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Hotspots: G+ (Xintiandi), Hofbräuhaus Shanghai (Pudong)
Due to the Mid-Autumn Festival Holidays we had no university on Monday. That’s why I went to Suzhou which lies at the Lake Taihu a little bit to the West of Shanghai. Going by train actually takes only about 30-40 minutes which makes it a really easily accessible place relative to Shanghai. So I started my day already at half past 6 a.m. and left Tongji University by cab to the Shanghai Railway station where I met Aurora and Diego who both joined me. After arriving in Suzhou and purchasing the return ticket to Shanghai our first goal was the Lion Grove Garden. The arrangement of the stones in this garden which all originate from Lake Taihu refers to a Buddhist story in which somebody achieved his enlightment on the Lions Rock.
Later, after we were strolling through the gardens and got some refreshment at the downtown area of Suzhou we went back to the Old Town to visit one of the Pagodas – precisely the Beisi Pagoda. Although it took some steps of several stairways to reach the top it’s considered as a nice calm Buddhist temple where you can really enjoy silence and find some peace.
Our tight sightseeing schedule was followed by a visit of the Humble Administrator’s Garden which is regarded as one of the biggest gardens in Suzhou area. We had the comparably longest stay there and afterwards got a taxi to reach Xuanmiao Guan (Temple of Mystery) which also is a Buddhist sight. There happened to take place a ceremony with monks and other believers. Following that we hurried to Tiger Hill the Pagoda of which is advertised as “The No.1 sight of Suzhou”. As it was already kind of late I could only get a glimpse of it from the entrance area – what a pity. Anyhow, to light us up again we took a little boat trip in the channel leading towards the direction of the downtown area. Unfortunately it began to rain and getting off the boat we searched for a good traditional Chinese restaurant where we had a nice dinner.
At half past 9 p.m. our train back to Shanghai left this “little” city with a prefecture level population of more than 6 million people.
… unfortunately only from the ground, but nevertheless with some nice atmosphere! Actually it was too cloudy to go up to the observation platform which is currently the highest one in the world. The SWFC itself with its almost 500m is the third biggest building in the world still beaten by Burj Dubai and Taipei 101. Moreover it has just been finished/opened at the end of this August. Originally we wanted to go to a bar in the SWFC which isn’t opened yet – so we decided to go to the Cloud 9 which is a bar located on the 87th floor of the Jin Mao Tower which is just across the street.
Finally I found a silent moment to post the promised weekend update – so listen up! As I already told the School of Economics and Management spared no expenses to organize a trip for us newcomers to the picturesque over 400 years old water village, called Zhu Jia Jiao which is located outside of Shanghai. This village used to be important for trade, as the man-made canals are connecting into rivers and therefore enhanced the shipping of goods. On Saturday Felix, Thomas and I went to a Teppan Yaki place which is always great. Afterwards we met some French Tongji Students at the Club “Dela Coast” on The Bund Nr.1.
Sunday was mainly for recovering from partying, unfortunately Felix and me got a little bit sick and Felix couldn’t even attend the first courses of the new semester because of a fever. I somehow made my way to the courses (beginning with Accounting & Finance, followed by Chinese Economy: Reform & Development) today even though not feeling that well. Although the Professors in both topics are really proficient I could raise further interest for the Chinese Economy course as it is tought by a former Harvard-lector who’s very funny and always searching the contact to the students. In the afternoon the first Chinese lesson took place where most of the students seemed to be slightly overstrained. I hope that this will change somehow as the prerequisite for the basic course is no Chinese-knowledge at all and the prerequisite for the intermediate course seems to require a really fluent level of Chinese and a clear understanding nearly based on everyday conversations. I will of course update you about the courses to come and wish you all the best in the meantime!
…of a student and socializer. On Monday 1st September I checked out of my beloved Tian Ci Service Apartment in the heart of Shanghai for the sake of a student and campus life at Tongji University. My update only comes that late because I had limited Internet access in the International Students Dormitory of the university till yesterday when a guy from China Telecom relieved me from my WWW absence by installing a modem in my room. Fortunately I managed to operate my blog again via proxy server. Let’s go back to the beginning because this week happened to be a really eventful one.
After checking out on Monday I made my way to the Maglev (engl. magnetic levitation) train station in order to pick up my colleague Felix also from Vienna School of Economics and Business Administration. This hyper modern train connects the Pudong Airport with the more central part of Shanghai and at his peak reaches a velocity of almost 430 km/h. Besides me Felix has also been nominated from the home university to undergo this exchange term at Tongji and through my pick-up at the airport I wanted to help him to make his start in Shanghai easier. Unfortunately due to some delay in Vienna his luggage didn’t make it to the connection flight in Düsseldorf. Nevertheless we took a cab after going back by Maglev to reach the Tongji University at Siping Campus, which serves as the biggest and main part of this institution in Shanghai. After asking us through to get to the International Students Dormitory we happened to get a room next to each other. The first appearance of the dormitory wasn’t the best, but after cleaning up and making ourselves more comfortable it’s kind of bearable here. Moreover the distance to the seminar buildings are really a big advantage in comparison to flats outside of the campus. The rest of the week had some sightseeing in store for us three (Felix, Thomas – also at the same floor of the dorm, and me). I showed them a little bit of Shanghai as I meanwhile know the centre a little bit and a part of the most important MUST SEE’s.
Here are some impressions of the university campus which’s entrance is currently under construction, unfortunately:
On Tuesday during the registration we came in touch with the people at School of Economics and Management (SEM) for the first time. They gave us the schedule for this first preparation week and also helpful information for the begin of the semester, which is today, actually ;) On Wednesday I showed the Xintiandi to the newcomers and they had their first nice Chinese dinner. Following that once again Bar Rouge was on schedule where they could get a great impression of the skyline of the New Bund of Shanghai. On Thursday the placement exam for the Chinese language courses took place and Felix and I fortunately advanced to the “intermediate” level, which is the highest level offered for Chinese courses. On Friday the SEM organized a trip to Zhu Jia Jiao (Watertown). But this is worth a separate blog entry going with the obligatory weekend party-update. Coming up soon…
