Living In Shanghai: The First 30 Days.

If you never knew that I'm currently living outside Indonesia because I rarely posted it on my social media, then yes, I'm in Shanghai right now.  I got a scholarship called the Marine Scholarship of China which is under the Chinese Government Scholarship. This allows me to pursue my Geophysics master program at Tongji University, Shanghai. Because of my lack of Chinese language capability, I have to study Chinese language preparation and have to pass HSK 4, kind of IELTS/TOEFL but for the Chinese language, at the end of this academic year. Okay, enough for the introduction.

I came to Tongji University on September 12, 2019, in the morning. Yes, it's today a month ago. Here's the summary of my first 30 days here.

Tongji University Main Boulevard.

汉语不太难

There's no something wrong with your language setting on your phone or your computer. '汉语 (hanyu)' means 'Chinese language' and '不太难 (bu tai nan)' means 'not too difficult'. If we combine them, '汉语不太难' means 'Chinese language is not too difficult'.

This semester I will learn Elementary Comprehensive Chinese, Oral Chinese, Listening Chinese, and Chinese Character. Besides that, I chose Calligraphy class as my optional class. By the way, I came late after 2 weeks' class has been started. That's why the first two weeks are the hardest for me, but, thank god, I finally caught up in the third week. So far, I still can not distinguish how to pronounce j, q, x, ch, z, c, s, and zh. And yes, THE TONES! IT HAS 4 FU****G TONES! I have to figure out how to deal with the tones. Here are some pictures from my class.

老师 (laoshi) or teacher is teaching us in Chinese Character Class

A restaurant scene from our team consist of me, Bui Minh Quan, and Jiwayria in Elementary Comprehensive Class.

Interesting explanation in Calligraphy Class

Friends from different countries

One of some advantages of study abroad is we can make a lot of friends from various countries. Here are the most notable moments with my friends:

Sushant (from Nepal), Amir (Pakistan), Me, and Kamil (Pakistan) are having dinner in our favourite restaurant near campus.

Faisal (Indonesia) Mu'ad (Yemen/Saudi), Me, Kamil, Dasha (Russia), Molly (Nigeria), Nina (Serbia), and Sophea (Cambodia) are having a night out at Lujiazui

Jimmy (Brunei), Me, Faiz (Malaysia), and Fasial are having lunch in Indonesian Food Restaurant called Bali Bistro

Wijit (Thailand), Guvanch (Turkmenistan), Me, Yhlas (Turkmenistan), and Gurban (Turkmenistan, not on the scene) are hanging out in front of the highest building in China.

Okay, enough for today. I will add another story in the next post.