By BComm with Chinese Studies Student Billy Lonergan Our time so far in XMUT By BComm with Chinese Studies Student Billy Lonergan

We are living in Jimei district, which is just outside Xiamen island

This is the campus

The campus There are plenty of canteens. The food is good and cheap there. You can also have food delivered to your dormitory building through apps like Eleme（饿了么） or Meituan. There are plenty of shops on campus to buy all essentials basically. There are also all types of shops, cafes and restaurants just outside the campus. There is a bank on campus. China Construction Bank. There are two running tracks, two soccer pitches, four tennis courts and loads of basketball courts.

Classes You will be split up into Chinese classes depending on your level. Most of the other international students here are from Africa or South East Asia and speak poor to functional English. Take the opportunity to practice Chinese with them. You also do business classes. They are several available in English. You can basically pick whatever class you want as long as it fits into your timetable.

Transport There are several bus stops around the campus. You can take the bus onto Xiamen island where more of the tourist attractions and city centre are. There is an app called Chelaile （车来了）that has all the bus routes and tells you when the bus is coming. You can also get the bus to Xiamen North train station which is really close to campus. From there you can get the fast train to wherever in China or get another type of bus called the BRT which has its own lane and travels faster than a normal bus onto the island. There are also plenty of taxis around. You can use Didi Chuxing or Uber (yes, there is Uber in China) to hail cars too. There are bike sharing schemes too.

You will speak a lot of Chinese here There are less foreigners here compared to places like Shanghai and Beijing, so you will not be speaking English as much here. Teachers and staff prefer to speak Chinese to you as well. There is a local dialect in Xiamen called Minnan (闽南话) but Mandarin is much more prevalent around the campus and among young people in general.

Practising Chinese You will live in a building with Chinese students. Also, the amount of foreign students here is not as big as you would probably see in Shanghai or Beijing. Your business classes will be taken with Chinese students. Chinese students can generally speak a little English but nearly always prefer to speak in Chinese to you.

There are also loads of clubs that you can join, just like here in UCC, that organize events on Wednesdays and weekends. Even if you’re Chinese isn’t fantastic, it is still worth going along because the Chinese members love to see you getting involved and make you feel welcome. Some Chinese students will try and practice English with you. If you reply in Chinese they generally will think you are amazing and continue the conversation in Chinese.

Phone and apps you will need You will probably need to get a new phone here. There are three phone shops on campus for China’s three providers. Alipay- for mobile payments. Cash is seldom used here. Wechat – for communicating and also for mobile payments. Taobao – Can buy mostly anything on it. Delivery very fast. Payments processed through Alipay. You will probably end up buying school books on it. School books are cheap in China, not like in Ireland, so you will be expected to have it in every class. Baidu maps – for getting around. Most important = Pleco (dictionary)

Xiamen is not as big as Shanghai or Beijing, but it is still a lovely city and by Irish standards still very big. There are plenty of places to visit like Gulangyu island. Taiwanese culture is very prevalent here also. It is very hot during September but cools down gradually coming into winter and is actually quite pleasant at the moment. The air quality is a lot better than what you would find in other Chinese cities.

The cooperation between UCC and Xiamen University of Technology is new, so all the staff here are eager for it to go well. If you have a question, ask the office. They will do their best to help.

Some pictures from our time so far