What to do upon arrival

Adjust to your surroundings: Walk around campus. Find the local convenience stores, parks, dog street, SCIC 1, 2 and 3, the Jun Wu building (IED is in the top floor)…

Buy a phone and get a sim card: China telecom seems to be the best service and price. I suggest getting a smart phone (Android 2.2 or better or IPhone) so that you can get the Pleco application. This will allow you to translate Chinese characters simply by pointing your phone’s camera at the characters! You can also write characters on the touch screen which will then be translated, or you can translate using the phonetic alphabet. Your phone should work once you go back to your home country once you change the SIM card, so don’t worry about that.

Buy food: Go to some local markets and grocery stores. Find some restaurants with English menus, menus with pictures or food you can point to. Find a Wal-Mart and stores that offer western groceries.

Get internet: The cheapest option is to go with the campus network. It is around 2mbps download. During peak hours (night time) expect it to be VERY slow. You can go with a variety of high speed service providers of varying speed and price. China Tietong seems to be the best service and price.

Learn how to say Guangxi University in Chinese: If you don’t know how to say Guangxi Daxue, how are you going to tell a cab driver how to get home?

Learn how to use the bus system: You can use Google Transit to figure out which bus to take.

Learn Chinese: Take some Chinese classes and/or study on your own. There are some great training programs you can put on your MP3 player. My favourite is Pimsleur.

Open a bank account: Go to the Bank of China with someone who speaks Chinese, your passport and some RMB.

Buy an umbrella.