reading, and writing) plus another spoken exam (if you had no previous mandarin knowledge then you don’t need to sit the spoken exam.  

 
(a paper cutting piece from our culture class) 

We get multiple different teachers, about 4 or so and they change daily, each day the morning class sessions are split into two halves where we have one teacher in the first half and a different teacher in the second, our favourite teacher is Dong because he is very nice and understanding.  

 
(us being up way too early for a ceremony we weren’t needed at) 

In the multiple canteens and their floors there is many different foods and drinks to try, they are normally quite cheap, and you get a lot of food with it. (we are talking a big bowl of noodles for about £1.30, and I’ve not been able to come close to finishing the bowl yet).  

 
(Noodles) 

The staff at TJNU are really kind, and they helped us quite a bit during the first couple of weeks when we were going through the necessary processes (sim cards, bank cards, residency permits, medical examinations). You get given your teachers WeChat (WhatsApp but for China, except it has everything needed, such as translators, money spending methods, QR code scanner, taxi booking, ETC). and you can message them any questions you may have, and they will answer as soon as they have the answer (usually quite quickly). 

 
(a thing we found on campus [we got lost])