Advice on studying and living in shanghai

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micheleg

Newbie

Joined: Dec 14, 2006
Posts: 3

Status: Offline

Posted: Dec 18, 2006 - 12:57 AM
Post subject: Advice on studying and living in shanghai

Dear All,

I am planning to go to shanghai for two months from end of January onwards and am looking for a good school where to learn Chinese (I have been in touch with Mandarin House..anyone has any views on this).

Also, I am looking for accomodation (1 bedroom and living room), which will be for myself and the occasional friend who might come and visit. The school is in Downtown, near Changshu road Metro station.

Where is the best place to live which is relatively close to the potential school, but also NICE, SAFE and near enterntainement, so that one can easily go back home to rest after class and/or go out in the evning without too much trouble (I hear xintiandi is a good area). The school also provides accomodation in Downtown, which could be an easy solution..maybe..

Getting information from here via Internet is not so easy, as a map is only a map and gives little info as to the quality of the area.

I thank you all for your responses and advice

Michele

yu888
Board Deity

Joined: Jan 25, 2003
Posts: 19335
Location: ZhongShanParkArea SH

Posted: Dec 26, 2006 - 11:28 PM

Happy holidays! It seems many people are on holiday so the answers are a bit slower in coming. Anyhow, here's my 2 cents...

What kind of school schedule are you planning to set up? When i cam, I planned for 6 mos of full time classes and so I enrolled into a local University's Chinese as a Foreign language course program and it was very good. I attended East China normal University, a leading teaching college here in Shanghai with an excellent programset up for teaching foreigners Chinese in a classroom setting. They also have TWO MONTH programs availabel that you can custom arrange with them. Courses are taught by experienced university instructors that specialize in teaching Foreigners Chinese. While it is a bit more traditional in nature than some of the private schools, the cost was very reasonable and they offered dormitories and apartment options, not to mention many options of apartments near campus. Learning on and living near a campus allowed for me to aclimate easier and provided a good setting for making me study more, all while helping grow the ShanghaiExpat community as well. You need not pick the same University program as Fudan University and JiaoTong university also have excellent programs for Chinese.

Living arrangements anywhere can range form lousy to quiet good depending upon your requirements and the price. A simple apartment (one room with a living room small kitchen and bathroom can range from 1500rmb for a basic local place to 6000rmb fully serviced luxury pad depending upon where on that spectrum you want to be on. Xintian di is a really really nice area to be close to but its not really like living in Shanghai, more like living in a hotel somewhere in disneyland.

Two months is a short stay. If youa rejust treating it like an educational holiday then go for it. Pick the pricey places and just enjoy. but if youa re trying to go for a more local feel, two months may be perfect for that kind of expereince as well. i woudl come and stay in a hotel for a week and find a place if it were for longer, but 2 mos really is a short stay so maybe it will end up being a more procy rent just for such a short duration? Good luck.

And oh, everthing here is somewhat near entertainment...taxis are safe and everywhere (except traffic hours and heavy rains) and are really convenient in most cases so, not to worry.

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