An Italian affairš®š¹

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@putongmei
An Italian affairš®š¹
The various views of Nice, Ezre and the cote d'azur š«š·
Letās start with whatās been dubbedĀ āAsiaās Vegasā!
From the top of the Macau Tower, panoramic views of the city is a given.
Having grown up in Portugal when I was much younger, Macau offered a sense of familiarity that was difficult to find elsewhere in Asia.
The history between the two is still embedded in the streets of Macau - the language, the buildings and even the cobbled pavements brought me memories of a place I am so fond of.
Not visible in the above photos are some of the extravagant buildings of world famous casinos such as the Venetian and the Grand Lisboa which stands our with itās golden crown.
I donāt have Las Vegas to compare with (yet), but the casino floors in Macau sure are something else! Whether youāre into this sort of entertainment of not, I recommend to take a small walk around and experience the atmosphere thatās buzzing with a certain excitement in the air. The casinos have a lot more to offer than gambling, such as shows and performances (a quick search will give you plenty of choices), as well as Michelin starred superstarsĀ Robuchon au DĆ“me and The Eight (both at Grand Lisboa).
Of course, the local delicacies rarely need to be found in extravagant venues, especially in Asia, and plenty of quirky shops and street vendors will offer a local taste.
Find famous pork chop burgers dotted about town, around the busy area by Ruins of St. Paulās, almond cookies (and anything related) and beef jerky. Sample them along the street even if youāre not a fan and see what the fuss is about!
For Macau, I suggest a one or two day trip - itās a small and very tourist orientated place which you can enjoy and see in a short trip. There are, of course, plenty of activities, but my experience was short but definitely sweet!
Re-Vamp!
This is like, the least successful blog of all time but I am going to start this up again as a food and travelling blog...
Hopefully Iāll do it in an organised way but who knows - when life happens, it happens!
Useful links update
Hi everyone!
Hope youāre having lovely experiences in Shanghai! I really miss this vibrant city where I was able to meet so many wonderful people who opened my eyes to this world we live in...
Anyway, just came across a useful list on costs of living in Shanghai, just for some guidance.. http://austenmorris.company/shanghai/
Also, I forgot to mention in the last post, but during my stay in Shanghai, this little website was a big bunch of usefulness!
http://www.smartshanghai.com/
More recently, I have also come across some quirky news websites that help staying in touch with local Chinese news-
http://www.shanghaiist.com/Ā
www.shanghaidaily.com/
http://www.thechairmansbao.com/
Hope youāre all doing well!
social networking
In addition to websites, SNS is also limited, with my favourites Facebook and Twitter out of the question (without VPN).
THE most popular SNS in China is SIna's Weibo, which is the Twitter equivalent. Initially, I really tried to use it but with limited Mandarin skills, it got kinda boring. Also because I don't anyone in real life that uses it so...
THE app that you NEED is WeChat - it will replace your viber, whatsapp, line chat, kakaotalk and whatever else. I recommend you download this outside of China as well, as for some reason Play Store didn't allow me to whilst here. (It is actually beyond me since the developers are Chinese tech giants Tencent).
Another one Chinese people use (but less useful to me) is QQ. QQ is the mother of all things social in my opinion. They are a mesh of msn messenger, facebook, myspace, spotify and miniclip (omg do people still use that?) They do basically everything, and they're all just a free app away. The reason I don't use it, is because I don't use much of anything. With all my classmates and teacher and everyone I meet already on Wechat, there's no point really.
useful links
I'm sure you're all aware of several internet censorships, the ones of greatest impact perhaps are Facebook and some Google domains.
The internet in the dorms has been improved considerably since I last resided there, but accessing foreign websites is still really slow.
Your new search engine is now Yahoo! Or if you can brave the Chinese, Baidu is the most popular one. They are also an excellent source for music streaming.Ā Lately, Google has been very troublesome and only works on occasion.
Many news websites are also blocked, my most frequented ones were : the Guardian, Bloomberg, BBC (occasional blocks) and NY Times.
The Times and The Financial Times seem ok though.
You'll be glad to hear that Wikipedia is not blocked however, blogging websites are. Tumblr (evidently) is one of the few that are accessible. Blogspot, Wordpress are blocked.
For entertainment, your go-to website YouTube is also out of limits, as well as DailyMotion and Vimeo.
You are now introduced to the word of:
Youku Ā Ā tudou Ā wole (56.com)Ā
YinYueTai is also lovely for new music videos, but heavier on East Asian pop.
