Studying in Tsinghua University - a dream come true?

I’ve lived in Beijing for almost two months now and there’s one thing that I am 100% certain – I live in one of the coolest campuses and study in one of the best universities in the world.

Home, Building number 6

Course registration and my final selection

My first days and weeks in Tsinghua were a mess. I cannot even count the times I wanted to hit my head against the wall because of all the paperwork I had to do or because of the stress that the online course registration caused. By the end of the second school week I was already ready to give up because the course registration was about to end and I still didn’t have enough credits.

The problem was that some of the courses I really wanted to take turned out to  be in Chinese, and by that I mean I was the only Western person in the class (or one of the two only ones). Like imagine yourself going to the class called English News Reporting  and it turns out that oops the professor is actually giving his lectures in Chinese and all of his slides are in Chinese. Or you go to this public speaking class and look around and everyone is Chinese and no one even understands English.

Luckily the third school week turned out to be a game changer. By the beginning of my October holidays I actually had all of my courses figured out and the stress was almost gone. This means that I am now left with 11 credits (16,5 ECTS) and five masters courses. And the best part is that I actually like all of them.

-           The Principles of Area Studies (it’s actually more of a Chinese political economy course)

-           Ancient Chinese Thinking of Foreign Policy

-           News Writing and Multi-media Reporting

-           Overview of International Energy and Environmental Governance

-           Chinese

Two of the courses are taught by American and three by Chinese professors and I can honestly say that they are the best among the best. For example, my ancient Chinese thinking professor Yan Xuetong was named as one of the Top 100 public intellectuals in the world by Foreign Policy in 2008.

Studying in Tsinghua is not easy

Studying under the best professors in a top university also means that you need to work twice as hard to get good grades (or to pass the class). For each class you have to finish a massive amount of readings plus hand in home assignments. Compared to the European system where you just go to lectures and pass the final exam it is definitely more difficult, but it is also a lot more effective.

But life is actually a lot easier for the foreign students. The Chinese undergraduate students take at least twice as many credits as I and study three times harder because even though they have already gotten into Tsinghua University, which only accepts 1% of the students, they also have to stand out among the best.  If you want to get into the graduate programs or want to study abroad you must have a killer GPA.

But if you thought it would get easier when you get into a graduate program you are mistaken. My roommate is on her second year of masters and she leaves home before 9AM and returns after 11PM. Most of her days, weekends and even holidays are spent in the lab. The general requirement for her is to spend 40 hours a week in the lab, but since they also have additional homework and projects, the days are a lot longer.

An example of how Chinese people can really sleep everywhere

Outside school activities and the Tsinghua campus

I've always believed that in order to keep yourself healthy, you need to find a balance between physical and mental exercise. Luckily the students in Tsinghua university think like me and therefore there are about a few hundred different student associations here.

Since I am in China, which already seems a bit weird for a lot of people, I decided to do something different this semester and join organizations that I would probably never think about joining back home. Therefore I auditioned for the traditional Chinese dance team and the musical club and got accepted to the latter. Unfortunately I won't be able to do the whole musical since I'll be back in Estonia by then, but I can perform in a show where we will be doing a few numbers from Chicago, Burlesque and some other musicals. Life is an adventure!

But overall, the campus in here is amazing. We have tens of canteens, restaurants, supermarkets, stadiums, parks, a fruit and vegetable market, a gym, swimming hall, concert hall, movie theater, etc. The campus is seven square kilometers and it accommodates about 40 000 students (yes, the campus is bigger than my hometown). The huge amount of students isn't usually a problem, but it is pretty obvious during the breaks between classes when the roads are packed with people on their bikes. Since no one really cares about the rules here, it all looks pretty chaotic (to be honest I am still afraid of dying every time I ride my bike).

But other than the fact that the traffic is crazy, everything is pretty great. Okay, actually there are so many things that are not normal at all and things I could never get used to, but this is what I like about living here. I love that it is not easy - it is a challenge, but at the same time it is so exciting!

The concert hall

One of our libraries

Final note: USNews recently published an article about the top engineering universities in the world and Tsinghua University was number 1 (followed by MIT and Berkeley).
TopUniversities has ranked Tsinghua as the 25th best university in the world.

Tsinghua University campus at night

Yours truly,

Kai 

China through the eyes of an international student: expectations vs reality

This blog post was written for my news and multimedia reporting course in Tsinghua University. Enjoy!

Studying abroad is an amazing opportunity, but it is also a challenge. Especially when you go to a country that is more than 7000 kilometers away and that has a completely different culture from what you’re used to. 

