what A Melting Pot!
DUSAUSOY Berenice 杜爱婉（from ESCP-EAP in France）
Fifty students, coming from all parts of the world (Germany, China, Denmark, France…) age 20 to 28, united in one postgraduate class at TongJi University… what a melting pot!
In spite of all these differences, we seem to get along amazingly well. Is it because we are all studying the same subjects? Is it because we all have to get used to a new life? Maybe it is just thanks to Chinese kindness. All the Chinese people are indeed very welcoming and surprisingly friendly. Of course, this does not prevent communication problems, since our Chinese is not as good as we’d like it to be, which leads to many complicated and fun situations. This is part of our daily life here!
While living in Shanghai we get to discover strange Chinese habits. Am I the only girl wondering why do the women wear socks in their sandals? We also promised ourselves to wander in the streets in pajamas at night before the end of the term.
But, apart from these anecdotes, we do learn real things about Chinese life, thanks to our language partners. It is indeed very fashionable to have a language partner at TongJi University. The system is simple: our partner gives us Chinese lessons and, in exchange, we give him French lessons, for instance. This is a way to get to know a different China: it is an opportunity to learn what young Chinese think of their country, of its future, of its international relations. It is, for us, an invaluable way to approach Chinese culture.
This is also a way to notice how Chinese students our curious about the rest of the world. They keep asking questions, they assimilate things faster than we do, they’re intrigued and opened to our ways of thinking. This interest is comforting and pleasant.
I’m sure this year at Tongji University will allow us to discover many more details about China and Chinese people thanks to our new Chinese friends. And, Mister Wu, what about a party to celebrate this new friendship?
累 并 快 乐 着
华玉婷 研究生国际班
不知不觉，我的研究生学习已经开始一个多月了。由于我参加了同济大学与ESCP-EAP的交流项目，我的学习安排完全参照了留学生的课程安排，除此之外还增加了法语的课程学习。这样一来，我的学习生活完全与本科时学习不同了：每天忙着赶去本部上课，下课再急着赶回寝室复习，双休日也得参加学校为留学生安排的活动……似乎“清闲”已离我而去，“懒觉”也不复存在，每天除了忙还是忙。可是，仔细回想一下，我似乎一直是“忙得不亦乐乎”！为自己的充实生活而乐，为自己的知识积累而乐，为众人的嬉笑玩闹而乐,更为中西文化的碰撞而乐！曾经有人说过：“一个人最痛苦的事，不是死亡，不是病痛，而是一生默默无闻！”的确，与其平淡无奇的轻松一生，我宁愿为我自己的理想而奋斗一生。毕竟这种劳累是有价值的。通过这种辛苦，我感觉自己离自己的理想更靠近了，也许这样就够了，这样我就会毫无怨言地，并且开心地享受这种“累”的感觉了！“累并快乐着”，这短短的五个字就是我在中法班学习一个多月的最大感受，也许更是我喜欢的一种生活状态吧！
A Big Family!
李可葳 研究生国际班
Wow, I´m so glad to be a member of this big family! Harmony atmosphere, friendly classmates, multi-cutural communication, hard-working but full of interest…all of these attract me to be deeply involved in. And it does help a lot that we got kind and original french “teachers” when we learn french just from the very beginning! I hope everyone can make full of their lives here!
开 学 随 想
程莹仪 研究生国际班
忙碌的学习生活不知不觉中已经过去了1个月，奔波两个校区间的辛苦也已经成为一种习惯。还记得和外国同学一起上第一堂课（高级管理学）的情景，大家显得很拘谨和陌生。随着接触的增加和参与活动的关系，我和这些可爱的外国同学的距离也慢慢缩短了。大家见面的招呼语也发生了有趣的变化，从“Hello”到“Bonjour”再到“你好”。虽然只是简单的招呼语，却能感受到大家融入这个新环境的迫切心情。
上课的气氛也逐渐活跃起来，尤其让我们这些中国学生体会到中西文化的差异，中外学生的思维方式也各有千秋，这在小组讨论和案例分析中可以窥见一斑。课堂中偶尔开心的一笑，更让人觉得上课的有趣。课堂中老师和同学努力营造着相互尊重和积极探讨的氛围，这也促使我慢慢放开心态，主动参与到教学的环节中去，而不是一味被动的汲取知识。
一切才刚开始，前进中难免会有困难和挫折，我们在努力中体会着成长的快乐。引用一句经典的法语——C’est la vie!（这就是生活！）
My University: Tong Ji
Olivier 欧力 (from ESSCA in France)
I arrived 2 months ago in Shanghai. This is my second stay in China and I am still impressed by my university: Tongji. The international class from SEM is a treasure of experience! Together with Chinese, French, German and Danish we experience a wonderful multicutural team spirit and friendship.
I also found a good way to improve my knowledge of Chinese culture and language: together with my classmate Christy Li, we teach each other more about our countries, habits and life. Having a language partner is a must!
I want to thank SEM for all the activities organized for us and for their support!
