Can't believe I already spent two weeks in SJTU! Time went by super quickly! I have started to adjust the lifestyles, culture, and food in Shanghai. There are many exchange and international students at Antai college. I am able to meet many new friends and people from all over the world. There is a ice-breaking event during the first weekend in SJTU (one week from orientation). Strongly recommended to attend because it is a very great opportunity to meet the local students who are volunteers from the International Students Union and break the ice with other exchange students.
There are some similarities and differences between UH Manoa and SJTU such as the following:
Course Enrollment & Selection
First week of classes start on September 9 for Fall semester and the course selection system is online (similar to STAR), where you can choose courses on the list you received on registration day. Make sure you know when the system will open because seats are limited and competitive. If you did not get the courses you want, you may refresh the page every 30 minutes or so to see if anyone drop the course.
Mid-Autumn Festival
There is a special holiday called Mid-Autumn Festival in China and usually during this day, people will celebrate with their family and eat moon cakes together. We have a day off due to this holiday.
Canteen
Similar to UH, there are canteens and restaurants on campus where you can buy breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Menu are different everyday and there are many food options such as dumplings, noodles, bread, rice, pancakes, and congee. However, you can only use your student ID to purchase food in canteen, which requires you to recharge your card every once awhile (refer back to my first post to see how to charge your ID). There are also free soups given out during lunch and dinner time. Try to go there at least once because canteen foods are very cheap and delicious!!