Back in the land of the Starbucks and the home of the small, private-owned cafe, finding a place to study in peace is a easy as leaving your house, spinning round in a circle and walking straight for 10 yards in whatever direction you're facing. As westerners we love studying outside of our own residences. Whether in the oppressive silence of the Library or the twats-with-ipads filled chain coffee shops, towns and cities are filled with places to suit your needs, from a socket for your charger to some afternoon Norah Jones.You may be thinking how's she going to make a post that's essentially about a good cup of coffee and a cosy chair into a 'cultural' discussion, but bare with me, there is some relevance.
The Chinese, however, don't seem to have caught on to this happy phenomenon of studying away from the bedroom/living-room/bed/kitchen table. I've never seen a Chinese student bending over textbooks in local Amici cafe, and the waiting staff all look slightly curious when you sit down at 11, spread yourself out and set up for the afternoon. This is probably because, overall, it's not all that easy to find a good place to study, at least in Dalian. I'll give you some examples to illustrate my point.
The afore mentioned Amici is probably one of the only 'ok' places, but is unhappily well-known amongst foreigners, of which there are about 13 in Dalian, and so you're very likely to walk in and recognise pretty much everyone there - not the ideal study environment. It doesn't help the the coffee and music are below-par too. There are also Starbucks and Costas around town, a nice blast to the past and very rarely filled with westerners. What they are filled with however is a lot of loud-talking, cigarette-smoking Chinese people. Even having gotten used to this, one then has to adapt to the Chinese take on 'atmosphere' which usually means dim-lighting and too-loud 80's hits. Added to this multitude of complaints is the lack of toilets, even in these western style cafes. Having to run to the nearest McDonalds every 2 hours isn't ideal, and therefore rules out half the cafes in Dalian.
Of course, there are some places that are perfect. Unfortunately, they're either quite expensive [3 or 4 pounds for a cuppa] or already 'belong' to someone. I'm a great believer in personal space, and also tend to be easily distracted, and so finding my own place is of great concern. I would, of course, just stay at home, if my bed weren't there, or just go to the library, if it weren't literally the most depressing place in the world. So the search is well under-way for a perfect place this semester. First on the list is the well-known but little visited Central Perk cafe. Yes, it is in immitation of 'Friends' eternal meeting place. No, it's nowhere near as good, but as good as the Chinese version was ever going to be. Yes, they do play 'The best of the Noughties' on repeat, but I brought my own ipod as a contingency. So far, so good I would say. The big-screen showing of series 6 of 'Friends' is slightly distracting, but at least it's on mute.
Xx
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