So for whoever is reading this blog, be it future Alliance students or future China travelers, or people who just want to know... these are the things that are hard to find in China. Or are just good to have.
1) Medicine
You need to bring whatever medicine you take on a regular basis to China. I don't know how many times I have given my classmates simple over the counter medicine such as ibuprofen or tums. Maybe even consider bringing band aids and neosporin. And a allergy medicine. Simple things that you don't need to go to the doctor for. You will not find these things easily in China as you would in the USA or Europe.
2) Bug Spray
Mosquitoes are TERRIBLE here. Even now we are still having issues with mosquitoes. Mainly in the dorm rooms, gym, and classrooms. I have to spray myself with bug spray before I go to sleep or I wake up the next morning with tons of mosquito bites.
3) Mechanical Pencils
Erasers and mechanical pencils are in short supply. Everything else you will be good on. But when you are writing characters, you don't want to write in pen.
4) Skin Care
For the ladies, and men too. I would strongly advise bringing enough face wash and moisturizer for your time abroad. Most of the things here for the face contain agents that are supposed to make your skin whiter. This goes for body lotion as well. Not to mention things of this nature are considered "luxury" items so they are more than what you would pay for at home.
5) Deodorant
The deodorant here is mainly in spray form... and not as efficient. Bring like 2-3 containers of your own deodorant to China. This goes for the men as well
6) Electricity adaptor/converter thing
I got mine at Walmart and it was 10$. It is also for world wide use so that way you can use it in multiple countries. This was handy for when we traveled to Hong Kong and Macau. Not only that but you will need it for things you bring from home. I brought 2 with me.
7) For the Ladies
Certain feminine care products aren't available here. You can message me if you would like to know more.
8) VPN
This is a Virtual Private Network. This is how I am able to be on blogger. Otherwise it would be blocked because google and all things owned by google are blocked in China. Normally your school will have a VPN for you to use, make sure that you have it downloaded on your computer BEFORE you get to China, otherwise it will not work. I am using a VPN that isn't from my school because I didn't know about them before I came to China.
9) Hand Sanitizer
This is crucial because the majority of bathrooms here are repulsive and won't have any soap to wash your hands with. They also don't have toilet paper in the majority of them as well. But you can buy packets of hand tissues to use here. However you WILL NOT find hand sanitizer, so I suggest you bring a few.
That is all I can think about for right now. I will also make a blog on what you DON'T need to bring to China. Like things you can buy here so that you have more space in your suitcase.
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Random Videos
Just what it is like when ever we have a group picture taken and the Asians taking pictures of us.
In Macau, by the big casinos
Top of the Macau tower, people bungee jump off of it. It is also a rotating restaurant. One of the best meals I've had in Asia thus far.
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Banking in China
Hello! Long time no post... sorry.
Live has been busy and distracting... and I did say that I wasn't any good at this. But excuses aside I went on our field study trip, which was an educational field trip with everyone in the program. We went to Guangzhou [g-wong-joe], Hong Kong, Macau [ma-cow], and Zhuhai [juu-hi]. Pictures and more information on the trip to come! I promise!!
But for now I wanted to share some information on something that is important when coming to China for an extended period of time. That is banking. China is still for the most part a cash economy, with that said, it is hard to find places that will take a credit card, let alone a foreign credit card. Places that are international brands like major hotels, restaurants, and clothing stores will take credit cards. But your average day to day things will require cash. So this means you will be at the ATM a lot.
Before coming to China I did a ton of research on which banks had the best deals and partnerships in China. This is what I have compiled between that research and what I know now. I am not saying that these are the best options, or that it is completely necessary to do any of this, but it does save you quite a bit of money in foreign ATM fees.
Banks and deals are:
1) Bank of America
Bank of America has a partnership with China Construction Bank. With this partnership you can use your Bank of America debit card to withdraw money from the China Construction Bank ATM. The only charge is 1% fee of whatever amount of money you withdraw. Not bad huh? The drawback to this deal is that you have to use China Construction atm's. If for some reason you have to use another ATM you are then charged an outrageous fee. I believe one of my friends said it was in the $15 area. This is the most popular method amongst my peers.
2) Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo also has a partnership with a bank in China. This partnership is with China Agriculture Bank. The terms of this partnership are different that with that of Bank of America. With this partnership you have to set up an account with China Agriculture Bank, then have money transferred into the account from your Wells Fargo account. You have to let your banker know ahead of time so that they can be ready for it. You also have to give your banker at home your account information from the China Agriculture bank. The pros to this are that there is only a one time, flat rate charge of $8 to transfer money. So you can transfer over as much as you want for a flat rate fee. Then you can withdraw money from the Agriculture Bank ATM without any charges. You will also get an online card.(You have to have a special card to order things online here in China) The downside to this offer is that you will need someone who speaks Chinese to help you set up the account. The assistant program director went with me, so it was no problem. The other con is that once you transfer money over, you have to use it all in China, because you will not be allowed to transfer the money back to the USA. This is a Chinese policy. They try to keep as much money in China as possible. This was the banking option I took. And if for whatever reason I have to use my Wells Fargo debit card at another ATM, then I am charged a flat $5 non-Wells Fargo ATM fee.
3) Citi Bank
There are Citi Banks in Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. And I am willing to bet they are in other cities as well. Had I known they were over here I would have set up an account with them. That way I could have used their atm's without any charges, and without any transferring. Citi used to have this awesome international student checking account that was virtually fee less. Unfortunately it is no longer an option for those who don't already have it. I didn't stop to think that Citi might actually be in China. I just assumed that foreign banks just weren't allowed in.
Anyways... I have friends who use their regular banks at home and just pay the ATM fees... but it adds up after a while. I thought this blog would be helpful for those preparing to come to China for a semester :) Of course I am no expert, and you should always talk to your own personal banker, but hopefully this will help shed some light.
Posts coming up are:
-Field Study trip and pics
-What to bring to China, and what to leave at home
-random videos of my life here
Live has been busy and distracting... and I did say that I wasn't any good at this. But excuses aside I went on our field study trip, which was an educational field trip with everyone in the program. We went to Guangzhou [g-wong-joe], Hong Kong, Macau [ma-cow], and Zhuhai [juu-hi]. Pictures and more information on the trip to come! I promise!!
But for now I wanted to share some information on something that is important when coming to China for an extended period of time. That is banking. China is still for the most part a cash economy, with that said, it is hard to find places that will take a credit card, let alone a foreign credit card. Places that are international brands like major hotels, restaurants, and clothing stores will take credit cards. But your average day to day things will require cash. So this means you will be at the ATM a lot.
Before coming to China I did a ton of research on which banks had the best deals and partnerships in China. This is what I have compiled between that research and what I know now. I am not saying that these are the best options, or that it is completely necessary to do any of this, but it does save you quite a bit of money in foreign ATM fees.
Banks and deals are:
1) Bank of America
Bank of America has a partnership with China Construction Bank. With this partnership you can use your Bank of America debit card to withdraw money from the China Construction Bank ATM. The only charge is 1% fee of whatever amount of money you withdraw. Not bad huh? The drawback to this deal is that you have to use China Construction atm's. If for some reason you have to use another ATM you are then charged an outrageous fee. I believe one of my friends said it was in the $15 area. This is the most popular method amongst my peers.
2) Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo also has a partnership with a bank in China. This partnership is with China Agriculture Bank. The terms of this partnership are different that with that of Bank of America. With this partnership you have to set up an account with China Agriculture Bank, then have money transferred into the account from your Wells Fargo account. You have to let your banker know ahead of time so that they can be ready for it. You also have to give your banker at home your account information from the China Agriculture bank. The pros to this are that there is only a one time, flat rate charge of $8 to transfer money. So you can transfer over as much as you want for a flat rate fee. Then you can withdraw money from the Agriculture Bank ATM without any charges. You will also get an online card.(You have to have a special card to order things online here in China) The downside to this offer is that you will need someone who speaks Chinese to help you set up the account. The assistant program director went with me, so it was no problem. The other con is that once you transfer money over, you have to use it all in China, because you will not be allowed to transfer the money back to the USA. This is a Chinese policy. They try to keep as much money in China as possible. This was the banking option I took. And if for whatever reason I have to use my Wells Fargo debit card at another ATM, then I am charged a flat $5 non-Wells Fargo ATM fee.