If you're spending a considerable time here in China, and/or need to use the internet widely, I suggest you download a VPN (Virtual Personal Network) onto all your devices before coming to China. I have a free app installed on my phone, but not on my laptop. It was actually really hard to find a free VPN app that would not run out after a trial and that actually consistently works. The one I use is called 1-click but there are many with the same name :/
Do you have any other tips or suggestions?
I'm going to be coming to study at ECNU in a few weeks. I was wondering how iPhone un-friendly Shanghai is(in other words, as a whitey coming to town, how likely is it that my phone will get jacked?)
Well, of all the people I am surrounded by, only one person had their phone stolen, and it wasn't even an iPhone.
The general advice is to keep your phones safe (i.e. not dangling off a back pocket, or jacket pockets where you won't feel the phone being taken) when in crowded public places such as the bus, subway, and possibly at road-crossings.Ā
Of the people I know who have lost phones, it was all due to drunkeness haha
If you're heading over here in a few weeks, I'd be more concerned about the heat and humidity. It's currently hitting 32 degrees Celsius!
Have fun in Shanghai! :)
She sighs and the small release of breath bothers me. This girl needs to be off doing things that make her happy. Not standing here with me, confused and torn. Itās just further proof that Iām no good to be around. Iām turning one of the happiest people I know into something she was never meant to be. Iām turning her into me.
-Ā Melyssa Winchester,Ā A Light In The Dark
upon reflection..
It's one of those times of the year again in which I have to reflect on what's happened to me, in my life.
It's hard to focus this on just the aspect of living abroad, in China.
I think that no matter where you are, you will always be you, and having to actively reflect upon your own experiences is a real eye-opener to self-awareness.
ECNU - East China Normal University
(Zhongshan Campus)
Shanghai -
(around) People Square
& YuYuan (Yu Garden)
Well, I haven't been back very long and it's all been a rush really. Between moving in, settling in, registering for classes AND starting classes, I have barely had time to get over the fact that I'm homesick, actually sick and feeling like I need a pick-me-up. I really hadn't realised how much I missed home until I came back to Shanghai.
Anyway, the next post is just a bunch of pictures for my tutor post. Feel free to stalk them haha
So apparently I blog like a robot and donāt show anything ārealā..
In terms of travel in China, I havenāt done much of it. Partly because Iām lazy, partly because Iām uninterested.
I never had a heart for going to China in the first place, and to me, Iām there on business really.
So, whatās it like to be a student there? Absolutely nuts according to my classmates. Theyāve done some crazy stuff, seen some awesome things and mostly met amazing people from all over the world. There are plenty of opportunities to travel cheaply around China. Some great options include the fast train between Shanghai and Beijing and Spring Airlines (the Ryanair/EasyJet of China). Also for guided trips, a couple of friends did a hike with Dragon Adventures. They have organised all-inclusive trips for around Ā£200, the only downside are the set dates but if you plan ahead, could be a fun one to do!
ECNU itself organises a class trip every semester for a subsidised fee. This semester, my class went to Ningbo, Wuzhen and some place I forgot (oops). It was quite interesting to visit these places, I particularly liked the city of Ningbo and could only wish to have stayed a bit longer. We stayed in a 5 star hotel, which was surprising as we only paid „300 to the school. I had a particularly nice experience there as I ended up having a twin room to myself.
I'll do a little guide off Shanghai in the next post but for now, toodles!
Registration
Getting yourself registered is pretty.. tedious. Because everyone is trying to do, the process becomes tres long.
At least they are organised. You arrive, go to step 1 - easy! Pick up your pack of documents, fill in some blanks (don't forget to bring passports and other details). You head over to step 2 which mainly deals with visas. Step 3 is insurance, which you are required to get. The price is 300rmb for 6 months or 600rmb for a year. If you're here for two semesters they automatically make you take the year's worth of cover. Step 5 is materials and tuition - have cash ready, the card processing machines are horrendous. Materials are roughly 200rmb per semester. Tuition will be according to what you've already been told. I'm an exchange student so pay no fees to the university.
Next you get your photo taken by a webcam and they print you a lovely student card. You'll need the student id number to log in to the campus wi fi, of which the password is the last 6 digits of your registered passport number.
