Initial Impressions

I arrive in the heat of a -1C Harbin spring and stagger to a waiting bus whose stops include the Harbin Institute of Technology. I am the only one to get off at that stop, and as I wrestle my luggage out of the hold, a man in white gloves helps me with my bags. I thank him and start to walk off. He shouts at me to wait, and it is only then that I notice that he is a taxi driver and his beat-up Volkswagen Jetta is idling a little further along the road.

"No, no, I'm fine." I protest, as I look around confused - a large, prestigious University singularly NOT in the vicinity. "I can walk" I say, a little less surely.

"Walk?" the driver laughs, "You can, but it's far". He is already grabbing for my bag so I accede and jump in the taxi, reasoning that the worst that happens is I get ripped off, in which case I get to practise my arguing vocabulary.

We drive among several buildings marked 哈工大, including a hairdressers, massage parlour, and supermarket, and arrive at the gate of the foreigners' building 8RMB later. I pay, grateful for the honesty, and the next few hours are taken up with changing money, registering at the University, and booking myself into the dormitory.

I tell the receptionist that I want to live out, with Chinese students, but I'd like to live at the dormitory for a few days while I look for a place, and she tells me that this will be impossible and that I'd better live in a hotel instead. It's getting dark and the idea of wandering around town is pretty unappealing so I stay until she calls over the dormitory head, who agrees a fee of 30RMB a night or 500RMB a month, for shared accommodation, and depending on how long I stay, then asks me to pick a room-mate.

All available rooms are doubles, and two double rooms share a bathroom and a kitchenette/living room. I pick a young Korean guy rather than the middle-aged Italian, and am told to pick again because he is a smoker. I pick his flat-mate instead and head on up accompanied by a security guard. As he waits for me to struggle out of the lift with my bags, he picks his ear with my key! Another tick on my list of colourful mainland habits!

My roommate is called Jin Zhixiu and is a friendly but quiet young man who instantly assumes I am Korean too. His flatmate is a playboy called Jay who offers to take me out drinking. I accept, then head out to buy supplies including a phone card and a new phone number. When I get back though, my new SIM card hasn't registered yet, and I can't find a working phone to call home using my IP card. I decide to take a nap for 20 minutes, but end up sleeping through the night, totally and embarassingly missing my promised first drinking session.