3) Citi Bank
There are Citi Banks in Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. And I am willing to bet they are in other cities as well. Had I known they were over here I would have set up an account with them. That way I could have used their atm's without any charges, and without any transferring. Citi used to have this awesome international student checking account that was virtually fee less. Unfortunately it is no longer an option for those who don't already have it. I didn't stop to think that Citi might actually be in China. I just assumed that foreign banks just weren't allowed in.
Anyways... I have friends who use their regular banks at home and just pay the ATM fees... but it adds up after a while. I thought this blog would be helpful for those preparing to come to China for a semester :) Of course I am no expert, and you should always talk to your own personal banker, but hopefully this will help shed some light.
Posts coming up are:
-Field Study trip and pics
-What to bring to China, and what to leave at home
-random videos of my life here
Monday, October 22, 2012
Pictures from Independent Travel
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| How the majority of my time was spent |
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| In Beijing, outside of the Forbidden City. So many people! |
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| Front of the Forbidden City |
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| Great Wall |
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| Just for size, also in the Forbidden City |
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| At the Temple of Heaven |
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| Our flight from Sanya to Beijing. |
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| You have to have Peking Duck when in Beijing |
Independent Travel Week
Sorry guys! I actually had my independent travel week September 28th through October 4th. Normally we would be doing our group travel during this time, but because things booked up so fast our program advisor had to move things around. And I am just posting about it now because I have been sooo busy [aka too lazy] to sit down and upload photos. But fear not! I will post pictures all over the place this time!!!
The first part of our independent travel a large group of us, 13 people, went down to Sanya, China. This little town is the second most furthest city in China, and is often referred to as the "Hawaii" of China. Fun fact: most of the signs were in Russian and Chinese. I guess this is also a hot spot for Russian travelers. Not such a great place for English speaker, but alas... it made us use our Chinese that we have been trying to pick up.
We basically spent 5 days laying on the beach and soaking up the sun. One of the days down there we went on an organized tour with our group to a remote town. There we kayaked on the ocean to a snorkeling spot, went on a short hike, then kayaked back to the private beach to have a barbeque. Fun day, but also very tiring.
The second part of the trip was spent in Beijing. The group broke up after this. It was just me and my four other girl friends out and about. All blond. Lots of attention. Should have charged people for all the pictures we had taken... We did all kinds of fun stuff. Saw the Forbidden City, The Great Wall, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, and went to the Hongqiao Pearl Market. Lots to see in little time. But hey, it was great action-packed fun. We took a high speed train back to Shanghai and proceeded to sleep for hours.
Our routine thus far has been basically the same. Chinese class Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 9 am to noon. And of course my Management class on Wednesday and Economics on Thursday. We have also had some small field trip like adventures around Shanghai that I will share more with later. (Can't talk about everything I have done in this post... I wouldn't have any more stories to tell later on)
Hope you enjoy my new videos and pictures!!
The first part of our independent travel a large group of us, 13 people, went down to Sanya, China. This little town is the second most furthest city in China, and is often referred to as the "Hawaii" of China. Fun fact: most of the signs were in Russian and Chinese. I guess this is also a hot spot for Russian travelers. Not such a great place for English speaker, but alas... it made us use our Chinese that we have been trying to pick up.
We basically spent 5 days laying on the beach and soaking up the sun. One of the days down there we went on an organized tour with our group to a remote town. There we kayaked on the ocean to a snorkeling spot, went on a short hike, then kayaked back to the private beach to have a barbeque. Fun day, but also very tiring.
The second part of the trip was spent in Beijing. The group broke up after this. It was just me and my four other girl friends out and about. All blond. Lots of attention. Should have charged people for all the pictures we had taken... We did all kinds of fun stuff. Saw the Forbidden City, The Great Wall, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, and went to the Hongqiao Pearl Market. Lots to see in little time. But hey, it was great action-packed fun. We took a high speed train back to Shanghai and proceeded to sleep for hours.
