There where a few other prospective students in the office (all Asian), busy with registration forms and passport photos. Ms. Wei is a small women in her late forties, with a cold. She was constantly blowing her nose from a toilet roll. She examined my passport and upon finding my visa remarked: only 30 days? I told her I had just arrived, and asked if it was ok, or did I need a student visa? No need, she assured me. Once I get my residence permit I would be able to leave and re-enter China freely. But before that, I need to visit a hospital for a medical examination. She gave me a paper (all in Chinese) with directions, and annotated the essential phrases (which bus to take, what to bring) with an English translation.
She asked me where I live now, and if I have a friend here. I showed her the business card of my hotel, but she didn't know it. After asking about living on campus, she told me I could live in the new building at the East gate (which I saw earlier), after September 8. Classes would begin the Monday after that (Sep 13). She put my name on a list, with my phone number, so it should be all set.
All perfect! Already yesterday I had negotiated a better deal at my hotel, for 400 RMB per week, so with that extra week I would be just out.
I will go to the hospital tomorrow morning, so I will have that health certificate in my pocket. Then I have to come back to the office September 8, to pay my tuition fee. Either for the whole year or the first semester. My residency permit will be valid for the same duration. I will also have to pay the rent for my student room. The university has set the rent at 6000 RMB per year (for a single room), but it has not been approved by the government yet, Ms. Wei told me, so maybe it will go up a bit. I will have to pay either for the whole year or one semester, like the tuition fee. I will have to check my account balance if I can pay this already now, otherwise, paying for only one semester now will give me more flexibility. I can always extend later.
Walking back across campus, there were still hundreds (if not thousands) of students in army gear marching around and doing drills, swinging rifles around, and doing some judo training, or just lazying around in the grass. Yesterday I talked to a student who told me it's a mandatory training for all second year students. Ah well, this is China!
