Odds and ends, student budget

For some reason, I decided to commit myself to a part-time internship that requires me to be in the office 2 or 3 times a week. On top of that, I've got a class that needs attending and my thesis to write.

The interesting thing about MBAs, or rather any masters programme in China is that a thesis is required for you to pass and receive certification from the education ministry (or something like that). It is possible NOT to do the thesis and still receive the certificate from the school although you don't have the ministry certification (which isn't a bad thing, especially if you're going back to the home country), after all, a Chinese ministry certification doesn't really carry that much weight in other countries. I am very tempted to do this although I'm a third of my way through writing the thesis.

On top of that, you do need to submit 10 reports for additional seminars and presentations that were non-class related that you attended over the 2 years. The nice part is that some people would have done several reports and sent them out to everybody. How selfless and team oriented.

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I've been asked several times on how much you should budget for coming to Tsinghua University.

Well, it goes a little something like this

If you stay in the dorm, it's approximately RMB2500 a month - that doesn't cover Internet (at least last time, perhaps now it's in the package), and you only get hot water 3 times a day (I can't remember the times, but I think it's morning, afternoon and evening) for 2-3 hours per session.

If you stay off campus around Wudaokou/Liudaokou, it's about RMB3000 - RMB3500 for a room (shared apartment). A single room/studio will be about RMB4500 in Liudaokou, and about RMB6000 in Wudaokou (Huaqing). Huaqing sucks, but it's the most convenient. Or you can buy an electric bike and go up and down to Liudaokou.

Phone bills will range from rmb200 - 500, depending on your usage and how often you would like to call your boyfriend/girlfriend back home. You're better off getting used to Skype.

Food will cost you approximately RMB50 per meal if you want something decent, if you go to Sanlitun, it's approximately RMB100 - RMB200. If you decide to cook, meat can be expensive and foreign foods as well, so say about RMB300 - RMB500 per week if you're cooking.

Taxis are a burden, a trip to Sanlitun will cost about RMB50 one way. I would suggest that you take the subway down if you're by yourself and take the cab back if you're having a night out simply because the subway closes at about 10.30

So say you're staying off campus, spending about RMB80 a day on meals on weekdays, and RMB200 on meals on weekends, have a significant other that you call regularly, and go down to Sanlitun twice a week. That would give you about

RMB3500 + RMB 1760 + RMB1600 + RMB800 = RMB7660

Now, if you include going out for drinks and dating, you can expect to spend about RMB 300 - RMB 500 - RMB 800 per night out. So all in, that's about RMB10,000 a month all in. Which I think would allow you to live a pretty good life.

That's how much it costs to come to Tsinghua University SEM if you want to have fun.

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Avicii - Fade into Darkness (Albin Myers remix)

This seems to be the version that they play at clubs, or at least Spark.

Download it here