Step 2 - Turn left, walk as far as you can, then ask for more directions

So there I was on campus, at 'Bei men', aka the North gate/university entrance. You've got a bunch of people milling around; taxi drivers, bored guards, pedestrians, tricycle drivers. The smartest thing I could have done was grab one of the tricycle guys, show him the map, and get a direct ride with my 30-40kg worth of luggage to the Dorm. No, scratch that, the smartest thing I could have done is gone to the South gate, which is about 50 metres from the Dorm.

Anyway, I didn't do either of those things. I made off on foot, my bag rumbling along behind me and the straps of my backpack already digging into my shoulders. I headed to the International Student Office, figuring that would be the best place to start. It kind of is, kind of wasn't. Turns out you can get a room at the Dorm without having seen the Student Office, so unless you enjoy the prospect of walking into the centre of the uni with your luggage, go to the dorm first.

At the Office they basically just give you a bunch of forms, which they tell you to get filled out. Again, so much information that could so easily be put only, but isn't. Why isn't it..? I don't know. It's annoying. But moving on... One of the tasks they told me to do is visit the local Public Security Bureau with my passport and stamped Visa entry. Now, due to the airport 'swine-flu' adventure, I hadn't fully passed through customs. Currently there's just a tick on my visa, next to the number of entries. It wasn't there before. Is that all the 'stamp' desired? More on that later I guess. The Student Office reassure me I have plenty of time to get these things sorted, and send me on my way to the Dorm.

On my way trying to find the dorm, I got helped out by a 60 something Austrian woman. I don't know how long she's been in China, but she seemed quite fluent, and gave me a few dozen points of advice which promptly flew straight through my head. Because of her, I'm now in some sort of hunt for a magical 'Jiaozi' (Dumplings, basically) restaurant on campus - I say magical because I can't find it for the life of me, and my roommate hasn't heard of it.

Speaking of my roommate - I arrived at the Dorms, finally. Luckily the staff spoke a bit of English, not much but it was enough. There were no single rooms available, only double with bathroom, and without. I inspected both, basically the rooms are 3 paces wide, 5-6 paces long. Only in those with bathrooms, about 1/2 of that space is take up by shower, toilet and a sink. So I decided on not having a bathroom. That's 20 kuai/night, currently about 3-4 Australian dollars. Pretty cheap, even by Chinese Dorm standards I think. The staff then spend about 3 minutes trying to pronounce Nepal, to tell me that is where my roommate is from. Eventually they write it down for me. 'Nepel'. Mhm. No wonder it sounded funny. Anyway, I'm crap at their language so I can't be too harsh.

 I'm still trying to figure out ways to optimize my available space... It's too much effort being messy when you don't have space for it.

Getting shown my room (2nd floor) was slightly worrying - it smelt faintly of cigarette smoke, and my roomie had his gear spread over the entire room. Fair enough, it's a small space and if noone else is around... no problem. But kind of daunting none the less, to feel that the room was pretty much already fully occupied. Anyway, he made some space and we chatted for a bit. He's a 27 year old Nepalese medical student, in Chengdu on scholarship, though he's been in China for something like 6 years now. Friendly guy, so far he's been very helpful in showing me some of the local resturants and stores to get basic goods from.

Sunset on the first or second day, by the University's major stadium.

So I might leave it there for today - I now had a room, though I still was freaking out a little.