July 27, 2012, by MinYoung You
All You Ever Needed To Know About Dorms
One of my biggest questions before coming to China was about the “living situation”. Although I had a general idea of what my dorm room at UNNC may look like, I couldn’t find many pictures on how it “actually” looks like. Now I’ve lived here for nearly a year, and I sure know how it looks! However, I’ve been getting the same enquiries from the September newcomers. So, here it goes!
I’m living in International residence hall, building 11. These room costs 12,000rmb a year and you are charged extra for electricity/hot/cold water according to your use. This room contains pretty much what you see from above picture except my MacBook!
You can get your room cleaned (bed sheets changed, bins emptied, floor cleaned) once every two weeks. Also, the room has AC/heater: It does a pretty good job for the different seasons!
I wash, do make-up, and sometimes cook in this space. I bought a hot plate to cook simple food like scrambled eggs or ramen noodles. However in reality, I hardly cook and I probably should be using that more than I have been. I’ll cover the “eating situation” in upcoming post!
I bought myself a big refrigerator as soon as I got to China. You can rent it for 300rmb from the dorm about half the size though so if you are planning to stay here for one semester or a year then that is a good option. Also each floor has a kitchen with two refrigerators so if you don’t mind risking your food getting eaten by hungry students, why not!
I rented the water dispenser from one of the shops on campus. It is 14RMB for the refill; the water guy is super friendly. So get that to stay hydrated!
Washing clothes, one of my favorite activities ever- oh I just love it! Let me tell you how it’s done in this dorm. There are two ways of doing this: 1) Washing (4rmb) and Drying (1rmb/20min) on first floor laundry room; 2) Take it to the shop on campus (40~50rmb/bucket); I’ve tried different ways but washing it downstairs and hang it in my room worked the best for me. My smarty friend, Alice taught me a little trick on drying. Look! This works every time.
So, I hope these pictures/explanations helped some of you who were wondering the same. Overall, I like living in this dorm. The only down side of it is that I don’t feel that I’m surrounded by a Chinese speaking environment as it is solely for International students. I’m actually considering moving in to a Chinese dorm next semester just to be submerged in the language and learn more! Haha that will be another adventure…and if I do, I’ll make sure to share!
Live fully,
MinYoung
Hi there, Im currently a master student in UK. good to read your blogs really helpful, thx.
what i wanna ask is how big is this dorm, do you feel space enough?
I never felt it was too small at the dorm room I lived in(building 11). Of course dorm can’t compare with off-campus apartment but I can say it is a relatively good size since I’ve seen people arranging simple furnitures such as book shelves and even electronic pianos.
Thanks for the super helpful info 🙂 moving in on 1st sept this coming sem! For the internet is it wireless or wired? How is the speed overall?
You’re very welcome! All students started with wired one but in the middle of last year, the phone company installed wireless system in our rooms and it costed more. Speed is pretty good! I’m back in Ningbo around the 8th so let me know if you face any troubles! (zy09922@nottingham.edu.cn)
The room seems big enough and cheaper than I’d thought.I have been studying in Malaysia’s campus ,the cost of washing(8 rmb) and drying(10 rmb) are pretty exp..Erm….Thinking of moving to China next year…Thx for your information btw
Yes Louise, living cost in China is still much better than most other countries. Come to China!!! 😀
Hi, any idea on the rooms for building 18? 🙂
Hey, I was wondering the same since it’s new! But I’m going to give it a try this upcoming semester! 🙂
For Building 18 can u choose to live with all friends or are u randomly allocated to an empty slot?
When you are registering for the room, you can ask and they will try to work around your request!
Hi Minyoung! I will be studying in UNNC this September, completely new here. From University of Nottingham Ningbo China Regulations for Students Residence, it stated that “Students are not allowed to bring the following items into their rooms or the residence buildings: briquette stoves, kerosene stoves, spirit stoves, electrical stoves, electric cookers, solid fuels, clothes washing or drying machines, any form of heating appliance, or any other unauthorised electrical device. All such items will be confiscated.” You have refrigerator, hot plate and water dispenser inside your room. Will they allow those to be brought in?
Hi Nico, first of all – welcome to UNNC! 🙂 As regards the dorm, those 3 items were okay from my experience. I think school’s concerned about fire accidents, so you should be fine as long as you stay away from dangerous items that might cause a fire!
Thank you for your information, Minyoung! I am a very careful person, will take care of my own room even if I purchase those appliances.. 🙂
Thank you so much MinYoung for this post! I’m an incoming exchange student and I was pretty much in your situation (scoured the Internet on how my future room in Building 11 looks like from the perspective of a student to no avail) before I came across your blog! The room looks very nice and I can’t contain my excitement now 😀 Thank you again! I hope I can count on your help should I encounter any problem there later on 😀 😀
Ahhh glad you find this helpful! I’ll see you when the semester starts but if you face with any questions before, just drop me an email (zy09922@nottingham.edu.cn) then I’ll try my best helping you! 🙂
Most definitely! Hopefully by then you’ll have decided not to move out of Building 11 😀
So, building 18 is new?
Yes and I’m most likely to live there this year!
Is this a single room?
Bilding 11? Yes it is.
Hi MinYoung,
I am travelling to UNNC in two weeks and this post was incredibly useful! Thank you very much. This is the most complete description of the rooms that I have found.
I know you wrote this last year but, if possible, may I ask, where did you buy the fridge and the hot plate and do you remember how much they were? I think it is a great idea.
Thanks a lot for all the information!
Regards,
MTG
I bought the fridge and hot plate from Wanda square Walmart which is near the campus. Fridge was 800RMB and the hot plate was around 150RMB. Glad it helped! Good luck! 🙂
Hi MinYoung,
I will be studying at UNNC from this September. Thanks for giving us advice and description of the rooms. I would like to know how many students there are per floor for building 11.
Warmest wishes,
Mike
Hi Mike, great to hear that you will be studying at UNNC! In building 11, around 40 students live in each floor and there are 7 floors. There is another international student building which is 18 and some students also live in building 12. Every year international student body has been growing and I’m sure you will enjoy the experience here! Best wishes!
Hi MinYoung,
I will be joining UNNC on 13th of this month. I was wonder about the dorms. Thanks for the description of the rooms.
Regards
Anuvav