campus – Junjun's Home

Lancaster of Winter: A First Impression

按照办公室好友金沙兄的话来说，我就像刚出生的孩子，对周围的一切都充满着极端的好奇和兴奋。对此，他充满了无语。也是，像他这样在英国呆了接近十年的老鸟，应该早就目空一切了吧？可是对于我这样一个接受了二十多年的社会主义教育的人而言，初次来到一个全新的国度，能不开心吗？更何况，这里有着远胜于国内的生活条件和科研支持，使我有着一种如鱼得水的感觉，这又能如何让我兴奋？于是，我决定接着上一回，利用办公室的电脑，写下这篇博客，以满足各位读者的好奇心。

全新的世界，不一样的体验

当然，住在荒山野岭的日子还是很无聊的。尽管说这里有着更蓝的天，更清新的空气，但是却少了很多东西。这里可没有南苑的餐馆，更不会有一帮男人排队冲入食堂的情景，更不会有什么KTV之类的娱乐。我不了解这里的硕士生们是如何过日子的，反正，我已经开始了办公室和宿舍的来回奔波。我们过去读书时都会很奢望有一个自己的独立空间，然而，当一切来临时，他真的很美好么？

有一点很幸运，那就是我的英语。尽管说我在这里与老板们沟通，与同事们聊天，与舍友们海侃还是遇到了沟通问题，但是却并不严重（专业内容除外）。这得益于我一直相对不错的英语听力和比较胆大敢说的特点。其实在这里，没人管你口音多标准。他们更关注的是，你能否理解他们说的是什么，同时你能否自如的表达你想要的表达的。所以：以后要出国的朋友们，先多多练练英语吧。
麻雀虽小，五脏俱全

不得不说，兰卡斯特校园真的很小。从一头走到另一头，我估计不会超过30分钟？不知道英国人是不是喜欢那种沧桑的历史感，但是这座建造于60年代末的学校，却已经显得略显斑驳和苍老，但是却不乏学校和高等学府所应该具有的那种厚重感。
1. 安全两字要牢记
  
  首先要说，这是一个非常安全的校园。无论是我所居住的College，还是我上课的管理学院，以及我办公室所在的工程楼，无不凸显这一点。在我办公室门外，短短不足百米就会有一道防火门。同时标签上永远写着“请随手关闭防火门”。我不知道墙壁是否是防火材料，但是很干净，没有国内学校常见的那种一抹就掉的白粉。这里的火灾警报和检测装置检测非常平凡。据说还会有演习，如果演习时候没有走出房间，据说会被罚款哦！据说罚款可达500磅。
2. 网络无所不在
  
  其次是网络。这里有着让坤哥瞠目结舌的设备。如果你以为100M的带宽只是用于LAN，那么我得告诉你，你的只是需要更新了。这里办公室的电脑的桌面带宽即为100M。而需要注意的是，这个100M其实是外网的速度，并不仅仅是内网。当你用IE另存为这个传统方式下载即可获得10.8M/s的速度时，您会作何感想？是不是“羡慕嫉妒恨”？
  
  这里的网络其实不仅仅是用于娱乐，更重要的是，他对科研支持非常的好。校内高性能计算机，可以给予我们更快的计算速度。我们不再需要在本地安装和调试各种工具。我们需要做的只是一个SSH客户端。通过这个客户端我们可以登录并使用服务器上的各种工具，进而直接跑程序。如果你习惯了被Matlab，SAS甚至小小的Stata拖累到机子无法动弹的话，你会更了解这个东西的好处。
  
  Exchange服务这里用的也非常纯熟。事实上，我过去也只是听说过这个东西。而当我真的开始使用时，我才发现其伟大。基于这个平台，微软的产品可以被很好的结合起来。各类小型报告会、交流会和各种社交活动不再需要手工电话或者短信通知，一个电子邮件请求可以很好解决这个问题。在对方确认的情况下，这个项目会被自动添加到Outlook的日志中，而不用再多费功夫手动添加。
3. 一夫当关，万夫莫开
  
  这是一个充满了授权与未授权的世界。如果说我们在国内对授权还没有什么概念的话，这里的每样设施会给你上第一课。小到集中管理的电脑系统，大到到处都可看到的门禁系统，会让你觉得似乎走进了一个保密单位。事实上，你只是在这个学校的管理学院和它的PhD学生办公室。
  
  这里的电脑系统管理是非常严格的，严格到可以用变态来形容。在我们成功注册学校以后，我们会得到一个唯一的计算机用户名和密码。通过学校分布式管理终端，我们可以方便登录学校的云端系统查看那个属于我们自己的桌面。这种桌面是不随你使用的电脑而转移的。如果你有一个U盘的话，是考虑丢掉它的时候了。毕竟云端储存要方便得多。
  
