"China is the safest place on earth!"

Saturday, September 1st, 2008



Really? You think so? I think not! The other night Marisa and I met these 2 guys in my kitchen, both from the US who had also spent their summer here for the language program, who claimed that they felt a lot safer in China than the US. Just yesterday we met this girl who went out one night and had her purse stolen, which had lots of money, credit cards, her social security card, a Louis Vuitton journal, a nano ipod, and I’m sure lots of other valuable items, stolen from her. From my experience, I would say it’s not THAT safe. I always keep my bag in front of me as if I’m hugging a baby:)

So it’s definitely been a few days since I’ve written. I’ve just been so tired after my longs days that I usually just pass out. I’m still in disbelief that I’m actually here. I feel like I’m just in Chinatown again, but not hah. So we were told that we started orientation yesterday, but guess what! There is no orientation! We start registration on the 3rd and 4th. From there I’m not sure what happens. Talking to some other people, we have a language placement on the 6th and classes start the 10th. But that might not be true. There’s been lots of miscommunication between the W+J and Fudan and it doesn’t seem like either one of them know what’s going on. So in the mean time, we’ve met a lot of people and have been exploring Shanghai. We actually met a lot of people from University of California. There’s about 40ish of them here? maybe more? But they’re pretty cool. I’ve also met these 2 guys from Cambodia that are pretty awesome. From the people I’ve met, apparently I’m pretty young for the program. I’ve only met one other international student who is 20. The ages range from people to people. Most I’ve met are 22-ish and the oldest I’ve met is 30, and he’s from Spain. But overall, it’s been pretty amazing meeting and hanging out with everyone. The other night we (as in Marisa and I) went out with a group of people to this Tibetan coffee shop. It was really unique and nice inside. I ordered this mint coffee drink, but it tasted like coffee, ick. (I don’t really like coffee) But it was a great experience.

Marisa at the Tibetan Coffeeshop

Inside the coffeeshop

Isn’t it pretty inside? I would have to say so!

Yesterday, we went with a bunch of people into Shanghai to see the Bund. Here’s an intro!

Alright…the video doesn’t seem to be loading…so in the meantime, if you want to check it out, it’s on facebook. Otherwise, just give me some time to figure it out.

But here are some pictures on our night out last night.

We also took the metro into the city. That was complicated, but I think we figured it out! It took us awhile, but now we know for next time.

Squid on a stick!

This is Juan and Sabrina with squid on a stick!

Dinner

This is the restaurant we went to last night. It was really nice and the food was really good. There was 7 of us all together, 4 girls and 3 guys so we had to split up. I discovered, always bring napkins with you. They don’t give them to you, and when you ask for them, they said they would be 1 RMB. What?!? I’m not paying for a napkin! We decided shirts would do. We were dirty and sweaty anyway, why not!

The Pearl

This is how pretty Shanghai is at night! We walked on the Bund to the river to see the Pearl. Am I right? Then I realized, I’ve been here before! I’ll clue you in on a few things about me, I’m really bad at names, and that’s all names in general. So if I call something wrong, just let me know!

I

As you can see, everyone loves Shanghai. Speaking with people, I’ve learned that Shanghai is a lot more structured than Beijing. So I’m glad I decided on Fudan! By the time we got back last night, we were pretty much dead.

I wanted to do my laundry today, but realized it’s Saturday and it seems that the laundry service is closed so I can’t buy a laundry card. Boo. I hope I don’t run out of clothes. So instead, we went to lunch at this Korean restaurant with a bunch of people. The food was quite fabulous. Probably the best thing I love about China is…the food! It’s quite delicious! Then we went with our friends Monica and Susan and got massages. I’ve never had a massage before, so it hurt a lot. But I was probably also really tense. And I had a pretty good conversation with the masseur. My Chinese is decent I suppose, a lot better than I thought! Now we’re just chilling and we’re probably going to explore the night life. It’s a pain to load all my pictures on here, so I’m going to load them on Picasa or something like that. And I’ll also try to find out how to load video’s on here as well. And I’ll get the dorm tour soon!