How Well Do You Know Nanjing University's Campus?

“Go to these ten places around the campus and complete the missions by asking questions to the locals in Chinese. Take a picture! Finally, find us program leaders at an ultimate, secret, super hidden, nearly-impossible-to-find mystery location…”
28 students stared at us as if we had sprouted three heads. Then they broke out into excited chatter, the room abuzz. We had just laid out the rules of the scavenger hunt and the race was on!

Some teams ran out immediately, taking advantage of the time. Other teams lingered in the lobby and planned out their route with the friendly neighborhood security guard. All were using Baidu Maps, the Chinese equivalent of Google Maps; quite a challenge because there is no English on the app!

Students had to stop at the Nanjing University Cafeteria 南京大学食堂. How do you say your favorite food section in Chinese?

Students visited the Nanjing University Gym 健身房. How much does it cost to swim at the pool and use the treadmill for an hour?  

Students took a jumping picture with 3 locals in front of the famous North Building of Nanjing University 北大楼!

(As you can see, it is very hard to coordinate everyone being off the ground.)

Students stopped by the the Nanjing University gift shop, Nanjing Memories 南大记忆. How much is a Nanjing University hoodie?

Students hustled to a local Nanjing restaurant 人全到饭店. How much is the braised eggplant and minced meat dish 干烧肉末茄子？

Students dropped by another local eatery, a steamed bun shop! How much is a pork and vegetable steamed bun?

Students visited Paris Baguette, a local bakery. What’s the name and price of a delicious-looking cake?!

Students swung by a soup dumpling shop. How much is one order of steamed soup dumplings? What are 2 special Nanjing foods?

Students stepped into the stationary store. A favorite for everyone! Smile!

Students paid a visit to another local eatery, the Lanzhou Noodle restaurant. Cheese! (fun fact: cheese is not commonly eaten in Chinese cuisine!)

And finally… the students found us program leaders at Café Belong, a beautiful café that’s perfect for an afternoon of quiet studying.

Before this, we had sent students a letter of the café name every 5 minutes as “clues” for them to piece together. Our group chat looked like this:

Let’s just say the students were not thrilled.

But EVERYONE FOUND US! 1st and 2nd place teams received movie vouchers, 3rd and 4th place teams received coffee vouchers, and 5th and 6th teams received Nanjing postcards!

These places will hopefully all become familiar and useful for students in the upcoming month. Everyone's a winner!