  但是这种管理也有不方便的地方。那就是，在这个鬼地方，尤其是办公室，我是没有管理员权限的。作为一个玩了多年电脑，并且从没关心过Windows系统用户组设置的朋友而言，这一切都是非常难理解的。两周前我为了安装一系列科研工具和其他娱乐工具，而曾经找过ISS要过管理员帐户权限。事实上，由于集中管理的方便，他们很快远程给了我权限。但是好景不长，今天我突然发现，我已经重新降回了普通用户！不过这样也好，权限低，我也不用担心安全问题了。
  
  而门禁系统则更夸张。在非办公时间，这里的楼都是关闭的。但是，如果你有授权，则可以通过刷卡进入。比如我所在的工程学楼，在晚上六点半以后便会锁门。只有在门禁系统成功刷卡，自动门方能开启。而这对于管理学院面朝主干道的一扇门也同样适用。如果这一切还不够的话，呵呵，那我告诉你，管理学院三楼的咖啡房也是有密码的。如果没有密码，碰巧门也锁了，那想要讨点咖啡或者牛奶喝恐怕就有难度了～。反正，这是个充满密码锁和刷卡器的地方。
可爱的人们

英国人的低效率恐怕是出了名的。因为我在跟我哥打电话说我这里办事效率很高时候，他忍不住哈哈大笑。的确，英国人办事效率不是很高，毕竟如此高福利的国家，做事情懒散些也很容易理解。但是，我来到这里办事却是非常顺利。或许由于我所在办理事情的时间并不是通常的开学时间，我办理学校注册，网络中心和图书馆都花了很少的时间，总计也就20分钟吧。呵呵，这些事情如果在国内，一个礼拜之内别想搞定。

这里的人大多很客气，也很讲礼貌。无论你到哪里，永远是笑脸相迎。以至于我现在微笑的频率也越来越高。真希望我以后不会因为这些该死的习惯而给脸上弄出点皱纹来。有一点很特别的地方，我觉得值得广大刚从国内来的朋友注意。那就是，在你开门通过时候，如果后面有人，请一定要替别人顶下门。另外，经常把Thank You和Sorry挂在嘴边。尽管我才来两周，我却已经重复了无数遍这两个简单的句子。

给我感触最深的，跟国内差异最大的就是行政人员的态度。尽管这里人办事风格永远是不冷不热，永远只做分内事，但是不得不说，他们把份内工作做得近乎完美。在这里的每一个办公室办事，你永远会得到确切的答案。你不会遇到“有关领导”和“有关部门”的问题，也不会让你享受“回去等着”之类的礼遇。记得我第一次去图书馆，被我问询的那位夫人直接带我到了书库，并一直带我找到那本书。而在财大时，我曾因为一本书差点跟会计学院图书馆的干起来，或许这就是差距吧！当然，我遇到财大的那个管理员也的确是会计学院的JP+BL。

Revisiting CSLG: A Two-day Trip

It can never be amazed for one, who are quite familiar with me, of knowing the Changshu Institute of Technology. It is a small school focusing on engineering and science majors, locating in a small town near Suzhou. To mention it here in my blog means nothing to its contribution to the academic and industrial world, but purely that as my mother school where I spent my first two years of college life.

An Invited Presentation

This revisit, unlike a self-conducted behavior that I used to adapt, is following somewhat informal invitation from the Department of Mathematics. The vice dean, Mr. Yu, who, at that time, was my lecturer for calculus, posted this invitation to me. In fact, this invitation has been done for years while it never came into practice. Things are that curious since the invitation were mostly received when I had been in Wuhan, and one time in US for an academic symposium.

The timing this time, unlike those previous instances, is quite appropriate. It is fortunately arranged on the time before my leave for Lancaster. However, the topic that I shall promote for the presentation make me paralyzed. According to the basic need and willing from Mr. Yu, a presentation on my personal experience, focusing on my life from leaving this school in 2005, to the present stage, as a coming PhD student at Lancaster with fully funded offer. Anyway, such willing can hardly be satisfied since, it greatly conflicts the basic principle that a scholar should carry, and the necessary calm a student should have.

An alternative topic that they can accept, lays on the choice for postgraduate admission exams. It has been quite a long history for this school on high support for these activities. In fact, I have received quite benefit when participating my own exams to Nanjing Normal University in 2005. These benefits includes free material offering, very low price training on specific courses, and mental support from others. Nowadays, the students there are obviously getting more. They even have the usage of air-conditioned meeting rooms during the summer.

However, this topic is somewhat rigid for me. The choice on whether to work or to fight for the graduate admissions should never been easily recommended. Such recommendation should be carefully and highly regarded, and taking the individual factors into account. After all, I get a compromising solution. Based on the empirical literatures that I have read in past few years on Chinese stock market, I delivered a professional presentation that covers the advantage that a student with the major of math would have if he/she is devoted into this field. The result, or say, the feedback, is quite under my expectation. That is, they don’t know what I am talking about, though they have had a good way to announce it. For the news article on their website, please click here.
Its Good & Bad

Dingding is still always that busy, and taking dinner with him and his wife, including some other friends, has been a tradition for my visit to Changshu. That is, my trip to Changshu has been extended from a one-day trip to a two-day one. The big difference this year is that, Xie, a good friend and teacher of mine, is too busy as well for his new position in League. This time, I would have to travel with my own plan, besides taking meals with him. But such arrangement brings me quite more free time to talk with others.

