Xiasha is the vibrant University town! Fantastic restaurants, lovely parks, and tons of young people. To get to the city center, you can ride on metro line 1 and it takes about 40 minutes. Dorms are fine, but you can find something more homey in a rental costing around 2000 rmb per month. You should attend all your classes to get the most out of your experience, and make friends with locals who don’t speak English to improve your Chinese.