辛苦、乐趣
曹晓瑾 研究生国际班
不知不觉在研究生国际班的学习已经一个月过半了，用心体会这段时间的学习和生活，我脑子里有两个词可以概括：辛苦、乐趣。
由于以前从来没有接触过法语，为了明年去法国继续学习，我和另外几个中国学生不得不再次经历从零开始学习一门语言的艰苦历程。从发音到拼写，从单词到句子，每一步都走的紧张匆忙但也踏踏实实。明年出国前必须的法语语言考试就像悬在头顶的一根针，时刻提醒督促着我学好法语。
在这段时间的学习中，让我觉得最有意思的莫过于与30位外国朋友做同学。我们一起上课，讨论问题，在讨论过程中他们总能有一些很独特的思维火花迸发，让我觉得很神奇。其次给我感触最深的就是有些外国同学对待学习的认真态度。课堂布置下来的案例讨论，他们总是会用单独的纸张整整齐齐的把自己的见解和想法写出来，简直就是以完成一篇小论文的态度来完成一个个案例分析，这让我很是佩服，同时看到自己的不足，找到改进的方向。
在这段时间里，我也很高兴参加了法国同学举办的两次party，在party上我见识到了法国人独有的激情和浪漫，看着他们随着音乐尽情舞动表达自己快乐的情绪，我相信在场的每个人都会被他们的热情所感染。
这就是我所在的研究生国际班，一个充满生活乐趣和学习压力的集体。
Nice City Nice Campus Nice People
Baptiste PEUBEZ（from ESSCA in France）
My name is Baptiste PEUBEZ from ESSCA business school in FRANCE. I have been a post -graduate students in Tongji University for over a month now. I was really impressed by the campus when I arrived, for it is a lot bigger than the ones we are used to in France.
As a foreigner, life is very exciting in Shanghai. It is a big city that allows us to make discoveries about Chinese culture. I love to exchange experience with the Chinese students who are generally as friendly as hard-working, I think we have a lot to learn from each other. Chinese language and culture are so rich that I know that six months won’t be sufficient to get a good understanding of them. I am now planning on staying at least for a full year in China.
I hope that we will soon see many Tongji students in our school. So if you have any questions about France, feel free to contact me at bat_39@hotmail.com
A Great Opportunity
Brigaudeau Geraldine 吉蒂娜 (法国)
My Chinese name is “Ji Dina” and I am a French student from Euromed Marseille, a school of management. I am in Tongji University for an exchange period of 6 months. I came to China to learn Chinese and discover another culture. Thanks to Tongji University, a really famous university in China, I can understand more about China and the Chinese through my international class and my course. This is a great opportunity for me, I also enjoy my life in Shanghai. This is a really amazing city, we have so many things to do here. During the National Holidays in October, I went to Xi’an and I discovered another aspect of China. I was impressed by the historical places I have visited, like the army of soldiers of the Qing Dynasty. I still want to learn and to discover more about China. And my 3 months left won’t be enough……..
My Impression
Julia Wangler 王莉雅（from Germany）
Impression about our class:
l Nice group. I like the people.
l A pity: the Chinese students( with some exceptions) don’t mingle with the others, separate groups.
l The group is often very loud.
l The group starts growing together. We start to become 1 class
l What about sending all papers provided on the computer to everyone by e-mail?
l What about some “class activity” like the boat tour?
Impression since I got here
l Opening ceremony: nice. I felt welcomed
l Some things are very complicated: student ID card, etc…
l I’d like to have better course descriptions to choose my courses—was not enough!
l What about getting a blackboard for international students with all News? Put it to a place in SEM where you pass often and provide the news earlier (also to tell us about speeches and other activities, as SEM only provided in Chinese) with better description.
l Sometimes no one knows how to answer your questions but everyone tries to help you
l Sometimes more information would be good: change of schedule at activity (instead of telling us at lunch that is goes on and being disappointed if we want to get home as we have a lot to do and plan our time…or asking about research interest(chair insight)but not providing further informs.
l It’s good to have “class captains”
l I like the SEM, University: feel good! I’m glad to be here.
同济的幸运儿
姚肖梁 研究生国际班
我们是考研队伍中的幸运儿，迈入同济的大门；我们又是众多同济人中的幸运儿，有幸参加第一批中法研究生的交换班。
进入中法班以来，我觉得周围的一切都是新的。第一次体验与留学生共班上课，这是全新的学习方式。在这里我们与法国用英语接受课程，在专业课程的基础上加强了语言能力，提高了外语学习能力有助于学习研究中得心应手的取得外文资料。在两个国度的学习环境中，体验了不同国家文化的碰撞与交流，扩大自己的视野同时，也感受了不同的思维方式。
时下，在备感优越的同时，自身也感觉到这也是一种挑战，在两年中完成双学位并非轻而易举。这需要比普通同学付出加倍的努力，只有这样才能不辜负学院对我们的期望，体现同济交流办学的优势。
在于其他同学的学习交流中，我们普遍感觉学院安排的法语课时满足不了我们的要求。深感语言学习的紧迫性，达不到一定的语言要求也直接影响我们的出国交流。现今我们与两年后出去的中法学生同上法语课，课时进度达不到出国的要求，所以这是我们所碰到的困境，希望学院能给我们支持，增加课时及加快进度。
同时，我们中法班的同学对顺利完成学业也充满信心!
Culture Clash
M．F．
Coming to China, I met the culture clash on the streets.
It is the way they drive, walk, cycle, and even the way of entering a subway. But being here for 2 months now, it seems to be not as easy. A friend recently compared cultures to icebergs: Architecture, Attitude, tradition, food, all these obvious attributes are only the tip of an iceberg, the rest is unseen. This probably explains a lot of intercultural problems: the icebergs of two different cultures usually clash below the surface, when you least expect it.
A New Discovery
Duong Hoang Vi 虹维佳 （法国）
“Ní hǎo, wǒ shi Tongjì dà xué de liǘ xué shēng” from Euromed Marseille, school of management in France. My name is Vi, and in the coming year I will be graduated.
I came here to share an international experience, through a cultural melting pot. I choose China for its customs.
Everything is a new discovery of Chinese lifestyle: foods, umbrellas, traffic jams, spits……It’s a new way for me to learn about another culture.
Tongji offers me the chance to do a lot of activities: international seminar, Huangpu River tour, football team…
I was really surprised about teachers’ implications and the good relationship they have with the class. I hope students from all over the world will have the chance to share this great experience.
Vive Tongji!
