We arrived in Hangzhou on 6th may in the afternoon and took a chartered bus to Zhejiang University(ZJU), Zijing’gang Campus where we will be spending our 3 months at. Through the 1 hour bus ride, we were able to get glimpses of the Hangzhou cityscape. The many high-rise buildings, highways and various malls we passed actually really reminded me of Singapore. The thing that really intrigued me was the interaction between drivers on the road. Drivers used their horns very liberally and the horning could be heard throughout the ride to ZJU. Maybe it is the way drivers communicate here?
On day 2, we were given a brief on the programs that would be conducted for us over the course of the 3 months. Subsequently, we met our Theme Mentor and TAs for an ice breaking session. My selected theme is “Smart Wardrobe” , headed by Professor Zhang Dong Liang. The TAs brought us for a scenic tour around the campus and we then had a team dinner outside of school. Although there was a slight communication barrier(poor Chinese communication skills), the professor and TAs still put in much effort to interact with us. I’m really looking forward to working with them!
To end the week, ZJU had organized a “Buddy Day” for us, where ZJU students were tasked to bring us SUTD students around Hangzhou for the day. We were split into 10 groups to visit different attractions of Hangzhou. My group’s buddy, Amberley, brought us to West Lake, where we enjoyed beautiful and scenic views, walking by the lake as well as taking a boat ride across it.
She also brought us to a local restaurant Zhi Wei Guan(知味观) to have a taste of the local dishes and delicacies. The food was really good! My favourite was the Xiao long bao(2nd picture below)!
This concludes my first week of ALP in China. It was definitely a great experience and I had lots of fun! Stay tuned for next week’s entry!
