Hello (again) USWIB! My name is Claire Zhang, and I’m a junior studying Business and Political Economy. I might be familiar to some of you, since I was the London Study Abroad Liaison last semester. Well, now I’m coming at y’all from a different location: Shanghai!
I’ve been in Shanghai for just about a month now, and it’s definitely been a huge adjustment but the process has been really exciting and fun. NYU Shanghai is different from most of the study away sites since it’s a degree-granting campus. So, there’s a lot more resources and facilities available: a library, a gym, shuttle buses to school, and ping pong tables! Since everything, other than the dorms, is in one building, it does remind me a little bit of Tisch Hall.
One really great thing about studying in Shanghai is that there’s a wide variety of business classes, ranging from Introduction to Marketing to B-Law to Equity Valuation, so you don’t have to worry about not being able to fulfill course requirements. But, since it’s a portal campus, the course load is slightly heavier than all of the other campuses. Don’t let that deter you from studying here, though!
Shanghai is a really beautiful city with a lot of amazing architecture that tells a lot about its story. The campus and dorm are both in Pudong, which is definitely more residential. On the other side of the river, Puxi, there’s a lot more to do; there’s a lot of very ~aesthetic~ cafes, and the majority of nightlife is located there.
My favorite thing about Shanghai is the food. Shanghai is known for their soup dumplings and shen jian bao, which is kind of like your typical soup dumpling, but the bottom is fried. But, most importantly, it’s cheap! You could get 6 soup dumplings for around 6 RMB, which is a little less than a dollar.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get a multiple entry visa, so I can’t leave the country. But there’s still so much to do in China! So far, I’ve gone on a day trip Hangzhou. I got to see the beautiful West Lake and learned so much about the history of the different landmarks surrounding it. October 1st is China’s national day (kind of like July 4th for the US), so we get the entire week off. My friends and I are planning to go into the mountains and get some much needed R&R.
I’m really excited about the rest of the semester to see more of what China has to offer, and just soak in this once-in-a-lifetime experience. If you have any questions about studying abroad in Shanghai or even London, feel free to reach out to me by email at cyz219@nyu.edu or through Facebook!