Top Helpful Tips
- VPN. In China, because of the Great firewall, majority of the foreign websites such as Facebook, Snapchat, etc are unaccessible, therefore it is important to have a working VPN in China to stay connected. Personally I used NordVPN, and I have heard good things about ExpressVPN as well.
- China Mobile phone plan. Whatever SIM card you have back at home will unlikely to work in China. My T-Mobile carrier offered me 2-GB unlimited network, however it wouldn't function over 90% of the time. Therefore I highly suggest getting a Chinese SIM card, which is 99 yuan a month for 40GB of 4G data and unlimited calling.
- Open a Bank Account. It is important to opening a bank account in China in order to use any of the payment platforms such as WeChat pay and Alipay. However a lot of banks in China has stopped servicing international students who is staying for less than a year. I went to various banks and finally got serviced at the Wujiaochang ICBC bank branch. A Chinese phone number is required to open a bank account.
- Set up Alipay and WeChat Pay. These two are the default payment platforms in China, It is the easier and fastest form of payments. Thanks to them I never bring cash when I go out and I never struggle with finance.
- Get a metro card. Metro is the most convenient and efficient transportation tool in Shanghai. The card will cost 20 RMB, with every ride capped at 6 RMB. With the metro card, you can skip the line to buy tickets which can save a lot of time. The metro can get to almost everywhere in Shanghai. Last metro is at 10:30 PM everyday.
- Fudan Wifi. There are several Wifi in the Fudan campus. “iFudan”, “iFudan.1x”, “fduwireless”, etc. The username is your Fudan ID number and password is the last 6 digits of your passport.
- Download DIDI. Didi is the Uber and Lyft for China, however unlike Uber and Lyft, it is extremely cheaper with a starting price of $1.5~. Sometimes when you in a hurry with no metro station close by, calling a DIDI is the way to go.
Thank you Fudan University 6/29/19
Finals are finally over, as well as the semester. The two final exams for the elective classes were quite easy, however the finals for finance and marketing management is not on the other hand. To my surprise the school allowed students to bring a double sided A4 cheatsheet to the final exam, I did not fully take advantage of that opportunity for my finance final, a lot of students printed out notes on the cheatsheet with extremely small fonts, which is different compared to the note card cheatsheet policy back at UH.
Looking back the semester went by fast. I still remember the first week in Shanghai vividly, moving into the dorms, finishing up all the registration process and uncomfortably interacting with numerous unfamiliar faces. But that I am moving out the dorms, I realized this place has became home to me throughout the past months and I don't want to let go. Throughout the semester, I explored the streets, met numerous new friends, started a new life in this city. Now that I am moving out, I am quite sad because I know it is coming to an end and it will be the last time to experience any of this. Once again I Thank you so much Mr.Freeman for this opportunity of a life time, I will always cherish the wonderful experience of studying abroad at Fudan University.
Looking back the semester went by fast. I still remember the first week in Shanghai vividly, moving into the dorms, finishing up all the registration process and uncomfortably interacting with numerous unfamiliar faces. But that I am moving out the dorms, I realized this place has became home to me throughout the past months and I don't want to let go. Throughout the semester, I explored the streets, met numerous new friends, started a new life in this city. Now that I am moving out, I am quite sad because I know it is coming to an end and it will be the last time to experience any of this. Once again I Thank you so much Mr.Freeman for this opportunity of a life time, I will always cherish the wonderful experience of studying abroad at Fudan University.
Countdown 6/15/19
School just finished and It’s officially final exam week at Fudan University. I finished all four group projects mentioned in the last blog. The two presentations I did were about “Foreign Direct Investment in Vietnam” and “ Hershey’s Marketshare in China.” Both presentations went smoothly and I believe my groups did a fantastic job. For the final paper on Investment anomaly, specifically “Forecast dispersion”, because we divided up the task, different segments of the topic had distinct differences in writing style, however I believe our content is fulfilling to the requirement of the rubric. This week I have two finals, first one is for Foreign direct investment, the second one is for Investment Fund Management. To prepare for these exams, I have been going over the lecture powerpoint, watching tutorial videos for concepts I don’t understand and reading the chapter summaries to get a more detailed understanding of the material. I have two more final exams next week for Finance management and Marketing Management, and needless to say, I won’t be doing anything interesting for a while until the final exams are over.
