Campus Life

On Sunday we had our final G.A.O. (Girls Afternoon Out) with some of my college students and we decided to go out and do something fun! As you can see from the pictures, we chose bowling. I didn't get an exact count, but out of the 9 Chinese girls who went, at least 6 of them had never been bowling!! Never been bowling?!?! In my somewhat zig-zag way of thinking, this led me to ponder college life for Chinese students and in reflecting back on this, I wanted to share with you some things about the life of a college student at my university. (Please keep in mind that these things are true at my university, but do not necessarily represent universities in China on a large scale.)

My bowling team - I had the best score, 98. We are pretty bad, huh?!?! :)

My school, TJFSU, is considered to be a mid-range school as far as the rankings go. Students who are accepted into college are given a ranking - either top, mid, or bottom range and they are only allowed to go to a school within their ranking. These rankings, by the way, are determined by ONE exam that students prepare for throughout their entire high school years. They study from 7 a.m. - 10 p.m. then go to sleep and start all over again - every day. I've even heard stories about parents who will feed their high school students so that they can continue studying. Sorry, I digress... Anyways, my school is comparatively small (I've heard the number of students range from about 8,000-10,000.) Yes, this is considered small!

A day in the life...
If I had to sum up a student's typical day, it would look similar to the following. (This comes from talking with many, many students...of course there are exceptions but I think this is how most students go through their college life):
Monday - Friday:
6:30 a.m. - Wake up and do morning running. Each student is required to run 50 times per semester. This includes running around a standard-sized track two times. They can do this at set times either in the morning or in the evening.
7:20 a.m. - Go to the classroom for required morning reading. Yes, required... They have to sit there until their 8 a.m. class and they can read anything they choose.
8:00 a.m. - 11:40 a.m. - Two morning classes lasting for an hour and 40 minutes each.
11:40 a.m. - 2 p.m. - Lunch and often times, a nap.
2 p.m. - 5:40 p.m. - Two more classes. Not all students have class all day but if they don't have class they are likely studying or in meetings. Usually an afternoon class consists of a P.E. class in which they can choose from a variety of sports including; frisbee, basketball, table tennis, pool, etc.
5:40 p.m. - 11 p.m. - Dinner, sometimes another class in the evening, studying. Some students will go to the library but most of them have told me they, "just prefer to stay in the dorm."
11 p.m. - LIGHTS OUT! I'm serious! The power is cut at 11:00!! If any of my college roommates are reading this, can you imagine? We were (or I was :) just getting started around that time!
* All of these requirements and regulations make it very difficult for the students to become independent and figure out how to live on their own. When they are thrown out into the "real world" often times students don't know how to deal with it and they have a very very difficult road.

Weekends - many students will go shopping for food or clothes, but mostly they stay in their dorms and sleep or watch downloaded movies. They rarely leave campus, even to eat out!

Some other interesting facts about TJFSU! There is one public shower for women, one for the men which all the students use (if this sounds like no big deal, please refer to the number of students that I mentioned above...) The showers are open from 2 p.m. - 9 p.m. and are closed on most holidays...

Many of my students tell me that college life is boring. Telling this to a girl who LOVED college life, it's just unimaginable to me. I guess they don't have the opportunities (or motivation?) to make it fun. I have had many students tell me that the highlight of their year was meeting me - how sad!! :) They say that I am new, different and I bring them exciting opportunities. I know that part of this is true - I am constantly dragging students off campus to go out and do fun things! When students ask me about college life in the U.S. often times all I can say is, "it's different than college life in China..." So thankful for my own college experience!