Waking up on the other side of the world.

Saturday, January 5^th

....Wait, what?  I’m in China!!!!  That was my first thought when I woke up yesterday.  Best reality check ever.  Kristy and I headed out this morning to grab some breakfast at a bakery we had seen Friday night at the Xujiahui subway station.  Here’s some pics:

 Deliciousness!

 We passed this amazing building on our way to the bakery.

It is so fun to just try new things and it’s quite a challenge sometimes to understand what people are trying to tell you.  It’s just a mix of charades and my extremely limited Chinese vocab that gets me through.  The simple things are such an adventure!

Kristy and I figured out that actually 2 breakfasts were necessary because we were absolutely STARVING.  We then explored this glamorous mall:

 Saw the same ad in Chicago just two days ago!

The view from the 5th floor!

 Never seen so many police on one street corner.

And we thought Chicago traffic was bad.

After our morning excursion, we headed back to the Faculty Club (FC) to meet Jason and start figuring out the Chinese phone situation.  This turned into a 5-hour ordeal.  We were running back and forth between shopping centers, up and down floors of at least 2 buildings – literally all over the place.  Eventually we got some bulk orders placed for 12 people and helped set up another 10 who were using their unlocked American phones (could not have done all this without Jason’s help).  More work to be done, but I had to take a break…

SJTU had organized an amazing welcome dinner for our group at this fancy establishment:

 Dongjun Bird's Nest Sharks Fin Seafood Restaurant

Just the beginning of our adventures together.

This place was unbelievably fancy.  All the food is served family style on a lazy Susan and it's a bit of a guessing game as to what the dishes actually are.  So much fun!!  I'm proud to say that I tried everything except for the sea cucumber.  There was just one rule... no laughing if (when) someone was riding the chopstick struggle bus. 

We met our culture and language teachers (Susan, Weiqi and Katrina) along with some of the SJTU leaders including Dean Liu.  Without Weiqi’s help (culture teacher) we would have been incredibly lost and confused.  She is absolutely hilarious!  I’m sure that her class will be enlightening and entertaining.  Here’s what we ate (or tried to eat) for dinner…

 Shaking hands with some goose feet.

 Simply amazing.  Also some green beans to rival Mom's!  Who knew such a dish existed?!

Whip cream filled puff for dessert!  They were so good I just had to have 2.

Last night we also got our first experience at a Chinese bar, which really wasn't so Chinese.   There were about 20 of us plus some Australians in the back who were playing pool.  After paying too much for some beer, several of us headed back to the FC, stopping by the FamilyMart to pick up some food.  First time I ate Ramen was in China!  Who could have seen that coming?! 

Our little clan after enjoying some Tiger beer.

A bit of cheesecake for dessert.

 Late night snack of champions.

Today was quite the adventure...and the fun's only just begun!  More later!

In (definitely not out of) CHINA CHINA CHINA

So… my VPN hasn’t been working correctly so I couldn’t access my blog for the last couple weeks.  Instead, I was blogging in a Word document.  Finally got that sorted out, so here we go!

Friday, January 4^th

WE HAVE ARRIVED.  I seriously can’t believe it!  Only (cue slight sarcasm) 14 hours on a plane and we are on the opposite side of the world.  The plane ride wasn’t bad at all; in fact I slept most of it (thanks Mom for that amazing pillow and blanket!!).  I know quite a few others who weren’t so lucky.  Although, for the last 45 minutes, my eyes were glued to my window, waiting for my first glimpses of Zhōngguó (CHINA).

Here are some pictures I took during our journey to Shanghai:

Who let these clowns out of the country?

I think I can do this.

Almost there!

Harbin: winter wonderland.

There it is!

Beautiful flower building, no idea what it’s there for though…

We did it!

