I am starting to get everything settled here in China, so I thought I might share some helpful hints about getting settled in a new country. A lot of these things will be specific to China, but I can also share some things that overlap with getting settled in the UK.
Culture Shock
Feeling comfortable here in China luckily came pretty quickly. I didn’t really experience intense culture shock, probably because there are so many foreigners in my program. Also, because I worked at that Chinese summer camp, I felt pretty comfortable ordering food, sorting out a phone plan, getting a taxi, etc. in Chinese.
But I did feel a bit uncomfortable going out on my own in the first week. I felt really disconnected because I didn’t have a phone with data or a map to navigate. I didn’t know how anything worked or where anything was. It was a bit overwhelming (and still kind of is). I just gradually increased by comfort zone by doing one new thing at a time and dragging someone with me if I could. I now feel a lot more comfortable exploring new areas.
When navigating a new situation, I asked other students who had already been through the process. Word of mouth has definitely been my saving grace in all of this. Talking to people and getting the inside scoop has saved me countless hours of waiting in line.
Immigration
Speaking of waiting in lines, the best tip I have been given has been to make an appointment for applying for a residence permit. If you’re studying in China for more than 6 months, you will have an X1 visa, which will need to be converted into a residence permit within the first 30 days of your arrival in China. The system is to turn up at the Entry and Exit Bureau and take a number and hope they call your number before the day is out. There is another way. Here is the link, which explains how to make an appointment on WeChat. I did this and was in and out of the office in 20 minutes. This was definitely a life saver.
Whatever program or institution you’re with will tell you what documents you need (or hopefully will provide them for you). I needed a copy of my acceptance letter, the application form, a document proving where I lived, a passport-sized photo, and my JW202 form (part of the visa applcation). Definitely check with the Entry and Exit Bureau though.
It is worth noting that the residence permit takes 3 weeks to process, which means you won’t have your passport with you during that time (no international travel!). It also costs 400 RMB, which no one told me until I got there. You pay for the residence permit when you pick up your passport.
Staying Connected
If you don’t know, the only way to communicate, stay informed, pay for your coffee, order a taxi, and get a gym membership all in the same app. Everyone in China uses it – and they use it for absolutely everything. Getting WeChat is a must for getting settled here.
And because you need WeChat all the time, getting a phone with data is also a must. I got a SIM from China Unicom, which gives me about 5GB of data a month (but it’s hard to be sure, since the woman told me in Chinese). Unfortunately, American phones and Chinese SIM cards don’t work together, so I had to get a Chinese phone. I did some research and asked around, and ended up getting a Xiaomi Redmi 3. It cost 799 RMB and seems to be doing the trick so far. You can get functional phones for even less, which is a super great part about living in China!
Another important thing if you want to stay connected is getting a VPN. If you are in China, you need a VPN to use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, anything Google, etc. I bought a year’s subscription for ExpressVPN for about $100. I think it was a pretty good deal, and my VPN has been working pretty well considering how bad the internet connection is at the university.
Banking
In order to avoid bank fees and also to connect a card to WeChat and pay for things on your phone, you need a Chinese bank account. I’ve been told they’re not too difficult to set up, but I haven’t done that yet, since the police still have my passport. Bank of China seems pretty standard. I’ve also heard students use Agricultural Bank of China. I will hopefully update this section when I know more.
Food
One of the bigger struggles here has been food. Don’t get me wrong, I am loving the food. What I am not loving is having to go out to get food 3 times a day. This is only a problem if you’re staying in university dorms (and you have already gotten tired of the food in the canteen). But I have had to really working on finding food that is nearby and relatively healthy. I would gladly eat fried noodles for every meal (and you can), but it makes you feel pretty bad. I have found the freshest and least greasy vegetables I can, but it’s definitely a work in progress. I have been feeling really out of control of my diet so far. I think that’s been one of the hardest things to adjust to. Once I clean up my diet from the first couple of weeks of eating instant noodles, baozi, and fruit alone, I should feel better.
Also in the same realm as food, water has been an issue. You can’t drink the tap water here as it is, so I’ve been buying two 1.5-liter bottles of water every day and drinking that. I just can’t get over how wasteful that is. I have managed to recycle nearly every bottle I have used, but it still feels extremely wasteful. You can drink the tap water if you boil it, which I plan to do when it’s not boiling outside and nearly 100% humidity every day. For now, I’m just trying to figure out the best way to do my part in not completely destroying the environment, while staying hydrated and not getting sick.
Transportation
If you’re in a city in China, it likely has several million residents. I am living in Hangzhou, which has the same population as London or New York. It’s pretty big. Luckily between the buses and the metro, you can get across town (just allow about an hour or more depending on traffic!). The best way to get around on a day-to-day basis though is definitely a bike. I was really intimidated at first to ride a bike in the chaos that is traffic here, but it is fun and practical. You need to be really careful and always watch what other people are doing, because cars and mopeds and bicycles are always whizzing around, narrowly escaping collisions. It’s practical, because a lot of things here are between a 15- and 30-minute walk away from campus. With a bike, transport times are a lot less. If it’s rush hour, you might even get there faster than in a car. My one big piece of advice, though, is to avoid rush hour.
That’s pretty much all I can think to include at the moment. If you have any questions or would like me to talk about something else, please leave a comment!
