Foreign student dorms at Tsinghua

This entry is actually from a couple days ago, since I was having trouble figuring out how to post (I'm doing it through Blog It on Facebook.):

I was getting ready to write the entry of all entries, but I've been too wiped out with moving into my apartment and socializing with other IUP students. I've been in Beijing for a week, but I haven't actually taken any classes yet--I took a placement exam online and did a phone interview since I was asked to do self-quarantine for several days after arriving on the 14th (thanks to swine flu). In any case, here's a very short entry about a frustrating issue that I dealt with immediately upon arrival.

The point: Beware of the Tsinghua foreign student dorms
So about two days before I came to Beijing, I saw a message on the IUP Google forum indicating that prices for the dorm had been doubled for students who were only around for the summer. Since the Light Fellowship haven't given me enough to pay for that--and rightly so, since it's a rip-off--I began freaking out about finding a place to temporarily stay and then looking for an apartment for the summer. I talked to an IUP staff member who was also quite angry at the sudden increase in prices, and very supportive in letting me know that I could stay short-term, while also supplying the name of a nearby hotel.

After arriving in Beijing and being dropped off in front of Building 19 (registration), I did indeed encounter problems. At first they wanted me to pay up front for two months of rent (the time of study indicated by my papers from IUP) even though I told them there was no way I'd be staying that long. I pointed out that I'd only found out two days ago that they jacked up their prices, I didn't have a place to stay, etc., etc. And I won! YAY! (Apparently another IUP student was forced to pay for two months' worth, so it's rather arbitrary...) If you move out early, the rent is returned to you.

In any case, the room I got assigned looked like a jail cell. The furniture and closet were made out of shiny new wood, but the walls were a dingy white with spots all over it. Getting internet access also involved talking to a really grumpy guy who didn't help explain anything about how it worked.

My point is that the dorms are run in a very unprofessional manner. No one at IUP knew about the price increase until one student showed up and was asked to pay over double the amount he expected, and I heard that one student who moved in *before* the price increase was asked to pay more. It may seem scary and inconvenient to find an apartment, especially if you're just there for the summer, but if you have the option, you should definitely take it. Most of the students I know are off-campus in the Wudaokou area, and the foreign student dorms are pretty far off, making it slightly inconvenient to hang out with other people. Also, former IUP students often post ads offering up their rooms, which is a pretty easy way to grab an apartment.

Luckily, I was able to contact a former student who had posted an ad for her room to the IUP forum, and I'm now living in the Dongshengyuan apartment complex (东升园公寓), which is a pretty ideal location for getting to class every morning. Tomorrow morning I'll be walking from my apartment to the IUP building at Tsinghua for the first time in order to buy textbooks and see what my classes for the summer will be like.

More later!