That’s what Karianne Larsen did – she came from Norway to study in Tsinghua University in Beijing for a year and to be honest, it hasn’t all been easy. There are times when all you want to do is kick your head against the wall or take a glass of wine to calm your nerves, but there are also times when everything is so great that you praise yourself for taking this opportunity.

But living in a different culture also means that you see a lot of things that you would never expect to see. You read things before coming here, but when you finally get here you discover that things are really not the way you thought they’d be. That’s why I asked Karianne about the situations where her expectations and the reality didn’t really match up.

1.  Screaming and angry Chinese people

„    "I remember my first bus ride. I was sitting in the bus and there was this Chinese woman sitting behind me and screaming something in Chinese. I turned at her and tried to figure out what’s the matter, but she just kept yelling. It’s pretty frustrating that you really try to understand what they’re saying but can never actually get it and they often sound really angry.“

      2. Cheap Clothes, maybe not?

„    "Everyone has this idea in their heads that everything in China is super cheap and well it is the case with food, but when you go to clothing shops you will definitely be surprised at the prices.“

So if anyone wants to come to China to get cheap clothes, you might want to reconsider your destination.

3. The amount of bureaucracy

      Studying abroad means filling out countless applications and papers and during the first weeks most of your time will be spent on going from one building to another one and filling out papers. „But then when you get used to doing all the paperwork and going from one place to another you suddenly have to do one thing online,“ says Karianne implying to the course registration which all the students in Tsinghua have to do online and which can often cause a lot of stress.

      4. Take-away food in plastic bags

„    "I had seen pictures online before about Chinese take-away food before, but it was still weird to have my first take-away meal from a random plastic bag.“

      5. People really don’t speak English

„    Some people are really good and really try  a lot, but when you get into a taxi where there is again this angry-sounding driver who speaks in a language you don’t understand, this might become an issue. Also when you get lost in the campus on your first day and no-one can understand your cry of help in English.“  

      But that's the thing about coming to live in a different culture - you never know what to expect and that's what makes it exciting. And even though there are times when you sit at the side of the road thinking about how difficult everything is there are also times when you jump out of happiness and do splits at the Great Wall. 

        Yours Truly,

        Kai

The first two weeks

 Tänaseks olen USA-s olnud täpselt kaks nädalat ning olen selle ajaga õppinud palju rohkem, kui oleksin kunagi arvata osanud. Alates sellest, et oskan nüüd iseseisvalt leida üles WalMarti ning kasutada PRT-d (Personal Rapid System) kuni selleni, et olen õppinud tundma iseennast, enda nõrkusi ja tugevusi. Võõrasse kohta tulek lihtsalt sunnib seda tegema, sest siin oled sina ise ainus, keda täielikult usaldada saad.

Ameerika on kontrastide maa ning seega on need kaks nädalat olnud üsnagi kirjud. Uus elukoht, uus toakaaslane, uued tutvused, uued seiklused – kõik on nii uus. Olen kokku puutunud ülimalt toredate inimestega ning samas kohanud ka inimesi, kellega ei tahaks kunagi mingit pistmist teha.  Õnneks on neid esimesi inimesi kordades rohkem!

Üldiselt on aga kõik siiani väga äge! Inimesed on nii toredad, kool ja õppejõud lahedad ning sama kehtib kõige muu kohta. Olen nende kahe nädala jooksul kuulnud nii palju armsaid komplimente kui pole ilmselt terve aastaga kuulnud. Inimesed tulevad tihtipeale tänaval lihtsalt sulle ligi, kiidavad su mantlit või ütlevad lihtsalt, et sa näed hea välja. Paneb ju naeratama küll.

Tänaseks on ka minu tunniplaan kinnitatud ning kuigi pidin mitu ainet välja vahetama, olen lõpptulemusega üsnagi rahul. Nimelt võtan ma see semester neli ainet: Intelligence Analysis Methods, Modern China, Government of Japan ning World Regions. Minu isiklikeks lemmikuteks on kaks esimest ning eriti just Hiina aine (shocker, I know). Mõlemas aines on lihtsalt nii ägedad õppejõud, kes muudavad kõik õpitavad teemad nii huvitavaks.

Vaid üks kolmandik minu selle semestri kohustuslikust lugemisest. 

Mida ma vist eelmine kord ei maininud, on see, et ma elan ühiselamus. Nimelt Arnold Apartmentis, mis asub Downtown campuses.  Tänu sellele on kõikidesse loengutesse minek vaid umbes 5 minuti küsimus.