First, let me say that the Shanghai International (Pudong) Airport is an amazing place.  There are SO many people that travel through this airport, but somehow it is efficient and extremely organized.  Going through customs was virtually painless; we had to fill out a short arrival form that they checked against our passport and visa.  Just had to wait in line for a little while, but we were entertained by an endless stream of Chinese Airport Security ads accompanied by this cute guy:

After going through Baggage Claim, we were met by several SJTU students, Jack and Greg, along with Eacy and Kathy who work in the SJTU International Cooperation Office.  Almost forgot to mention that the airport lobby was crowded with fans of a pop star whose plane had not yet arrived.  Junjin, I think was his name.  

Chinese Justin Beiber??

We split into two buses and headed off to the Xuhui SJTU Campus.  Kristy snapped this beauty while en route:

Apparently 14 hours on a plane can do this to you.

The students and staff members are incredibly helpful and they are our official contacts while we are here.   It’s so nice to have dedicated resources, especially when I’m trying to help organize the group.  Thank goodness for Dianne and the rest of the leadership team.  I also met Jason, who has proven to be another amazing resource (more on this later).

Greg took us on a quick walking tour of campus and then out into the city to find some dinner.  After showing us a couple highlights, he left us to fend for ourselves.  Most of our group ended up at this Cantonese restaurant where no one spoke English.  Interesting (but mostly delicious) food to say the least…

That pork was pretty much all bone – gotta fight to find the meat!

Here’s our group!

There was also some music playing while we ate.  It sounded exactly like an arcade game!  Can’t wait for some karaoke!

After dinner, we were headed back to the Faculty Club.  Kristy and I stopped to take a picture of a cool building (see below) and somehow the group got really far ahead.  Oops! 

Am I right?!

Instead of running to catch up with them, we just decided to go exploring.  No cell phones yet (more on that later), so we just did an about face.  Here’s what we saw just one block from campus:

Christmas in Shanghai!


The beginning of New Year's decorations.

 
Xujiahui intersection - our new favorite place.

Down in the metro!

Fun little toy shop...definitely going back!

Roomie pic :)

Just chillin' in Shanghai...NBD.

Milk tea at KFC + red beans!

Hmmm...I'll have to get used to these.

SO many shopping malls!

EXHAUSTED.

Eventually we had to get some sleep.  More exploring tomorrow!

China, here I come!!

Hey everyone!

I've always wanted to start a blog and my upcoming semester abroad in China is the perfect opportunity to finally get started!  So... here we go!!

I am a junior (who knew college fly so fast?!) studying Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University and just about to start a semester at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU).  My adventure started this morning with a flight from my home in Texas up to Chicago.  Only 8 degrees in the Windy City!!  I met up with a couple of friends who are also traveling abroad this next semester (Kristy and Kathleen with me to Shanghai, Allie to New Zealand) and our wonderful friend, Jessica, who's been introducing us to the Chinese culture and language.  Kristy, Jessica, Kathleen and I stayed up late in our hotel room reviewing common Chinese phrases and picking Chinese names.  SO much to learn!

My new Chinese name! "Kai lin" means "princess."

Here are some more pictures from yesterday!

 Baba dropping me off at the Houston airport!

 Art at O'Hare!

 One last American meal...

 Left to right: Jessica, Kristy, Allie and me!

 Pretty lights on the Chicago river.

 FINALLY got to see some snow!  Maybe there will be more in China??

A little bit of Chicago elegance to compare to what we find in Shanghai.

 

Spring 2013 brings so many challenges along with some amazing opportunities to learn more about myself and the world around me.  It's hard to grasp the true impact of this semester... I probably won't fully understand until I'm back in the U.S. (mid-May, btw).  I can't wait to (attempt to) blend in with the vibrant Chinese culture.

Well, we need to be at the airport early tomorrow, so I'm signing off!  Got a 14 hour flight tomorrow... that'll put us in Shanghai by noon-ish on Friday.  I've never been on a long flight before (previous record is 5-ish hours), so it should be interesting!   More pictures and stories to come!!

Talk to you soon!
房凱琳
(Fang Kai Lin)