{"id":5477,"date":"2018-09-02T14:23:51","date_gmt":"2018-09-02T04:23:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.qut.edu.au\/qut-exchange-students\/?p=5477"},"modified":"2018-09-05T16:42:10","modified_gmt":"2018-09-05T06:42:10","slug":"off-to-shanghai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.qut.edu.au\/gone-global\/2018\/09\/02\/off-to-shanghai\/","title":{"rendered":"Off to Shanghai!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hi everyone!<\/p>\n<p>My name is Jemma, and I\u2019m a travel-bug-bitten 2<sup>nd<\/sup>year business (and mandarin language) student. After many months in the making, tomorrow morning is the morning when my alarm will sound at the lovely time of 3:30am, and I will board a flight bound for one of China\u2019s most exciting cities, Shanghai! Armed only with my limited mandarin and one incredibly heavy suitcase, the excitement and nerves have definitely started to kick in.<\/p>\n<p>Before I even started university, I always knew I wanted to do a semester overseas. I\u2019m a person who loves change, finding nothing more exhilarating than touching down in a foreign city. Honestly, the bigger the culture shock, the better! This is all much to my parents dismay of course, who would love nothing more than if I were to move out one street over and live in Bris-Vegas for the rest of my days. However much I love this river city though, that simply won\u2019t be happening (sorry dad!).<\/p>\n<p>This will be the first time I\u2019ve ever set foot in the city of Shanghai, or even mainland China. Aside from the fact that the local street vendors serve up the tastiest xiaolongbao known to man, there\u2019s really not a lot I know about this ever-changing place. They celebrate holidays I\u2019ve never heard of, eat foods I\u2019ve never tried and speak a language I\u2019m still struggling to grasp. I really wouldn\u2019t want it any other way, however I can admit I\u2019m a little sad about having to celebrate my first Christmas away from home. Oh well, small sacrifice.<\/p>\n<p>For those of you also contemplating spending a semester in this exciting country, allow me to give you a quick run-down of some key pre-departure info. Firstly, my advice would be to make a list of what you need to do, and DON\u2019T leave it to the last minute. There will be mountains of forms you will need to fill out, and all will have a deadline. Trust me when I say the last thing you want to do is wake up and realise you\u2019ve missed something important, like the date to book your dorm room. Not speaking from personal experience, but I do know someone who had to endure the last-minute struggle finding off-campus accommodation, and it isn\u2019t fun. Secondly, when you apply for your visa, you will have to leave your passport with the consulate for a couple of days. This in itself was a little nerve-wracking, heightened by the fact the man next to me was being informed by frantic staff his passport may or may not have been misplaced. Luck was on my side however, and I received mine without drama. Just a heads up. Lastly, check out youtube to find some videos that cover student life in the city you want to travel too. They\u2019re full of handy hints, from budgeting to local transport.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s all I have for you so far. So, until I hit the dorms of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, \u518d\u89c1!<\/p>\n<p><em>This student\u2019s exchange is supported by funding from the Australian government\u2019s New Colombo Plan.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hi everyone! My name is Jemma, and I\u2019m a travel-bug-bitten 2ndyear business (and mandarin language) student. After many months in the making, tomorrow morning is the morning when my alarm will sound at the lovely time of 3:30am, and I will board a flight bound for one of China\u2019s most exciting cities, Shanghai! Armed only<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4415,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5244,5245,12013,226],"tags":[5244,5245,12013],"class_list":{"0":"post-5477","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-asia","7":"category-china","8":"category-new-colombo-plan","9":"category-travel","10":"tag-asia","11":"tag-china","12":"tag-new-colombo-plan"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Off to Shanghai! - QUT Gone Global<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.qut.edu.au\/gone-global\/2018\/09\/02\/off-to-shanghai\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Off to Shanghai! - QUT Gone Global\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hi everyone! 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