WEEK ONE!!

[Disclaimer: lots happened in week one, so this is going to be an extremely long post. The next posts hopefully won’t be as long-winded]

I arrived at Pudong Interational Airport after a surprisingly bearable 15-hour flight. After a bus ride to my new school, East China Normal University, or 华东师范大学, I settled into my dorm room, went out for dinner with some year-long students, had some bubble tea, and eventually passed out. The next day we had a typical orientation all morning, which included a doctor’s vivid and lengthy warnings about the risk of rabies and diarrhea, and went on a tour of campus. That night we met at the statue of Chairman Mao in the middle of campus and went off to a program (CIEE) sponsored Sichuan-style dinner, where there was a traditional “face-changing” performance to spiced things up (ß that’s a pun because Sichuan food is spicy, if you didn’t catch that).

Exhibit at MoCA

The next morning after some more orientation, a few friends and I went to the local metro station, Jinshajian, pointed at a random stop, and hopped on the train. We ended up at People’s Square and happened upon the Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art, where a very famous Japanese artist had an incredible and weird exhibit. A lot of picture taking ensued. It was an awesome experience to come across and a great way to kick off the trip. We walked around the area more and found a marketplace targeted towards foreigners but where they sold very inexpensive “name brand” shoes, bags, sunglasses, jerseys, clothes, etc etc, and where I could practice my Chinese bargaining skills. My first conquest was a bag of tea for half the requested price.

"The Obliteration Room"

The next day was the Chinese Placement exam, which left almost everyone feeling confused and frustrated with their language skills. Afterwards, I signed up for classes and went to an info session on volunteer teaching English to children of migrant-workers. The training was really unique and in order to demonstrate to us a class taught entirely in a foreign language, we had a demo class taught entirely in German. Hopefully I can make this work in my schedule because it is right up my alley, but nonetheless, I enjoyed the training.

After some down time, CIEE took us to Shanghai Circus World for an acrobatics show. We weren’t allowed to take pictures (I have a few because I’m such a rebel) but there are honestly no words to describe how totally awesome it was. They had a spherical cage with a motorcycle driving in it, and eventually got up to 8 motorcycles in there. They had contortionists and gymnasts and dancers and maybe I’m easily entertained, but I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. After this, I don’t understand how China doesn’t win every event of the Olympics every single year. After the show we went to a local bar called Ellen’s, which is filled with smoke, is a very close walk to campus, and has awesome deals such as 10远 (about $1.50) cocktails and free beer Fridays. Ellen’s was followed by KTV (karaoke!) and a really good night sleep.

The next day a few of us went to Shanghai Museum (上海博物馆). Afterwards, I had the best meal I’ve had so far, 番茄鸡蛋拌面, which translates to noodles with eggs and tomatoes but was SO much more. 

Shanghai Museum (上海博物馆)

East Nanjing Road (南京东路)

From there we walked to the Bund. The smog made it hard to see, but it was nonetheless awesome. We continued on into the Fairmont Peace Hotel and then down 南京东路, East Nanjing Road. Nanjing Road is like Times Square but Chinese; very touristy, lots of people, but definitely a sight to see. Before heading back to campus, we went back to the Bund to see it lit up at night.

Friday morning I signed up for a gym (hurray to not running outside in the smog!) and then went on the Amazing Race Shanghai. We split into groups and had to figure out clues that sent us across Shanghai, from Zhongshan Park to Jing’an Temple to the Bund to East Nanjing Road to the Shanghai Museum to Xintiandi. After a fun, intense day of literally running around the city (and filling my lungs with pollution) my team grudgingly accepted 5^th place. We had a small dinner of 小笼包 (soup filled dumplings), went to Ellen’s in the pouring rain, and then went to the World Financial Center (one of those crazy tall buildings on the skyline) where the Park Hyatt was hosting a hella swanky party on the 92^nd floor. It was all sorts of classy, the music was pretty good to dance to, and most importantly, it was free.

Finally, Sunday we went to Taikang Lu (Road) a marketplace with a series of connected alleyways filled with art, boutiques, bars, restaurants, crafts, and lots of people. I loved it despite all the people who took pictures of us when we weren’t looking (by now, we’ve developed a code-word system when that is happening so we can all turn and pose). The weather today was the nicest it’s been all week and it was a really enjoyable way to end our Honeymoon week before classes start up Monday morning. [Sidenote: The background to this blog was taken at Taikang Lu]

Taikang Lu