Tomorrow is the first day of school at Fudan University and strangely enough, I could not be happier to get up early in the morning to go to class.
The Fudan campus is absolutely beautiful. Fudan combines a mix of traditional Chinese architecture, European colonialism, modern-age structures, and scattered gardens. The University itself was founded in 1905, during the last years of the Qing Dynasty. Because of the large European presence in Shanghai during this time, it isn't surprising that buildings such as Zibin Hall mark the campus.
Fudan University is also extraordinarily large. It comprises of 4 campuses scattered throughout Shanghai. The main campus, Handan, is where I am staying and where all of my classes our. Handan is divided into two sections, North and South. Walking from my apartments to the front gate (located at the edge of North campus) itself takes 40 minutes. Most students here own bicycles, as dorms are located far away from academic buildings. Although renting or buying a bicycle may save me time and get me to class faster in the mornings, Chinese roads are a lot more dangerous than in the US. Drivers tend not to stop for bikers or pedestrians and the sides streets dedicated to bicycles are crowded with motorbikes, cabbies, and other vehicles.
One of the most exciting parts about studying at Fudan is the wide range of courses available. GW's Fudan colleagues worked to accommodate the Global Bachelors program by adding certain courses in the School of International Relations and Public Affairs. These courses, such as Comparative Politics of East Asia and Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict give a unique Chinese perspective to a course that might essentially contain the same material as one of these courses at GW. Outside of these SIRPA courses, Fudan has hundreds of other English taught courses, from physics to Confucian classics that are also available to students. This course system is set up a bit differently from GW's. Students at Fudan normally take 20 or so credits each semester, with each class averaging around 2 credits. Each course is set up with only around 2 hours of lecture time every week. The workload, however, remains to be seen.
This next week I am attending 10 courses, after which I will have one more to add and drop as I please. I am really excited to finally start school again and hopefully I have not forgotten how to learn in the 2 months I've had off!