Tag Archives: Dorm life

Finally Getting Adjusted

I am finally settled in to my permanent dorm.   Although I do not like that it is barely finished because it is still under HEAVY construction, I like my room.  It is very spacious, and I have room to have ME time.  My roommate is nice, but very shy.  I do not know how to approach her sometimes, but when we do get a chance to talk, it is very pleasant.  She offered me a pineapple cake from her home country Taiwan.  I will let you know how it taste soon!!

 

I am very excited for classes to start!  I moved to 3 different places since I’ve gotten here.  Now since I am finally adjusted, I would like to get started!! J


Location: Lady Ho Tung, Clinic Road, Shatin New Territories, Hong Kong

Dorm Life…in Quebec!

Students in my program have a choice between living in a homestay and living in the dorms. I was unsure about which one to choose–homestays, supposedly, would give me the best language immersion, but I’d be farther from the campus. I was totally undecided until my parents weighed in: “we don’t want you taking buses home by yourself late at night.” They’re paying, so I listened.

 

So far, I’ve had no regrets. In fact, I love the dorms. They are filled with students here to learn French like me, most of them Canadian. By simply hanging out in the lobby, communal kitchen, or university pub, I’ve made loads of friends. (And yes, the university here has a pub. Be jealous.)

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Above is my best friend here, from Wisconsin. You know you’re friends when you have dorky photobooth picture-taking sessions. 

For a shy girl like me, this is big news. My number one fear was that I’d have trouble finding people to hang out with. I didn’t want to explore Quebec City all on my own! And speaking of exploring the city, a friend and I spent our free Friday afternoon walking around Vieux Québec, the historic (and gorgeous) downtown. The weather here is perfect for strolling. Here are some photos! I’ll blog again soon. 

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Location: Pavillon Parent, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada

Life in the Dorms

Since the last time I wrote, I have moved into my dorm room at Chengchi University and met my other CIEE group members. Dorm life here is certainly different. It’s definitely not as comfortable and homey. Most of the furniture is made of metal and there is no mattress on the bunk beds because Eastern Medicine advises against sleeping on soft surfaces since it’s not as good for the back. 

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On each floor, there is only 2 washers and 1 dryer and there’s probably more than 40 people on each floor. And if you’re thinking, “That really sucks. How would anyone get laundry done?” It really does suck and people get laundry done by actually going to the laundry room and making a line with their piles of laundry. If you’re not there within 1-2 minutes to take your laundry out of the washer or dryer, chances are, someone will do it for you. They even have a sign up asking people to leave their laundry baskets in the laundry room so that people in line can take laundry out more conveniently. I think it’s normal here for people to take other people’s laundry out, and the rude party in this case would be the person who wasn’t there to take their laundry out right when it finished. It’s also very cheap to wash and dry clothes here. Each time only takes about 33 cents USD. 
Taking showers here are also very difficult because there are only shelves in the shower stalls but no hooks. Though it might not seem that bad, the shelves are usually very wet because of previous showers so there’s really no place to put your clothes and towel. After a week of trial and error as well as asking roommates and other people, I think I’m finally getting used to it. Kinda.
Tomorrow is the language ability test for all the students. 

Location: National Chengchi University, Taipei, Taiwan