Test Day!

So today we had absolutely nothing but TESTS and preparing for test for my chinese class (10am - 2pm). Note that everything was graded. and conducted ONLY in chinese

First we reviewed all of the week's grammar points.

Then we had a 15min discussion on the success of american fast food restaurants in china (mind you, our discussions were recorded on audiotape).

Then, we had to write an essay in 30 min about what we just discussed.

Then came lunch (yay)

After we had our oral presentations. I talked about the affects the financial crisis has had on america, other countries, the current state of the u.s. auto industry, and Obama's bailout plan (all in chinese)

Then we had the written test, and the FINISH

Its hard to imagine that this week was the first week since 2007 that I've had Chinese. I can't believe I'm already talking about relevant (and not everyday stuff) in Chinese. Makes me glad that I came to Shanghai. Now, I am gonna go get some drinks and chill with everyone else before our trip to sanqingshan tonight.

And don't worry, when i come back on sunday, I'll have loads of pics to upload

TML

Class started on monday,

i was in the intermediate class, but it was a little easy, so i switched to advanced low (its an accelerated course so they combine third year chinese into 12 weeks)

what a mistake. i like the ppl in my class though :) good thing b/cuz its 4 hrs of chinese

on top of that, i'm taking classical chinese, which is like comparing learning french and latin at the same time. i think classical chinese would definitely help with being able to read chinese newspapers and using idioms.

ohh, and both of the classes are taught ONLY in chinese, even when they are explaining things

i don't think i'll be getting A's for these classes...but at least my chinese will improve (hopefully) by leaps and bounds. hm hmm

thursday - sunnday i'll be in jiangxi province at sanqingshan for a fieldtrip. maybe i take pics then, b/cuz i heard its a very scenic place. to bad its supposed to be raining there as well (it's been either overcast or raining since i've arrived in china

the last time i saw the sun was the friday before i left philly for china.

and the weather report shows that rain will be the forecast at least through the beginning of march. damn

Shanghai,

Bars are great
Clubs are Better (we went to Babyface on Huai Hai Lu, apparently its Shanghai's premier club)


I wish my favorite was there :(
Taxi's try to take you in...bastards (we gave only 50 kuai even though our fare was over 100)

Food is amazing, and cheap
Always Good (I wish food could be this cheap back in Philly)

I don't want classes to start
But I hope these classes transfer back (gahhh...school)

TML

Day 3-4:

Not much happening. Yesterday was the first night that I didn't go do anything and just stayed in the room. I felt really tired after dinner and ended sleeping at 10pm, got up at 7am. Anyway, here are some more of my observations of life in Shanghai:

- the sky looks like London. Apparently even if it isn't raining, its still cloudy and overcast. I guess its either cuz of the pollution, or if it really is raining/overcast in the city.

- in order for the electricity to work and the light to turn on my automatically in my room, I need to insert a card, which also is used to swipe to open the door for my room. So at night, the heater can't work cuz the lights are off (since the card isn't in the slot) and my computer won't charge since there's no electricity. FAIL

- this city DOESN'T have any central business districts. sure, there's pudong and the bund...but literally this city seems like the size of los angeles, but with skyscrapers ALL over the city. it's crazy.

- there are no traffic rules. so my friend and i were crossing the street back from carrefour (wal-mart store, but French, very popular in China) and all of a sudden, this motor bike speeds right in front of us. ho brah if we never stop to look we woulda been hit. pedestrian's definitely don't have the right of way.

I think that's enough writing so I'll stop. Hm Hmmmm

TML

Day 2:

I wonder if I'll be posting everyday...

Anyway to sum it up:

- got my sim card, so I have a Chinese Phone (souvenir!?)
- went to my first bars (2 of them) in Shanghai
- had lunch at a homestay family...everything here is like either really modern, or like really crap like on one side its modern, the other side of the street its not

I shoulda brought my camera to these things, but I always seem to forget...GAHH!!!!

Anyway, couple more days of this NSOesque mess before the real "school work" begins. Can you believe that they only have school M-Th and class usually starts at 1pm!? WTF!

TML

Plane Trip and Arrival

First Blog Post

Hey Everyone, thanks for checking out my blog! And to everyone who came to my going away surprise. I enjoyed it a lot >.< Anyway I'll post more later tomorrow or this week because I am dead tired right now.

First Thoughts:
- where's the toilet paper in the bathrooms?
- dorms are modern, like a thousand times better than English House or Hill
- EVERYWHERE smells like cigarettes
- met some kewl pplz so far, reminds me of NSO

I like having agendas, prolly from my Stuco/MDSCO/HSSC days...anyway these are my goals:

Goals of this Blog:
- a place to put my thoughts on, what some would say, a lifetime experience
- to let pplz know of my life on the other side of the pacific

Goals while in Shanghai:
- TRAVEL
- MEET NEW PEOPLE
- HAVE FUN!

Good Night

TML (thoughts on my life)