In that dinner with Yu, I met some other teachers. And after meal, I took a good talk with Tang in his office. He used to be my calculus during the first semester, and at that time, he was devoting to the books on database management. While later, he became a leader for the modeling team, and received quite some prize nationally. In fact, he used to be a student in computational mathematics, and modeling should be his advantage and interest. Also, I have a good talk with Zhang, who at that time taught me marketing and finance, it is good that his unique foreseeing sight remains, and his courage retained.

Comparing to the school that I joined five years ago, it has been largely improved, both on its equipment and its environment, including the student’s attitude, though the students obviously have not learned the spirit of questioning. However, most of the lecturers in that school remains to be lecturer for many years, if they are taking a similar position in some other better universities, they would have been associate professors, professors, postgraduate tutors and even doctoral supervisors.

But the chat with other younger teachers bring me some concern on their perspective. Lacking the environment for academic discussion and cooperation would largely mitigate their competence on coping with the steps of the mainstream within the area that they are interested in, and such mitigation would prevent them from publishing good papers, which is, no matter where you are, are highly regarded as a key criteria for promotion and high salary. Maybe they only want a quiet life rather than such contributions.
My Thanks to This School

Though not a good school comparing to the later ones that I participated, it provides me good education on mathematics and opportunity of learning necessary computer skills from my roommates. It is what I learned here bring me great convenience on my exploring to the empirical world, and indefinitely promote my admission to Lancaster. Heartedly, wish it goes well.

Career and Romance: A Puzzle?

It can hardly be denied that romance is a strange thing. Unlike the regular events that can easily be controlled in certain routines, the romance can hardly be controlled rationally. More likely, the development of the process for a couple falling in love seems to be a random walk, no matter you are originally determined or not. One may not be able to fully understand this unless you own the experience. It is a kind of experience that involves true loving, demands and even sex, any tiny error made in such process can mean influencing consequence in future. And, under most occasions, it is highly related to the career, another key aspect of human lives.

Loving stories can be easily found in some journals and newspaper when you pick up one randomly in a school library. The stories are frequently similar though figures in the stories vary. The conflict between the career and the romance is typically a permanent topic. For comedy, the couples get recognized occasionally and work together for future, like housing, business, etc. The ending of such story is always quite pleasant and sometimes romantic, that both romance and career are of harvest. While for such topics, tragedy is more common to see. Such story often starts from a couple being like peas and carrots, and then face a single choice for romance and career. Then difference value concept between the man and ladies are exhibited: career is often preferred by the men and romance by the ladies.

In fact, the latter style of choice is more common to see, which is regarded as reconciling. For any parties that are participated in a game called romance, you can hardly expect great outcome without sufficient income, which, in this game, is regarded as a sacrifice in either romance or career. Unlike many other choices that the alternative choice can easily be explained for deny, this choice is a puzzle, because preference to any party in this choice for romance/career are both adequately rational. For preference on romance, it is comprehensive, since the pleasant experience rendered from this can hardly be substituted, and meanwhile, it is a necessarily preliminary step for coming marriage, which is of great demands for majority. In other hand, preference on career is also a wise choice. Career can mean individual success in numerous realms of life, like great profit from running a business, obtaining a demanded position etc. Considering the traditional responsibility for a man that should support the whole families, including the parents, wife and offspring, the success on career is one of the most effective resolution for such purpose. That’s why majority of men are holding their preference towards the career.

Such choice can be more difficult for graduates, no matter you are graduating from a college or graduate school. Difference on cities that a couple works and residents can directly lead to failure of their romance. Comparing to the virtual basis on their romance, which is typical nominated as love, the survival is more essential. The romance can only come into practice when the survival is not a question anymore, which is regarded as grounded. Never try to believe in your determination. Such determination is only valid when the environmental settings are unchanged, which is and is only an assumption. Under most occasions, we have taking too much time and energy to fit for such changes, thus career and romance can hardly be taken into account simultaneously.

And making such decision is not an easy job. A preliminary and necessary step for a decision-maker is to think over. Such rule is consistent to the choice on career and romance as well. For a person who is of great preference on career, his/her romance would be regarded as a kind of sacrifice, or say opportunity cost in economic terms, or vice versa. To make it, everyone must be aware of his advantages and disadvantages, which kind of living they are willing to lead to, and basically, a full perspective of the near future.

I don’t know who such choice would be like in a US setting, but the framework for both understanding and interpreting in this post is of Asia styles. Wise and correct choices are typically regarded as precious, especially one of such importance that fully decides his/her future life. An optimized contract for both career and romance would be fully appreciated. But meanwhile, whether such solution exists is still under questions!