Once you have that they send you off for a placement test. First an oral where a teacher will make a quick judgement of your language skills. For me it was a small talk and a little bit of reading. The teacher I had determined I was definitely at intermediate level but should start on the first sub-level. She also really wished I would go into the class where business chinese is taught additionally because she believed in my capabilities.
I wish I could remember who took my oral test because I suspect it is my current teacher, who is also the author of the business chinese textbook. *sigh* you see how they toot their own horn, eh?
Anyhoo, before I digress...
You are then sent to a specific room according to how they have judged you and do a written test. It's mainly comprehension, grammar and character knowledge with no essay writing (thank f*ck). Once you're done, you have rest of the day, and perhaps even week, off!
Note there is an opening ceremony (long ass speeches from important people you won't see again) on Friday morning and classes will start on the following Monday.
Your class placement will be announced on boards displayed at a designated place. It's useful to know roughly where you placed before arriving. For example, the teacher at my oral exam was determined I should go to 2-1C, which was scarily exact. For others they perhaps knew roughly level 2, maybe 2-1. So level 1 goes up to 5 and if I'm not mistaken level 2 goes up to 3 or 4. Level 3 only has two levels.
Et voila! You have one week "trial" to get a feel for the level you've been placed and you can try to move about if you don't think it's where you're at. You can move down with no problems, but to move up you have to do another placement test.
I had classmates where they placed at a level lower than they expected and went for the test again. Some managed to move up a sub-level, another was less fortunate.
There was a bit of a fuss and even discussion to contact our exchanges director to tell the school that we should obviously all be at the same level because we did the exact same course. They would also tease that I'm excluded because I would be at level 100 etc. The exaggeration was unnecessary, I have always been open about my easier grasp of mandarin due to already having spoken some before and my mother tongue being cantonese.
But besides that, I disagree that "we should all be at the same level". Whilst in Newcastle, we all passed the course with different grades, having put different amounts of effort and simply having different levels of comprehension and grasp. I have classmates elsewhere in China that I know worked extremely hard and got 100% in the first year. Another classmate did considerably less work but also achieved a very high grade due to a natural grasp. My own roommate only learnt half the material in the second year and passed with a decent grade. Language learning isn't as simple as ABC, and sometimes it can simply just be easier or that you have to put in more work.
The point of being here, in China is to really develop those skills. Not just building vocabulary but to really master the complicated grammar and pronunciation. And on top of that, the teachers here are really keen to teach students to speak like a native, not like a foreigner. And by that I mean chinese expressions, what they mean, when they're used, when they're not. I think for us language learners, this is a really valuable opportunity and there's nothing lost in fortifying what we already know, as long as there's also something new to be learned.
Aloha!
Sorry for the lack of posts, I just don't find myself glued to my laptop anymore as the slow Internet frustrates me beyond reason.
Anyhow!
I think there are a couple of important things I should talk about in regards to arrival here etc.
I'm not really one to share every detail of my day to day life so instead y'all can be informed on (more) procedures. (Yay?)
So to keep it clean and tidy, I will talk about registration and placement tests!
I'd like to mention that NYU Shanghai is very different, and separate, from the School of Chinese for Foreigners (?) (对å¤ę±čÆå¦é¢). They live and study in their own building and I have only bumped and talked to students from NYU Shanghai at the ATMs outside school gates.
Infinite OGS in Shanghai!
So I went to Infinite's One Great Step concert on Wednesday. Those who know me probably know I really enjoy kpop and Infinite is one of my very favourite groups.
I had a great time even though I went by myself.Ā The fans were great and created an awesome atmosphere for the boys. I really felt a difference in the boys though.
I finally really understood the difference between performing in your home country, an English speaking country and a country where you can't speak the language at all. The boys did try hard with speaking chinese, but it was all very rehearsed and recited, you could barely feel whether there were any emotions in those words. It was cute though,Ā and I really commend them for trying - on top of all the hard work they already put in, you can't help but feel touched.
The concert was help in the Shanghai Indoor Stadium,Ā which is known as the Shanghai Grand Stage, and also Shanghai Gymnasium, yeah... try getting over the panic about how to get there!! It was very fortunate to have smartshanghai.com as a reference point. They very helpfully tell you which subway stop is closest (shanghai indoor stadium).
The Grand Stage is a popular venue for concerts, including hallyu (korean wave) events such as Race Start! Runningman's Asian tour, Shinhwa's concert and SHINee's festival tour.
All in all, it is a good venue, not the largest but with 2000 seats, it definitely didn't feel small.