Miranda: Hope that studying at SHNU will help me to find my way

I am Miranda from Belarus in Eastern Europe. I’ve been in Shanghai since last September to obtain master’s degree in ICCS of SHNU. My studying here is going to last for 3 years. My major is linguistics and applied ling
Miranda: Hope that studying at SHNU will help me to find my way
I am Miranda from Belarus in Eastern Europe. I’ve been in Shanghai since last September to obtain master’s degree in ICCS of SHNU. My studying here is going to last for 3 years. My major is linguistics and applied linguistics.
Although I consider every comparison to be irrelevant, normally it is quite difficult to avoid looking back at your previous experience while encountering something new. Hence, in my case, talking about my impression of Shanghai I can’t help comparing it with my impression of Beijing where I used to study Chinese a year ago.
First of all I must mention that it is a much more multicultural city where you can meet a lot of people from all over the world. There is a diversity and abundance of everything here: from architecture to cultural events, from food to entertainment. It is that what I used to lack sometimes, when being in Beijing. You can discover something new in Shanghai every day and that’s why I never feel bored here. I really like this city since the whole atmosphere here is free, friendly and easy-going. And I can truly say that it’s a place where I feel myself comfortable. 
Nevertheless, my first day, or to say more accurately – night, when I had just arrived in Shanghai was connected with a sort of inconvenience. I arrived at SHNU at 2 p.m. and there were no way for me to get registered at the dormitory since the International Students Center had been closed already and there were no one to meet me and help me with the registration procedures. Thus, as far as I was quite tired after 9-hour flight and had pretty heavy luggage with me, it wasn’t a great fun to hang around the campus till the morning. But anyway, I am not that kind of person who pays too much attention to little inconveniences and generally speaking I can say that I am contented with all the conditions which are provided for students at SHNU.
However, again, talking about the campus particularly, I must admit that there is a certain lack of facilities here. There is a gym on campus, but it is rather small and not quite appropriate for me. Moreover, while studying at Beijing Science and Technology University, there was a plenty of different classes like yoga, pilates and dancing offered to students on the territory of campus. There were also departments of some banks and ATM of almost all the Chinese banks on  campus. Merely as a friendly advice  I would propose to arrange yoga, dancing and other classes on the territory of SHNU Xuhui campus and place ABC’s and ICBC’s ATM here, since now it’s not so convenient to leave the campus to get to the nearest ATM of the above mentioned banks. I guess such decisions would definitely make life of students here at Xuhui campus even more comfortable.
Focusing on positive aspects of the campus I can’t help mentioning that there are a lot of foreign students here. It is always a valuable and fascinating experience to communicate with people from different countries. And it is also a good opportunity to practice different foreign languages which I know.   
Talking about the main purpose of my coming to China, I can say that first of all it is self-development. I want to increase my level of Chinese and find myself. Currently I can’t say that I have already precisely defined what I really want to devote myself to. I believe that I’d been created for great challenges, something big and revolutionary. Hope that studying here at SHNU will help me to find my way.
      
(Reported by Vadym Koziashev)