First Impressions

I made it to China!! The 13 hour flight wasn't nearly as terrible as I was expecting and the chinese airport had a surprisingly good amount of english so I didn't get lost too bad! My program met me at the airport and got a bus for me and about 8 other students who all had later flights in to Shanghai like me. Our first impressions of the city started with buildings that were rippling rainbows! The city of Shanghai loves color and light and loves them on buildings, at night the whole city is lit up with colorful skyscrapers!

I, surprisingly enough considering a 15 hour time difference, never got jet lagged. I got right into a schedule which made it a much easier adjustment. We have orientation this week and classes start next monday. In orientation and just being here for a few days we've learned some really interesting things like to bring toilet paper EVERYWHERE, bathroom in public places (malls, restaurants, etc) don't put toilet paper in their bathrooms... which are also often squat toilets instead of regular toilets. They also don't have soap so you have to bring hand sanitizer with you. Also, even if it says you can cross the street, watch out! The hierarchy goes busses, cars, mopeds, bikes, then you. You stop for anything moving or the WILL hit you!! I've almost been hit a few times. But its easy to get used to these changes and doesn't bother me that much. The one thing I could do without in Shanghai is the constant rainy nights! It has rained the past 3 nights, definitely not used to that coming from Colorado!

Now lets talk about FOOD! So far my favorite part of China. Everything in general is cheap here and thankfully food is too! The first night here and yesterday for lunch we went to a type of restaurant where it has a lazy susan in the middle of the table and you order a bunch of dishes for the table. Both times we've ordered about 13 different dishes for 12 people and the total came to 260 yuan so about 22 yuan per person which is the equivalent to $3.50, but one night we all also got giant beers along with dinner and the price rose for $4.16. Today I went to the dining hall with my friend and he ordered us each a plate of fried rice ("chow fant") and a bowl of broth for 6 yuan, less than $1.00, and it was amazing! And it was such a large helping that I couldn't even finish my plate! I love it here! Ha ha. Here are some of the interesting things that I've tried:

1. Lotus: a lotus flower with rice stuffed into the pores, it kind of tasted like a potato in a way with sticky rice and a sauce it marinated in, really good and unusual!

2. Hot Milk Tea: a warm drink you get from the street vendor behind our dorm, you can get regular tea or chocolate milk but I don't think thats any fun. The flavors I've gotten so far have been Sweet Potato Green Tea and Adzuki Bean Grass Jelly. Both sound weird and gross but are sweet and absolutely delicious! The adzuki bean one had smashed beans in the bottom that come up with the drink that you chew, they are bean texture but extremely sweet! I've gotten one every day so far! Only 6 yuan (aka $1)

3. Baozi- pronounced "bow-tzer", its a steamed bun filled with a meat of your choice. Sounds very simple but the mixture of meat and spices in the middle have made me crave them as an afternoon snack every day! They only cost 2.2 yuan= 35 cents.

Some fun things I've gotten to do here so far are walk around the city, visit an enormous 10 story mall, go out to dinner at some great restaurants, practice calligraphy (which is incredibly hard), and watch a man play an Ehru which is kind of like an asian violin. We also ventured out to the Bund area for the night. When you see picture of Shanghai and all the colorful buildings and the financial district, the pictures were taken from the Bund area. We went into the Hyatt hotel in the area into a glass elevator and went to the 32nd floor to get an amazing view of the entire city! And finally, tonight we are going to the circus to watch some chinese acrobats perform! I can't wait!