BLCU, Beijing Fall 2011: The Quest for Cheaper Dorm Stuffs (Episode 1

When you are living in a dorm, particularly Dorm9 of BLCU, you will be needed loads of stuffs. When you enter your room will only be provided with

bed with 1 bed cover and blanket plus one pillow with pillow case
a study lamp
a desk and chair
closet
a small basin
To be shared if you are in a double room: trash can, TV, mini ref, and an electric kettle (in my case, the previous user of the electric kettle forgot to empty the water in the kettle. When it was my time to use it, it was infested with larvae. Thus, I bought my own electric kettle)

Each person is also provided with an electronic card key for the room. Each room has smoke alarm aside from the "amenities" mentioned above. Each room also has a telephone, but I am not sure if it is working. I think you need to pay to use it. Every room also has provision for local area network or wired internet connection.Go here for more info on internet connection.

Here’s an overview of Dorm9 Room 306.

I advise you to bring extra bed covers and blanket. You may use these as cushion because the bed is not as pretty as the picture. You can feel the springs of the bed if the bed cover is thin. What I did was to cover the bed with a blanket first and then cover it with bed cover; not as bad as before but I can still feel the springs.

This type of room is the cheapest room there is. It’s 35RMB per day. All CSC scholars (if you do not know what CSC is, go here) are assigned in the cheapest accommodation by default. For CSC girl scholars, we are assigned to Dorm9. Here’s the side view and the entrance of the building:

Dorm9 Entrance and Side VIew

And Dorm9 is located in front of Dorm 7 and 8 and at the back of HSK (Bldg 5) building and Dorm6. Well, at exactly "in front" and "at the back" of. See the map below. Dorm9 is encircled in red with yellow label "Dorm9". The five buildings,Dorm6, 7, 8, 9, and HSK building form a somewhat "X" shape.

This map was taken from the back of the Student's Book of the College of Advanced Chinese Training.

What is inside Dorm9 or the Scholarship Dorm?

Let's start with how many floors. There are 4 floors in this Dorm. No escalators. No elevators. Just stairs. Each floors has the following:

Public toilet with three stalls. Yes, you are correct! There are no toilet bowls. All stalls are squatting type. See picture below. Rm306 is right beside the toilet.

The Toilet Room

The Sink

The Throne

Each floor also has a fire extinguisher and CCTV. There is a public kitchen in the ground floor. Essentially, there is only 1 electric stove and 1 microwave there. Some students, here in Dorm9, purchase their own kitchen appliances such as rice cooker and the cook in their rooms. There are students who even buy refrigerator.

Each floor also has a bathroom and wash area. There are 2 showers with heaters. Each shower stall has a small cabinet where you can place your dry clothes and other bathing goods. In this room, the washing machine can also be found. There are NO dryers, unfortunately. (I hang my clothes in the ceiling of my room to dry) To use the washing machine, you need to buy a token (like in the arcades) worth 4RMB. Each token is good for one washing cycle. But, you do not want to do the laundry by yourself, there is a laundry shop inside the campus. Here are the visual aids of the bathroom. Enjoy!