Please visit:
BLCU Accommodation Rates if you want to have an idea of the cost of BLCU Dorms
BLCU Accommodation – Scholarship Students if you are a scholarship student
When preparing to go to BLCU, TJ and I did a quick check over which dorm buildings were good or at least were decent to stay in. It didn’t take long for us to work out that Dorm 17 is the most popular and most difficult to book, one of our classmates stayed at Dorm 17 only because he booked and paid it the semester before. [Note: cost of accommodation in each dorm varies]
Booking Dorms
The actual process of booking the dorm room involve:
- Calling up BLCU
- Explaining it to someone (in Mandarin)
- Making a payment (1 month)
- Showing them your proof of payment when you get there
I did it the ‘easier’ way by just rocking up and asking for a room. It seems like it’s a lot more like a first come first serve basis because they’ll always say they’re “fully booked” but somehow magically find a room when needed.
Dorm 17
These are the pros of Dorm 17 from my experience. Please take into account that I never actually stayed in dorm building 17
- It’s newer (clean)
- The fuyuans are nicer
- It’s “off campus”
- The rooms are bigger (questionable)
- Closer to Wudaokou and train station
- Private gate keepers
- Buzzing with international students
The downside of Dorm 17 would be that it’s the dorm furtherest away from Building 1 (the main study building), this means waking up extra early in the mornings to get to class or even buying a bike (highly recommended). I also question the rumour that Dorm 17 has bigger rooms because I discovered some super-huge dorm rooms in dorm building 4 (I snuck peeks while walking past open doors).
TJ and I were tossing up between Dorm 4 and Dorm 6, near the basketball courts. TJ arrived at BLCU before me and had settled in Dorm 4, so when I got there I checked out one of Dorm 4’s rooms, and decided to check out one of the rooms in Dorm 6 too. The major downside was that Dorm 6 didn’t have elevators.
Apartments
Before my final decision, I went around checking out the apartments nearby (some of which also do not have elevators). There were apartments still under renovation, rooms for rent, people looking for an extra roommate etc. My conclusion was that living off-campus would not be beneficial for someone staying short term (up to 6 months), so I went back to Dorm 4. By that time, a lot more international students had arrived and the available rooms in the building was running out fast!
At first, I didn’t understand why they always get you to check out the room before you agree to move in, but it didn’t take long for me to realise that EVERY room I went to was DIFFERENT. Most of the rooms are standard in size (sorry, I never took a photo), with bathroom/toilet in each room. TJ had a smaller room compared to mine because hers had a balcony (the balcony can be useful for laundry), but some other friends didn’t even have a balcony like TJ or the extra space I had.
I didn’t think the rooms at Dorm 17 were bigger than compared to my dorm room though, and I’m sure that there are bigger rooms than the one I had… You just need to know which ones they are!
Dorm 4
Pros of Dorm 4
- Very central (convenient)
- Hope internet café/restaurant downstairs (you can leech off it in the stairwell on the 1st & 2nd floor, sometimes the 3rd floor)
- They don’t lock the doors when it’s past curfew
- Some of the fuyuans are nice
- Newly installed security cameras
- Buzzing with international students
On a side note, the “24” on the ‘Hope’ sign doesn’t mean 24hrs a day! They’ll stay open for as long as people are there, but sometimes close quite early (1-2am).
The furniture found in each room is the same: wardrobe, 2 study tables, 2 beds, mini fridge and TV. I like the fact that there’s a lock on the wardrobe as well as the drawer of the study table. But don’t expect all furniture to be functioning 100%.
Dorm 8
And last of all, I just want to mention that I had a look at the single (单人) room in Dorm 8. Just seeing the room made me glad that I was in a shared room because it’s very small, and the room looks very lonely. But of course, there are downsides of a shared dorm too (bad roommate, no privacy etc).
P.S. If you decide to stay in Dorm Building 4, try and avoid the first floor!! There’s a rumour that there was a death in one of those rooms at the beginning of 2007. 
P.P.S. Beware, the elevators can jam up. You might not want to stay on the top floors, I was on the 3rd floor which seemed to be low enough to use the stairs when the elevators were off or out of function.
P.P.P.S. Scholarship students are put into Dorm 1 or 2… That means communal showers and toilets (squatting toilets)! O_O visit BLCU Accommodation – Scholarship Students for more information.
