2018 NJUPT Opening Ceremony

My university experience in Nanjing thus far has been amazing and truly eye-opening. As an American student in China, this is certainly way out of my comfort zone. During my first weeks at NJUPT I got tosee how intensely Chinese students work and study. I was surprised to see thatthey start university by doing short military service. Honestly, I think that the international students here have a much easier time in university compared to the Chinese students.

Imagine someone from America, Iran, Russia, and Gabon all becoming friends. Sounds like a mini United Nations meeting, right? But it’s a true story that we all ended up in one dormitory unit together. It’s a real blessing to be able to make friends from all over the world at this university.

Check out this shocking candid shot of me on a cheape bike! Some of my classmates have brilliant photography skills. Could you think of anything more Chinese to do than ride that around? Compared to most Westerncountries, the roads here are quite chaotic from all the bikes and ebikesbuzzing around in all directions. It can quickly make me feel dizzy justwatching it all.

Before crossing any road I need to look left, right, front,back, then up and down too. But I finally decided to join the crowd and buzz around with them. Now I like to use this ebike to prove how well I’ve adaptedto life in China. When in China do as Chinese do, right?

Here’s an unedited photo of the campus on a sunnyday after class. Yes, it’s totally unedited. Some words that come to mind aregreen and clean. Many foreigners including some of my family think that China is impossible to live in from the polluted water, air, and food. Of course there is truth in what they said and some parts of China are indeed polluted. I highly recommend that they come to China and tour around personally rather thanalways keep the image of China in their imagination that is inevitablyone-sided and assertive.

But for me personally, every city I’ve seen in China so far has been lovely and clean overall. I was shocked to see so little graffiti on the streets, so few beggars, and such beautiful scenery. I often walk around alone at night here which isn’t something I’d normally do outside of China.

I can tell you a story about the kindness of peoplein this city and especially in NJUPT. University staff members reminded us totop up our money for the AC but of course we forgot, then our AC turned off. Wewere boiling hot. We went to the machine in the canteen to top up the money. Thecanteen often looks like that in the photo, another culture shock about beingin Asia. There was a huge line and the machine was all in Chinese. Amazingly agroup of students at the front of the line let us cut in front and guided usthrough the entire process. The 30 second job took about 5 mins even with their help. We even topped up 20RMB to the wrong room the first time! Finally after a few more tries with their help we eventually topped up money to the correct room. My friends and I can tell many stories about the hospitality of thepeople in Nanjing.

Moving here is without a doubt not easy but overallI’m so thankful to be studying here. The journey has only just begun and we’llsee how the story progresses.

作者：Stefan Berglund (小名Fanfan) 是海外教育学院2018级MBA，文章是他刚到南京1个月时间的感受。同时，也要感谢海外教育学院老师们的辛苦付出，谢谢你们！