I came to Nanjing at the end of August 2014. My arrival was preceded by several quite stressfull weeks of preparations. What made it even more difficult was the fact that important documents sent from my University to Nanjing were lost. But all problems were solved at the end. After the arrival, students who want to stay longer than one semester have to take a medical examination. What surprised me was that my international HIV certificate in english was not recognized. My chest x-ray examination that I got in my home country was recognized because I had all the information on a CD. If possible, every international student should try to get it in their country, otherwise they will have to do it and pay for it in China.
The biggest help that Nanjing University offered us were our buddies. Every international student gets his chinese buddy that helps him with everything. I, for example, was able to rent a cheap flat together with my schoolmates very close to the university just about four days after my arrival to China. It would not be possible without our chinese friends. They not only help international students with everything, but also spend with them free time, help them to improve in chinese language, go to a restaurant with them etc.
As far as the school itself is concerned, I found the classes to be of high quality with a lot of very good teachers. Students have a lot of freedom. In their first week, everyone can choose the course he or she wants to attend. There is a test that can help to determine the level of chinese of those students that write it. There are also other classes, like caligraphy, painting and others but students interested in these courses should take initiative and ask about them, not waiting till someone offers them to take part in these classes.
In China, a student coming from Europe will miss many things, but he or she will probably miss food the most. But after returning from China, I discovered the truth, that after the return one misses chinese food twice as much. An international student should ask others and particularly their chinese friends about various good restaurants in Nanjing. There is good food everywhere. One should try as many various dishes as possible. Eating in restaurants in China is very cheap, the food is often very delicious. Near the Gulou campus, one can find many various good restaurants. For example – the noodle restaurant at the end of QingDaoLu – try the famous Biangbiangmian – these are the best noodles I have ever eaten, One should also go to the Taiwanese restaurant in front of the dorms for international students, LanzhouLamian is also something worth trying – one cand eat it in the muslim restaurant on HankouLu, which is situated near two Corean restaurants with delicious shiguofan.
Nanjing is probably one of the best places for studying in China. It takes just 1,5 hour to get there from Shanghai. The Nanjing University is concidered to be one of the best in China. Nanjing is one of the most important cities of chinese history, it also served as a capital. The rich history left many marks on the city and even now a lot of historical buildings still stand, there are large ancient parks and a great part of the ancient city wall is preserved, it gives us the idea about the splendor, greatness and power of the town in past centuries.
For me, studying for one year in Nanjing was one of the best experiences in my life, if I could choose again, I would choose Nanjing. (Stefan-Slovkia)