Children's day 6/1/19
Today is 六一儿童节 in China, which a nation recognized holiday to celebrate for Children. I am too old for this holiday, but I decided to celebrate anyways by treating myself with a trip to the movie theater in Wujiaochang shopping center. I purchased the movie ticket prior online and to my surprise, ticket here is cheaper compared to prices in the states. The ticket for the new Godzilla movie I bought only costed me 54 RMB, which is less than 10 USD. After arriving at the theater, I noticed the size of the rooms are significantly smaller compared to the sizes of Ward theater. The environment was very organized and clean, seats were very spacious. After watching Godzilla, I was even offered to watch a second movie for half of the price by the staff, therefore I purchased another movie ticket, Aladdin for only 27 RMB. I thoroughly enjoyed the movies and I gotta admit, its a great deal to watch two of the most popular movies for just 81 RMB.
There are two more weeks of school left, then its final exam week. Therefore all of the group projects are soon to due one after another quickly, I have four group projects total and I have been meeting up with all of my groups at least once a week. Two of the group projects is are group presentations and the other two are final report papers. I met up with my group and we divided the task, being honest it was very manageable as each group consist of 4-5 people. In conclusion, June will be a month filled with deadlines for group projects, therefore I believe it’s important to plan your schedule setting the group meetings as the priority, therefore the group members can split the task and work on it together efficiently.
Songjiang Happy Valley 5/19/19
This weekend me and my friend visited Happy valley, which is one of Shanghai’s biggest amusement park after Disneyland. From talking to other people who have went, we were advised to arrive at the amusement park as early as possible, because the lines can get REALLY long. Happy valley is located at the Songjiang district in Shanghai, extremely far from Fudan University which is located in the Yangpu district. Supposedly the proximity would have costed us over a hundred yuan from the road meter on a taxi, however thanks to Shanghai’s advance metro transportation system, we were able to get to our destination within 3 hours for just 20 yuan. First we took line 3 from Fudan University, then transferred to line 8 at Yishan road stop, and finally got off at Songjiang University stop, the whole metro ride costed us about 6 yuan. Then from Songjiang University, we took a Didi taxi and arrived at Happy valley finally around 10:30 AM. Thanks to our student ID, we got half off on our admission ticket and paid 120 yuan each which includes almost all rides in the amusement park. Although we went quite early, however we went on a Sunday, as noon approaches more and more people started showing up, and we had to wait for almost an hour at least for every single ride. In the end, we got on three rides, which I enjoyed thoroughly as we waited hours for those brief moments, we left the amusement park at 4 PM.
Another huge thing that happened this week was my phone being stolen. I was at a bar on Friday celebrating a friend’s birthday. When I went out for some air, my phone fell out of my pocket and dropped on the floor near the entrance. Then someone approached me from behind, picked up the phone and left the scene while I was right next to my phone. I realized my phone was missing shortly after and reached out to the bar manager, he sent me the security footage which clearly showed the thief seeing the phone felling out of my pocket and taking it anyways. Thinking I had evidence, I went to the police station right after, however I was told they could not help because the person didn’t take it from me but picked it up from the floor. Therefore it was lost cause. So to all my fellow students studying abroad, please always be careful of your surroundings.
Another huge thing that happened this week was my phone being stolen. I was at a bar on Friday celebrating a friend’s birthday. When I went out for some air, my phone fell out of my pocket and dropped on the floor near the entrance. Then someone approached me from behind, picked up the phone and left the scene while I was right next to my phone. I realized my phone was missing shortly after and reached out to the bar manager, he sent me the security footage which clearly showed the thief seeing the phone felling out of my pocket and taking it anyways. Thinking I had evidence, I went to the police station right after, however I was told they could not help because the person didn’t take it from me but picked it up from the floor. Therefore it was lost cause. So to all my fellow students studying abroad, please always be careful of your surroundings.
Labor day break 5/5/19
The first week of May is the anticipated “五一劳动节” (Labor day) in China, meant to honor workers across China so they could spend some time with their family. The break starts on on the 1st of May and lasts until the end of the week. During that period, many families travel to cities near their home, and it can get extremely crowded... I visited Xian with a friend during the break for 3 days. We paid around 1,600 RMB each for the round-trip plane ticket, which was twice the regular price due to the holiday. On departure day, We arrived 2 hours prior to Hongqiao airport because we knew the airport lines can be up to hours, and it's best to be safe than sorry. After arriving in Xi'an at 10:30 PM, we checked in to our AirBNB and called it a night. Next day, we came up with a list of the top 3 attractions in Xi'an we wanted to visit today, starting from the "Terra-cotta Warriors", then "Xi'an history museum" and "Ancient Bell Tower" last. We took a Taxi to the Terra-cotta Warriors museum because we know public transportation will be very crowded, the trip ended up costing us 120 rmb, which is about $18. After getting to the museum, we fought through the crowd and managed to get our tickets for half price, with our Student ID cards. At the entrance of the museum, we paid a narrator so she could tell us the history of First emperor of Qin and his Terra-cotta army. After that we started heading to the "Xi'an History Museum", which was another top attraction spot in Xi'an. However all tickets were sold out by the time we got there regretfully and they weren't letting anyone else in. We were very disappointed and went to the last location on our list, the "Ancient Bell Tower." It was already night time when we arrived and the lights were turned on, the scenery was very beautiful. We then had dinner "eat the street" style on "Huiming" street just next to the bell tower, we had "肉夹馍“ and “泡馍” which are both the most favorited Xi'an crusines. Next day we flew back to Shanghai, and we both agreed we need to come back to Xi'an again when it's not so crowded.
