Dorm 17 (International Student House) At The Beijing Language and Culture University

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In this post I'm going to look at Dorm 17 on the Beijing Language and Culture University campus - also known as the International Students House. It is the newest, most modern and by far the most popular student accommodation at BLCU (only completed in 2005).

According to its website, the building has a floor space of 28,000 square meters, 600 rooms and over 1,000 beds. Every year more than 3,000 international students stay here, hence the name.

I have put a lot of time into creating this post for the benefit of readers of this blog. I hope you find it useful and informative. For Dorm 17's contact details see my BLCU Contacts page.

Where

Dorm 17 is located on the west side of the BLCU campus.

If you are standing at the south gate, perhaps after just being dropped off by taxi from the airport, head north along the road until you come to the crossroads in the centre of campus. Take a left here and continue along this road which heads west.

Initially on your left you will pass the new canteen buildings which tower over head and to your right you will see the BLCU library. These two buildings are just on the corner with the crossroads.

Passing them, you will now see the university sports ground to your right as well as the massive sports centre itself. It's quite an impressive building. On your left will be the tennis courts and statue of Confucius, the university's mascot, if you will.

Continuing along this road west, you will now see the basketball courts besides the tennis courts and over the road next to the sports centre are some badminton courts.

Before you come to the end of the road, several hundred yards west of the central crossroads we started at, you will notice a post office on the right and just next to it the Cernet building from which you can purchase Internet services for your room on campus (if you want unrestricted Internet access in China, consider the PureVPN or proXPN services. See my post about them here).

Having come all this way, you should have arrived at a new crossroads on the west of campus. This is also the west gate. Turn right (or north) on these crossroads and your will immediately see a set of big gates on your left, usually with a guard at the entrance point.

This is Dorm 17.

Costs

Like the Conference Centre (another popular student accommodation on the BLCU campus), the amount you pay for your room depends on the length of time you stay. Stay for longer and you will get a better rate.

If you are going to be studying at BLCU for a semester or more (20 weeks, 140 days) you will be able to secure the best room rate. Below I have set out the pricing scheme for both single and double (shared) rooms:

Single room: under 4 weeks (180 RMB per night); 4-6 weeks (140 RMB per night); 12 weeks (130 RMB per night); 20 weeks and above (120 RMB per night).

Double room: under 4 weeks (95 RMB per night); 4-6 weeks (75 RMB per night); 12 weeks (70 RMB per night); 20 weeks and above (65 RMB per night).

I believe you will be asked to pay down a deposit of one month's rent which you will get back at the time of leaving. Any damages incurred by you will be taken off this deposit.

You should pay for the entire time you plan to stay in one upfront payment to secure the best rate at the time of arriving. This will be expected and as far I know there is no option to 'pay as you go' for rooms.

Rooms

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The rooms in Dorm 17 are by far the best I have seen on campus. This is probably because it is the newest and most modern of all the student accommodation buildings.

The rooms are very large and spacious, well designed and nice on the eye. The light colour themes make them seem welcoming and clean. I would not hesitate to recommend Dorm 17 to any new comers to BLCU.

One thing you should know, however, is that for these very reasons Dorm 17 is notoriously difficult to get a room at. You may well have to book a good month or two in advance and even then the staff may tell you there are no free rooms at the current time. I also think they favour students already on campus over ones who are calling from other countries by phone.

I once called by phone and they told me there were no rooms available. As I was at BLCU at the time, I wondered over and spoke with the receptionist directly. She told me I there were in fact rooms available but that I should pay the deposit up front as soon as possible and that if I then changed my mind it was non-refundable. So they're not messing around.

South Korean agents are known to book out entire floors for their customers.

Now, with that bit of background information out the way, let's look at the rooms themselves in more detail.

All rooms have en-suit bathrooms of a nice standard certainly acceptable to western students. You will also have a single bed, spacious desk with nearby internet point, huge amount of wardrobe space (far superior to the Conference Centre), air conditioning units, refrigerator, television and telephone.

If you want to use the phone in your room, ask at reception. There will be some top up system or phone card you can purchase. It may well be, though, that to receive calls on it are free - even international calls (as is the case at the Conference Centre).

