Tuesday, July 31, 2007 -
First Days at Shanghai University
Meeting up with Christina was a great transition into this crazy new country. We found my school on Sunday and then went to the Bund (the old financial district) that evening and took lots of pictures. The city just stretches out in all directions, it's really unfathomable!
On Monday, I left the hostel at about 8 am and took a cab to my school. I went to the Foreign Student place that we found on Sunday and as I walked in the building, Jon was coming down the stairs! Jon is the other person from OU who got invited to this program and was in my class the last few semesters. He helped me check in and take my bags to my room which is on the second floor... good thing too, since there's no elevator and my bags are heavy!!! My room is great, it's a one person one (no roommate!) and I have my own shower/bathroom which, in China, makes this deluxe living quarters!
Jon and I went to registration and had to wait 2 hours until they registered us and gave us 800 yuan each for food. I then called Christina and the three of us went for some Hot Pot lunch. The English menu was beyond ridiculous so I took some pictures:
(more in the photo album)
Christina then set up the internet in my room while Jon and I went to orientation and then on a tour of their New Campus (yes, that's it's official name) and then ate dinner there with some other people that I met at school. It's funny having a table full of Americans, Japanese, Indians, French, and Spaniards and all of them speaking Chinese!
Tuesday I went to class for the first time, and there's a lot of yelling. haha! We always yell things out, and we yell counted to 100 and then back down to 0 and everyone, including the teacher, was cracking up by the end. It's really easy, I think I should be in a higher level, but I'd rather take it easy in a lower one than have to work harder in a higher one... I'm in China, it's not like I'm not gonna learn any Chinese! Jon and I went to a hole-in-the-wall place for lunch and I splurged and got 2 dishes for a total of 11 RMB ($1.45)! hahaha.. I love China. Then we went and bought some amenities at the supermarket and then got a large papaya milk tea for 5 RMB (66 cents)! ...I pretty much slept for the rest of the day.
Well, it's Wednesday morning now and I'm feeling a lot less jet lagged! Since I slept through dinner, I went to the bakery across from school this morning and got a baguette (5 RMB) a pastry (4 RMB/53 cents) and an "integrated coffee" (15 RMB/$2). The coffee was EXCELLENT which is a major relief since I haven't had coffee here yet. I can tell I'll be there a lot! So in case you didn't notice the photo album links above, here it is again!
http://picasaweb.google.com/sictransitvelouria/ShanghaiWithChristina/
Okay! Go look and have fun, I have to go to class!
I love and miss you all!
eLabels: Christina, School, Shanghai
Saturday, July 28, 2007 -
Arrival in Shanghai
Whew! After a 12 and a half hour flight I'm finally in China! The person next to me on the plane was really helpful and led me around the immigration/customs area so that was a relief. Once I got outside.. ugh. It was a horrible wave of heat! I went to find a taxi and these two weirdos tried telling me that the taxis were upstairs... yeah right.. GYPSY TAXIS!!! But I knew better and told them to go away then went to where the real taxis are and got an awesome driver who honked and flashed his lights at people in his way. Our small talk? I said it was hot out and he said yeah.. hot. air conditioner good? ... except all in Chinese. And that's all we said! But luckily he wasn't a swindler or anything, he had the meter running and even jumped out of the cab and asked around to make sure he took me to the right address and he also called ahead for me! So nice!!!
Well, the hostel is in this like 2 foot alley, but when you see it, it's actually really nice! I came in and the woman at the desk handed me a note that Christina left for me saying she's waiting for me at the bar/restaurant thing inside. I quickly checked in and rounded the corner and saw my darling clacking away on her computer. We hugged and squealed and put our stuff in the room and then went to find something to eat. We picked a nearby Thai restaurant that had some pretty nummy food and just got back to the hostel where we're typing away! This place is pretty chill, lotsa young people (hippies!) and there's a pirated copy of 28 Weeks Later playing. Scary! I don't want nightmares, so we'll probably head up to our room now and get ready for tomorrow where I promise will actually have pictures!!
<3 e.