Spring is here 4/21/19
Spring is finally here! Weather in Shanghai has been getting warm, rising to 70 degrees. Spring also means midterm season in Fudan. Last week I had two midterms, one for Entrepreneurship development on the readings assigned in class, one for Financial management on the future value and stock/bond equations. I spent about 5 hours total on both midterms reading the textbook and reviewing the slides, and I was able to answer everything on the exam. Besides the studying I also had the chance to spend the weekend in Xitang, a historic water town in Zhejiang. A friend of mine drove me there and it took about an hour, therefore not too far from Shanghai. The town is graced with channels, pedestrian bridges and traditional architecture. Cars are not allowed in the old town, so only pedestrians and boats are wandering around. There is an entrance fee of 100 RMB so make sure you bring money and ID. There were tons of Small shops such as novelties, restaurants, spa, artists, clothing etc which I thought was really interesting. Most of the historic architectures were well preserved with a fuse of modern element, I would highly visit anyone in Shanghai to visit Xitang.
Weekend trip to Hangzhou 4/6/19
It's been another two weeks since the last vlog, by now I am completely used to living in Shanghai. I am absolutely loving it here. My classes are starting to get difficult, quizzes and homework are being assigned very frequently and soon midterms will also be on way. My daily schedule on weekdays consist of attending class, dining at the student cafe, working out at the gym and studying whether at the lobby or the library. Therefore I am not doing anything too exciting, as there are a lot of priorities for me to complete. For meals, I have been eating at a small sandwich shop almost everyday. The shop is located inside the student cafe which has lean chicken breast sandwich with salad. I enjoy the food there greatly because of my passion for fitness, and healthy diet is the key to achieving a great physique. Normally I spend about 20 Yuan (3 USD) a meal which is extremely cheap, the meal comes with a huge sandwich and a side of salad which is very filling. During the weekend is when I leave the school area to explore the city. Last weekend I visited Hangzhou with a couple of friends who I met in my finance classes. We paid for the bullet train ticket which was around 90 RMB (14 USD) each person. We got to our destination within an hour and half which was extremely quick. After arrival, we went to see the famous "West Lake", which was absolutely mesmerizing. The scenery seemed identical to the ancient Chinese paintings that I have seen from the books. The scenery had a completely different type of beauty compared to the clear sky and blue waters of Hawaii. Besides the trip to Hangzhou, I also had the opportunity to attend an exhibit at the intercontinental hotel with Eddie Lam, who I met at the 2019 Hongkong Shidler Alumni Event. The whole experience was extremely memorable and I am very grateful. Thank you once again Uncle Eddie!
Getting used to the life style. 3/23/19
It’s been two weeks since school started, I am slowly adjusted to the lifestyle here. At the moment, I have 6 classes every week. The classes are spread apart on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Each class is about 2 hours and 35 minutes with two 10 minute recesses in between. All of the classes are taught in English. To my surprise, there are plenty of local Chinese Fudan students taking these English classes, even though Chinese is their mother language. However I admit witnessing these Chinese students challenging themselves really motivated me to study hard. As for meals, I am eating twice a day, mostly at the Fudan student cafeteria. There are a wide selection of food here, from Chinese styled cuisine to Western styled sandwiches/salads etc. The price range is about 10 yuan to 20 yuan, which is insanely cheap compared to food prices outside. I also met a bunch of new friends from all over the world. Within them, I got really close with someone called Karan, who is from Australia. We both signed up for a gym called “Dragon Fitness” not too far away from our school, because although Fudan does have its own gym, there are not enough equipments inside to get an efficient workout. I am staying for a semester, which is about 4 months, so I paid for the seasonal membership at Dragon Fitness which was 1099 yuan for 3 months. As for Karan, he is studying in China for a year, so he got the one year membership, which was 2888 yuan. His membership had an insane deal. Every time he shows up and stays more than 30 minutes, they would refund 10 yuan to his account. Which means if he goes and stay for 30 minutes, 300 days out of 356 days a year, the gym would pay him 3000 yuan, putting them at a loss. We both thought it was an interesting marketing strategy the gym implemented, and we came to the conclusion that this would only work in China because of the cultural differences.
