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| North Entrance of Sichuan University |
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| Popular campus transportation |
It truly has a beautiful campus with lily ponds, strolling grounds, and buildings ranging from the old residential compounds, the characteristically Chinese red-tiled administrative building located in the most prominent position on campus, to numerous expansive academic buildings that espouse classrooms equipped with projector screens and audio systems. The campus is big, but definitely walkable. Though the university does have some interesting transportation tools such as rickshaws that cost about 3-4rmb depending on your destination. (Note: Rickshaws, also known as
sanlunche 三轮车, are now banned in the city of Chengdu, but only allowed to operate on campus grounds as an alternative and state-sanctioned way of subsistence for the unemployed).
I have been auditing graduate classes at Sichuan University for about two months now. My classes include History of Chinese Cities and Urbanization, Urban Management and Urban Economics, and Selected Works of Chinese Classics. If time allows, I also sit in on classes designed especially for foreign exchange students on topics such as Sichuan History, History of Sichuan Ethnic Groups, etc.
On my way to classes and to the cafeteria, I love to pass by a stretch of ping-pong tables next to the basketball court which comes to life in the afternoon as students flock there to take a break from their classes and to catch up with friends. The campus truly comes to life as you wanderinto the "student life" area where you can find the female dorms (no co-ed housing on most Chinese campuses), bath houses (dorms don't have hot water so students must go to the designated bath houses to take showers), fruit vendors, kebob-stands, three cafeterias, noodle shops, and one Halal cafeteria. This is also where I usually meet up with a few classmates to catch meals and exchange daily news and happenings.
I shall go into details about Chinese university life, thoughts on China, and my Fulbright research in upcoming posts. Stay tuned... as I want to keep my posts relatively short and will try to update the blog at least once a week =)
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