The flooring is done in tiles which keep it easy to clean and free of dust. It also gives to appearance of a lighter space.

I personally think Dorm 17 offer really excellent rooms.

Be warned, though, that the beds are quite hard and even 'uncomfortable' by western standards. This is definitely one area where the Conference Centre wins hands down, though all other dorms on campus have similar hard bedding. I think it's just the asian style, more of a liner than an actual mattress. It can take some getting used to.

College Perk Cafe

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This is the western style cafe that is part of Dorm 17's ground floor. It sits just next to the lobby but must be accessed from round the front of the building (i.e. not accessible from within the lobby as such).

They offer similar food and drink to places like LaVita Cafe. If you want a coffee or slice of cake and are staying at Dorm 17, this may be a popular choice. It can get very busy during certain times of the day so if you're planning on coming here to do some study or meet up with a language partner or friends, it's best to get in early and secure some seats and a table.

College Perk is only a very small cafe, probably one of the smallest on campus, but is nonetheless popular. It has a cosy environment and offers both hard and soft (sofa) seating. The decor is well done and relaxing. I can see why a lot of people like to hang out here.

Shop

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This is a small snack shop on the ground floor of Dorm 17, just to the left of the reception desk as you come in.

Here you can buy a variety of snacks, stationary, drinks and alcohol, as well as some other every day needs - you can even buy mobile phone credit which is always handy.

I believe it is the only place on campus where you can get hold of western alcohol such as vodka and whiskey, unlike most places that only stock beer and perhaps baijiu (China's answer to vodka, often around 50% proof).

So it's not a bad place to know about and very convenient for anyone living at Dorm 17.

Laundry

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There are two laundry facilities available on each floor, one on each side of the building. To operate the machines you should find out from the reception what is required. It will probably be some kind of top-up card or coin system that you purchase in advance and is then compatible with the washing machines payment system.

Note that washing powder is not available in the laundry facilities and should be bought individually. The small shop on the ground floor may sell detergent, but I'm not sure. Otherwise, your best bet will be a local supermarket. The Friendship store on campus may also sell it, though I can't honestly remember.

You will probably be looking at 3-6 RMB per wash. The facilities are kept open from 7am-10pm every day.

Kitchens

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As with laundry facilities, there are two kitchens on each floor, one on either side of the building.

Kitchen facilities are only very basic, offering hotplates, a microwave and sinks. If you want pots and pans, these will have to be purchased by yourself from locals supermarkets or shops. The same goes for crockery and other utensils.

I can say without doubt that Dorm 17's kitchens are the best on campus. Certainly compared to the Conference Centre's tiny room on floor 7, having two large kitchens per floor is very impressive. Other dorms will usually have one per floor, but probably not to the same high standard you will find here. This is a reflection of the fact that Dorm 17 is still BLCU's newest and most modern student accommodation building.

Internet

Note: if you want unrestricted Internet access in China, consider the PureVPN or proXPN services. See my post about them here.

College Perk Cafe on the ground floor provides a free wireless service that is not passworded. It can be reached from Dorm 17's lobby area by reception, though the signal is obviously strongest closer to the Cafe itself.

You may also be able to pick up some other random wifi connections in the area, but not all of them are unprotected (i.e. don't require a password). From my experience the wifi connections can be a little unreliable, especially around peak times when there are a lot of people using them. But you can't complain when it's free, right?

If you want internet in your room, this has to be arranged at the Cernet building on campus, just next to the post office that I mentioned in the 'where' section of this post. Packages start from around 60 RMB per month for limited usage and go up to around 150 RMB per month for unlimited usage. Frankly, it's not cheap at all.

Having never stayed at Dorm 17 myself, I can't comment on whether the free wifi signals in the area reach any of the lower floor rooms, but I suppose it's possible - I just wouldn't count on it.

You will often see people sitting in the lobby with their laptops, taking advantage of the wifi. The same goes for College Perk Cafe which is usually busy with internet users having a coffee and surfing the web.

So, here I'm going to end my post on Dorm 17. Now it's your turn - what do you think about it? Have you stayed here and would you recommend it to others? Any tips or suggestions that I've missed out on? Please leave any comments or questions in the comments section below and I will reply as soon as possible.

One last thing...

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