School Started! 3/9/19
The past weeks were absolutely crazy for me, it went from not being able to register in Fudan because I had a different type of VISA, to flying to Hongkong last minute on the first week of school to visit the China VISA ambassador, as well as attending the 2019 Hongkong Shidler Alumni Event, then visiting the Fudan foreign affair office numerous times because all classes were full by the time I came back. However after all the troubles, I am glad everything is finally sorted out. I was able to pick up my new VISA in Hongkong and I am now successfully registered in Fudan. The 2019 Shidler Alumni Event was absolutely a memorable experience, I also had the chance to meet up with Kristyn Fuji, another Freeman Scholar studying in Hongkong. For my classes, although literally everything were full by the time I came back... I talked to the professors and my study abroad advisor Monika, and they were able to register me in all the courses even though the slots were full, which I am very thankful for. For the 2019 Spring semester at Fudan, I will be taking 15 credits. The courses I'm taking are MANA130004 (Financial Management), MANA130006 (Marketing Management), MANA130349(Investment Fund Index), MANA160015 (International Investment) and MANA160018 (Entrepreneur development). After attending my first lectures in Fudan, I gotta say there are a lot of studying needs to be done on my side. Almost all of the courses I am taking requires fundamental finance knowledge. However I haven't taken any finance courses back in Shidler, therefore I need to put in extra effort to study or else I will fall behind.
Finally arriving in Shanghai!
After my 14 hour flight from Honolulu to Incheon airport, then Pudong... I have finally arrived in Shanghai! Although I am still on the waitlist for Fudan's dormitory, however Fudan informed me that the waitlist information will be updated on the 20th, therefore I booked 3 nights at the "Fortune Hotel" which is walking distance to Fudan. I took the airport shuttle #4 and it dropped me off right in front of my hotel after 3 stops. The weather here is extremely cold. In Hawaii, I have never worn more than 3 layers, however I am still shivering wearing 5 layers in Shanghai.. Next day I woke up to Fudan's Email informing me that a single room was available to rent, I was over the moon! After eating breakfast, I went to Fudan's international dormitory to finish up my registration for the dorm, after filling out some paperworks, I paid a total of 10240 yuan (~$1500) rent for the entire semester. After that I explored Wujiaochang, which is a huge shopping center located right next to Fudan. There were numerous tall-rise buildings, every single one of them was filled with stores and restaurants, it was absolutely insane! Currently I am moving everything from the hotel to the dorm and buying daily necessities such as towels, blankets, toothbrush etc.
Pre-departure Information
I am finally getting ready for my study abroad! Unlike University of Hawaii where semesters start mid January, Fudan University starts early March. My flight is on the 19th of February, I booked my VISA through the store located at cultural plaza in Chinatown. First thing I plan to do after arriving in Shanghai is to finish the registration/dorming process, I will need to visit the admission office and Fudan dormitory to turn in the hardcopy admission letter, and see if they require any other documents. As for my class schedule, I still don't have anything registered as there are two phases of class registering at Fudan. Being categorized as a general student, I wasn't eligible to register for any classes I needed during the first phase, therefore I will be actively waiting for phase 2, which starts about a week before school. At the moment I am feeling very excited because most of my friends already left for their study abroad, it is finally almost my turn!
Thank you Mr.Freeman!
Dear Mr.Freeman,
I would like to say thank you for granting my wish to study abroad in China. Thanks to your generosity, I will have the opportunity to study at the prestigious Fudan University in Shanghai for the 2019 Spring semester.
I am currently a junior pursuing a degree in Finance. Studying abroad has always been a dream of mine, however due to the extravagant expenses, I couldn't pursue that goal. The Freeman Scholarship definitely made this dream of mine a reality. Not only It will support me for the program, but it will also allow me to further develop myself in terms of language acquisition, cross-cultural interaction, and personal growth.
Once again, I would like to thank Mr. Freeman for this generous gift.
Sincerely,
Chao Tian
I would like to say thank you for granting my wish to study abroad in China. Thanks to your generosity, I will have the opportunity to study at the prestigious Fudan University in Shanghai for the 2019 Spring semester.
I am currently a junior pursuing a degree in Finance. Studying abroad has always been a dream of mine, however due to the extravagant expenses, I couldn't pursue that goal. The Freeman Scholarship definitely made this dream of mine a reality. Not only It will support me for the program, but it will also allow me to further develop myself in terms of language acquisition, cross-cultural interaction, and personal growth.
Once again, I would like to thank Mr. Freeman for this generous gift.
Sincerely,
Chao Tian