The BLCU Campus

In this post I will discuss most of the places of interest for study abroad students at BLCU. First, let's start with the campus map:

There are 3 gates from which you can enter and exit BLCU: East gate (东门), West gate (西门), South gate (南门). The South gate is the main entrance for campus and the only gate through which cars can go through. If you turn to the right after entering from the South gate, there is Student Dormitory No. 4 (宿舍四号楼), Hope cafe (which is attached to Dorm No. 4), Student Dormitory No. 1 (宿舍一号楼 － primarily for scholarship students), and a small convenience store (便利店 － located in the back alley between Dorm No. 1 and Dorm No. 4). If you go even further past Dorm No. 1, then you can find the campus bookstore (出版社), which has pretty much every book published by the BLCU press for sale (it is a very extensive library). Hope Cafe is a good place to get a decent burger or a western breakfast if you are getting tired of eating at the dining hall all the time. It stayed open relatively late (12am or 1 am I think) and was a little overpriced for the quality, but the convenience of being right next to Dorm No. 4 was a huge plus. Hope cafe also has free wifi inside the building and outside where tables are set up so many students go there just to hang out or study. There is also a small pond located in front of Dorm No. 4 with tables and seats and its a great place to hang out when its not cold outside. The convenience store is a great place to get snacks and drinks if you don't want to go all the way to the grocery store outside. It had everything from cookies, chips, drinks, flavored yogurts, etc. Prices were about the same to the grocery store outside campus which was great. 

If you turn left after entering the South gate, you will find the Cafeteria (食堂) and the Library (图书馆) on opposite sides of the street. The library is not a great place to study because students there are pretty loud, but there is a good bookstore on the 2nd floor that has a lot of books for the HSK (汉语水平考试 － the Chinese equivalent to the TOEFL). The Conference Center (会议中心) is also located right behind the library, and this is where some foreign students choose to live in. The Cafeteria has 5 levels, with the first 2 having very cheap food that is a little bland, and this is where most of the native Chinese students eat. You definitely need a meal card to get food there and that can be made in an office on the 2nd floor of the Cafeteria. The 3rd floor has a lot of different options and Chinese dishes that you usually get at restaurants. This is usually made to order and a little more expensive than the first 2 floors, but still very cheap (~10-15 RMB for a full meal). There is also a hot pot restaurant on this floor. The fourth and fifth floors have actually restaurants there with food that is very decent but relatively expensive (~30-50 RMB). There is a Japanese restaurant on the 4th floor and a place where you can get Peking duck on the 5th floor, but I'd recommend going to one of the many popular restaurants in Beijing for real Peking duck. If instead of going into the Cafeteria and rather walking around it, you will find the Muslim restaurant (穆斯林餐厅). It is a great place to get authentic Xinjiang food, which is incredibly tasty. It is usually very busy and definitely a little pricey but it's worth checking out. A lot of Muslim students go to eat over there because it is the only place on campus where you can find halal food.

The main building in the area of the East gate is Classroom Building No. 1 (教一楼) which is where you will most likely have all of your classes. It is a massive building with lots of classrooms and offices. The important spots for most people will be Room 107 located on the first floor to the right of the main entrance, which is where the people in charge of international students are located. They take care of visa issues, passports, tuition & fees, etc. so if any issue comes up they will be the best equipped to handle it. I should also not that on the 2nd floor of the Yifu Building (逸夫楼) which is located between Classroom Building No. 1 and Dormitory No. 1, there is a Visa service that takes care of your residence permit and visa issues without you having to go all the way to the embassy, but you will need the approval of the teachers in room 107 before they will do anything for you regarding the visa. Every class has a 10 min break in the middle and most students go down to the 4th floor because there is a canteen where you can get drinks and snacks and there is a large balcony where a lot of students like to hang out and chat. There are also other class buildings in that area, but I think those were only for the native Chinese students and I never knew of anyone having a class there. There is also a ICBC bank/ATM located in the building behind Classroom Building No. 1 which is where a lot of students receive their scholarship stipends. 

The area around the West gate has a lot of things around it. First off, Dorm No. 17 is located right outside of the West gate and its where most of the international students not on scholarship live. As you enter in from the West gate, there are a lot of dorms located to the right, but most of these are for the native Chinese students. The only ones I can think of that I know foreigners lived in are Dorms 7, 8, and 9. Dorms 7 and 8 were very nice and were all single rooms. I think it was one of the most expensive dorms to live in on campus. Dorm 9 was mostly for female students on scholarship and the girls that lived there said it was just as dirty as Dorm 1 (which is extremely dirty). There is also a store, a few cafes, and other miscellaneous services located in front of Dorm 9. The store over there is like a mini grocery store and they also carry school supplies. You can also buy a cell phone or an electronic dictionary over there but I highly recommend going outside to Zhongguancun or some other place because you can get one much cheaper over there. There is also a barbershop, laundry service, and photocopy place located all in the same block. As you enter the West gate, to the left you have the Post Office and the Cernet office. The Cernet office is where everyone on campus goes to get their internet setup. If you go a little further, you will see the volley ball courts, gym, and track field to the left and the basketball and tennis courts to the right. I feel that the gym on campus overcharges and I personally recommend to go to the gym in UTSB (科技大学) since it is far superior in facilities and membership can be much cheaper (refer to my previous post about this).

That's pretty much all I have to say about the campus, and I hope this was thorough enough. This was originally supposed to be a video tour, but due to my camera being broken, I could not get the footage uploaded to my computer. Please feel free to send any questions my way.

*** For photos of a bunch of the places I talked about here, visit the BLCU Blog's photo section.