Mul on ka toakaaslane, kelleks on hästi tore ja sõbralik Jaapani tüdruk Kanami. Ma arvan, et mul täitsa vedas, et just tema enda toakaaslaseks sain. Ainus probleem on see, et me mõlemad oleme ilmselgelt väga halvad orienteerujad ja seega suudame me peaaegu iga kord kuskil ära eksida.

 Meil on kahene tuba, kuid tänu toa keskel olevale liigutatavale seinale on meil isegi natukene privaatsust. Tuba ise ei ole just eriti luksuslik, kuid samas vähemalt kolm korda suurem kui minu tuba Raatuse ühikas. 

Meil on lisaks veel oma pisike kööginurk, kaks garderoobi ja vannituba. Suurimaks miinuseks on ilmselt siinsed aknad, mis ei pea kinni ei tuult ega lärmi. Seetõttu olime toakaaslasega mõlemad terve esimese nädala täiesti magamata. Aga eks harjub ka sellega tasapisi ära.

Veel tühi garderoob

Tänu stipendiumile ja kõikvõimsale Student ID kaardile on minu elu siin üsnagi luksuslik. Lisaks tasuta majutusele saan ma ka näiteks tasuta ühistransporti kasutada ning kolm korda päevas süüa. Söögi valik on masendavalt hea. Kui siia tulles kartsin, et lähen selle pärast paksuks, et Ameeriklased söövad vaid rämpstoitu, siis nüüd mõistan, et võin täitsa ilma rämpsu söömata paksusks minna. Näiteks hommikusöögiks on võimalik valida esiteks igal kujul omlette, munaputru jms, peekonit, erinevaid sandwiche, wrappe, müslit, krõbinaid, puuvilju, kooke, küpsiseid jpm. Õhtusöögiks oli täna valida wrappide, tacode, burritode, salatite, risotto, kana, pasta, kookide, pudingu ja jäätiste vahel. Ürita sa siis sellise toiduvaliku juures mõistlikuks jääda.

(Kahjuks unustan ma sööma minnes alati kaamera kaasa võtta ning seega pärinevad paar söögipilti kahjuks minu telefonist. Samas, at least you get the picture)

Minu suurim nõrkus - peanut butter ja kõik Reese's tooted

Siis kui hommikusöögiks liiga palju häid asju pakutakse

Õnneks toob paksude ameeriklaste nägemine mind siiski maa peale ning seega pole asi veel päris hulluks läinud. Positiivne on veel see, et mulle on võimaldatud ka tasuta sportimine. See tähendab, et võin piiramatult käia nii jõusaalis, ujumas, grupitreeningutel või võtta endale hoopis personaaltreeneri. Ehk teen järgmine kord ka seal mõned pildid. 

Minu kõikvõimas Student ID Card

Otse loomulikult olen juba külastanud ka USA ööklubisid ning käinud ka majapeol. Pean tunnistama, et kõik on täpselt nii nagu filmides (punased topsid ja õlle keg kaasa arvatud). Ära mainimist väärib kindlasti nende imetabane tantsu- ning riietumisstiil. Mõlemad sobiksid paremini mõnda erilisemasse klubisse. Kuigi õues on miinuskraadid, lähevad Ameerika neiud peole nabapluuside ja miniseelikutega ning ei, nad ei pane jalga sukapükse ega peale jakki. Klubides ei ole nimelt riietehoidu ning seega lähevad nad kõik välja riskile väljas surnuks külmuda. Õnneks hõlmab nende tantsustiil palju füüsilist lähedust ning seega saavad nad vähemalt sel viisil sooja. 

Samas kui pidudele minnes löövad tüdrukud end ikka väga üles, siis koolis käivad umbes 90% neist koolipusades. Ma ühelt poolt hindan nende school spirit’it ning tore on näha, et nad on oma kooli ja koolilogo üle väga uhked, aga samas on see üsnagi harjumatu. Kuna mina olen harjunud koolis käima seelikute, kleitide või niisama viisakate riietega, siis erinen kohalikest tüdrukutest ikka päris märgatavalt. Samas ju nad tunnevad end siis niimoodi mugavalt.  

Kui esimesel nädalal sain käia väljas nahkjakiga, mis oli eest lahti, siis üleeile oli meil näiteks lumetorm ning -10 kraadi külma. Tänaseks langesid külmakraadid juba kahekümneni. Seetõttu on ka väga palju loenguid viimastel päevadel ära jäetud.

Mul oleks nii palju rääkida, aga ei taha seda postitust nüüd nii meeletult pikaks ka venitada. Järgmine kord räägin ehk pikemalt Pittsburghist, korvpallist ja muudest toredatest asjadest. Tegelikult on pilte ootamas palju.

I miss you already!!!

Teie Kai :)