Our routine thus far has been basically the same. Chinese class Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 9 am to noon. And of course my Management class on Wednesday and Economics on Thursday. We have also had some small field trip like adventures around Shanghai that I will share more with later. (Can't talk about everything I have done in this post... I wouldn't have any more stories to tell later on)
Hope you enjoy my new videos and pictures!!
First Vlog (Video Blog)
So I am now going to start uploading some videos along with other pictures and blog posts. I feel like it adds dimension and character to my overall blog. And I feel that you get better first hand experience on my life in China! No worries, it won't be just video based, just a bunch of random things that I want to share with all my family, friends, and anyone else who is following my journey.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Hangzhou
Pronounced hong-joe :)
So the weekend of September 22nd and 23rd my friends and I made a quick weekend trip to a nearby city. Famous for its Temples, Pagodas, and of course the West Lake!
Early Saturday morning we loaded up a high speed train and ventured to the beautiful city. It was really breath taking in its serenity. The main attraction being the lake, we all walked around the lake and made rounds in the city.
Sunday morning we woke up early again and made way to the Lingyin Temple. It was so huge, the scenery was gorgeous. There were several smaller temples inside as well as several tea fields growing. My friends and I didn't really know what to do when we would walk through a temple and awkwardly watch as Chinese people prayed. One of the Chinese roommates was kind enough to explain the different temples, and the different statues and what they meant or did.
Around noon we were famished and made way back into Hangzhou for some food. We found our way to an interesting Chinese restaurant. As we sat down the waiter came by and told us to follow him... confused we followed to see what he wanted. He led us back to a room filled to the brim with tons of live fish and crab and various still alive marine creatures. Apparently you are supposed to pick out what you want, they cook it for you, then you eat it. I stuck to fried rice and shrimp, the others had some crab, fish, and noodles.
After the interesting lunch we finally got to the lake. Paid for a boat and floated on the river/went sightseeing for about an hour.
The last and final stop we made was to the Chinese Traditional Medicine Museum. Everything dating back to the beginning of Chinese Medicine was to be found in this place. Unfortunately by this point I was so tired that nothing could interest me more than the sight of my bed, after walking all day I was ready to be back in Shanghai.
The trip to Hangzhou was a short, simple, and sweet getaway that is just what we needed. It is nice to get out of the hustle and bustle of such a large city. You take for granted not hearing the subway or the sound of car horns.
Well... That's gonna be it for now, I have another Chinese Test tomorrow that I need to study for.
Still to come are my most recent trips to Sanya, China (the "Hawaii" of China) and then Beijing. And in a couple of weeks our whole study abroad program will be going to Hong Kong, Macau (the Las Vegas of China), and some hot springs.
So the weekend of September 22nd and 23rd my friends and I made a quick weekend trip to a nearby city. Famous for its Temples, Pagodas, and of course the West Lake!
Early Saturday morning we loaded up a high speed train and ventured to the beautiful city. It was really breath taking in its serenity. The main attraction being the lake, we all walked around the lake and made rounds in the city.
Sunday morning we woke up early again and made way to the Lingyin Temple. It was so huge, the scenery was gorgeous. There were several smaller temples inside as well as several tea fields growing. My friends and I didn't really know what to do when we would walk through a temple and awkwardly watch as Chinese people prayed. One of the Chinese roommates was kind enough to explain the different temples, and the different statues and what they meant or did.  |
| Where you go to pick out what food you wanted |
After the interesting lunch we finally got to the lake. Paid for a boat and floated on the river/went sightseeing for about an hour.
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| Boat Tour |
The trip to Hangzhou was a short, simple, and sweet getaway that is just what we needed. It is nice to get out of the hustle and bustle of such a large city. You take for granted not hearing the subway or the sound of car horns.
Well... That's gonna be it for now, I have another Chinese Test tomorrow that I need to study for.
Still to come are my most recent trips to Sanya, China (the "Hawaii" of China) and then Beijing. And in a couple of weeks our whole study abroad program will be going to Hong Kong, Macau (the Las Vegas of China), and some hot springs.
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| Part of the hike to the top of Lingyin Temple |
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