One of the things I wished I had when I went to BLCU was a better map of campus and the area surrounding BLCU. When arriving on campus, it would be nice to actually know where you need to go to get things done because the process of actually getting anything done takes AGES sometimes.

This article is dedicated to a few basic things I think would have been useful for those new to BLCU and the Wudaokou area.

First of all I need to put in a quick disclaimer : Please keep in mind that this post is based on my experience of studying as a student at BLCU during September 2007 to January 2008, there is constant construction going around in Beijing and buildings may be constructed or disappear overnight!

The map that BLCU sends out to students is correct but it can also be very easy to misinterpret because some buildings are out of shape, out of proportion, and you have no idea where to get your basic supplies!

Basic knowledge about BLCU:

• BLCU = Yuyan Daxue
• Some locales and students might call it " Beiyu " but it's not as common.
• Beida = Beijing University. This is NOT Beijing Normal or another university with 'Beijing' in it.
• Ditie Daxue is opposite BLCU.
• Wudaokou is an area buzzing with shops, restaurants, cafés, apartments, and basically flourishes from the many many students in the area. Considered the ' University Area ' because it's near Beida, Tsinghua and BLCU.

One of the most useful things you should know is the two road names which BLCU is located: " Chengfu Lu " and " Xueyuan Lu ". This comes in handy when you're drunk off your face from another night out at Sunlitun (or Propaganda) and you were unlucky enough to find the one taxi driver who does not know where "Yuyan Daxue" is.

I've made a few maps which highlight key areas.

• Green Lines : Outlines the BLCU campus
• Red Dots : The main gates which you enter or leave the campus
• Yellow Lines : The main roads which BLCU is located on
• OrangeDots : Indicate where you can find an ATM or Bank
• Blue Dots : The more important buildings you would want to know on your first day of arrival

It's pretty important to know where you can go to find help, the bank and ATMs, the internet for your dorm room, food, shopping etc. It's not too difficult though, I usually just stumbled across places or a classmate would let me know, and the worst case scenario would be to just ask for directions.