My friend Sally, a Master’s in psychology exchange student from Taiwan, is studying at Peking University (Beida) this semester. I’ve been happy to help her with some translations and she’s kind enough to contribute one of her stories here:
“北大洗澡記”
每天晚上校園都有不少人手提著塑膠袋或是小提籃，裡面放著盥洗用具，在寒冷的夜晚裡，走向公共浴室洗澡。我則是和室友走向更遠的浴室，因為那裏洗澡的地方有門可以關上。我來到北大最讓我驚訝著的兩件事，第一件事宿舍裡沒有洗澡的地方，第二件事是洗澡的地方沒有門可以關上。我聽我室友說在公共浴室洗澡，大家彼此可以看到對方的裸體。不過後來拿到港澳台學生用的洗澡證，我的心情好許多。因為港澳台辦公室知道台灣、香港和澳門的同學不習慣這樣的洗澡方式。有了這張卡，我們可以被允許進入留學生公寓的浴室，保全人員會先檢察我們的證件才讓我們進去洗澡。
我的大陸朋友說，這樣的洗澡方式都常在北方比較常見，所以南方人到北方求學，常常會很不習慣。不過她說，她們得習慣環境，因為這樣的生活習慣在北方已經很久了，即使跟行政單位反應也是沒有用的。我聽完不能理解為什麼反應是沒有用的，於是我只好點點頭。
“Taking a shower at Beida”
Every evening there are many students walking through campus, bringing their plastic bags or little baskets to the students’ communal bathroom. When I first came to Peking University, there were two things that were most surprising to me. The first was that there are no bathrooms in the dormitory building; the dorm only has toilets. The second was that there are no doors to close in the student communal bathroom. When I first arrived, one of my roommates told me that when she uses the local student bathroom to shower, people can see each other’s naked bodies. For my roommates and me, we walk to a different bathroom, which is even farther than the communal bathroom. In this farther bathroom there are doors that can close and lock. In order to use this bathroom, I had to get a special permission card from the Taiwan, HK and Macau office at Beida. The office knows that students from Taiwan, HK and Macau are not used to this style of communal bathing. I felt better after receiving permission. With this card, we are allowed to enter the overseas student building to shower; the safety guard checks our cards to let us in to bathe.
My Mainland friend told me that communal bathing is very common in Northern parts of China. People from the South coming to the North to study often can’t get used to this style of bathing. However, my friend told me that outsiders should get used to this environment, because this custom has been existing for a very long time in the North and reporting to the school’s administrative office won’t work. I didn’t understand what she meant when she said “it won’t work,” so I just nodded my head.
And I thought I had culture shock.. I realize now, that my foreign student housing is definitely a luxury!
Thanks for sharing your cultural exchange, Sally 
