Roaming Around

Over the past three weeks since I have arrived I spent a lot of time roaming around the city.  For the first week I traveled with other people who knew their way around and just followed them, but I got more familiar with the bus/metro system and started traveling alone when I could.  Although having company is always fun, I prefer to go alone.  I feel that I have a better sense of everything when I am traveling alone.  Apart from having to rely on yourself, I think the best thing about traveling alone is that you become more aware of everything around you.  While roaming around I was able to take in my surroundings, the interesting stores and, most importantly, I was able to pay more attention to the locals and the way they lived.

Since I do not travel a lot, the stores in Shanghai are completely new to me.  They’re so many stores (different and similar) in one area.  The types of “stores” that I usually see are mall-type-stores, convenience stores, restaurants, independent stores, wet market food stores, random item stands (they sell stuff on tables, bikes, and towels on the floor), and people who walk around selling items that they made. The stores that stand out the most to me are the convenience stores (Family Mart, Q, allday, etc).  I see these pretty much everywhere I go.  I can count at least 5 Family Marts’ around Fudan’s campus along with maybe 3 or 4 in campus.  KFC is also very common in Shanghai!  They are kinda similar to those in the US but with the addition of rice porridge and rice. I had my first KFC a few days ago but I bought westernized food, but the chicken sandwich had a strange sweet chile sauce in it.  :/

The malls in Shanghai are huge compared to the malls I have visited in Virginia.  Most malls are multiple stories.  One particular mall, I went to that had seven levels, although it was connected to the metro station so it wasn’t as wide as most. 

The stores on a typical street include: food related stores, convenience stores, clothes/shoes/accessories stores, cute things stores, random things stores.  You can usually see at least 5 of each type of store on a street.  So much competition!  I usually hate to walk around the smaller streets because a lot of the stores do not have any customers.   Sometimes they have employees go outside trying to get people into the store but so many people ignore them (sadly I am guilty of ignoring them).  I promise I do not ignore them to be mean but because the sight of all these stores without any customers makes me sad, so I feel that avoiding eye contact is best.  But what makes me the saddest is when I see empty shops in which are the owners’ only source of income.  These shops are usually selling food or little trinkets.  

Oh wait! What makes me even sadder is seeing the people who make the items that they sell.  I remember walking around the metro station and seeing an older man selling some items that he weaved from grass.  Luckily this particular gentleman had some people buy his grass items. 

Now onto my favorite type of shops, the street food!  The food is so cheap and tasty too, and I have yet to get food poisoning.  Every night in front of the gate of the entrance of the Fudan students dormitory they’re about 6 or 7 food carts that come out.  My favorite is a sandwich cart.  Not sure what the food is called but it is so good!

Favorite food cart

Strip of shops somewhere near People's Square

Tianzifang 田子坊

Shop in Zhujiajiao 朱家角

First Week at Fudan

For the last few days I have been pretty busy.  Orientation, Opening Ceremony, sightseeing, language placement exam, and beginning classes.  Orientation was interesting.  They were so many people from all over the world (England, Mexico, Korea, Sweden, Bulgaria, etc.) on the Fudan summer exchange program.  It is really refreshing to meet people other than Americans. 

Sadly, the language placement was not as easy as I thought it would be. The exam that was given was based on the number of years the student studied Chinese.  The levels were up to 10, although the highest level taken by a student was 5.  I took the level 3 exam and got a 49%. :(  The test was based on tones, grammar, and knowledge of characters.  I did not know the majority of the characters on the exam so I think the characters is the reason for my lackluster score.  The language courses are separated into 3 level: beginner, intermediate, advanced.  Apparently getting a failing grade on a language placement exam doesn’t mean much because I was still given the opportunity to take the advanced class but I decided to choose the intermediate course.

I just finished my first week of classes.  I am taking two courses: a Chinese language course and Chinese Culture and Business Practices.  I really enjoy my classes and the professors (both my professors remind me of Winnie the Pooh!).  Each class is 2.5 hours for 4 days a week.  I am taking 2 classes, but 5 hours isn’t bad.  The classes are not too different from those of UMW.  Classes are small and the professors just lecture and assign readings.  In my opinion, the only difference is the size of the classroom, which is just big enough to fit about 20 students. My only complaint, which really isn't a complaint, is that the campus is much larger compared to UMW. I have gotten lost so many times because they're just so many roads you can take to get to the classroom building.  I actually still don't know my way around campus but I'm working on it.

Google Works!

For the past few days I have been trying to figure out how to use Google in China, I am happy to say that I finally found out how to get Google to work. Before I got Blogger to work I wrote my blog entries in a journal so here.

6/2/13

So here I am sitting at Frankfurt airport waiting for my connecting flight to Shanghai.  While I wait, it has finally hit me that I am alone. I will be thousands of miles away with no family or friends to rely on.  Excitement is turning to nervousness but I know that whatever happens is all part of the experience.  Sitting here for 5 hours gives me an opportunity to ponder how I might change during my ten weeks in Shanghai.  Based on the list of “Why you Should Study Abroad” will I actually gain independence, a “new perspective” on life, as well as a better understanding of the culture and language?  Looking at the list makes me wonder, “will I really enter Shanghai one person and leave it another person? “ or will I just be the same person who just traveled to China for a few weeks.  When I look back on this post in late August I hope I can identify with the former.

Currently I am sitting next to A LOT of Chinese people engaged in their conversations.  As I sit eavesdropping on their conversations I am even more aware of my inadequate Chinese listening skills because I didn’t understand a thing, other that the obvious 你，我，他，and occasional random words here and there.  Two years of Chinese and I don’t have the slightest clue of what is being said.  I hope in the airport coming back from China I am able to successfully eavesdrop on conversations.

6/4/13

I arrived!  But why is it so humid here? 

I just had my first conversation with one of the locals.  He was actually the security guard in front of the international student dorm.  Turns out I had to have my acceptance letter from Fudan to get into the building which my program manager failed to send me.  So I just used the words I knew and formed a sentence which may or may not be grammatically correct.  I said “我每有卡因为我是新学生”.  He said something and wouldn’t let me in.  I must’ve stood there saying “每有卡“ and “新学生”for 10 minutes before he gave up and just let me in.  I really like my dorm room.  Just large enough for me to live and not only does it have a private bathroom and AC but also a balcony!  There is also a convenience store on the first floor of the building.  Why can’t UMW dorms be like this?

6/5/13

Today I roamed around Fudan’s campus and I was mistaken for an actual Chinese speaking person!  Feels good. 

 Fudan’s campus (at least I think it is part of the campus) is amazing. It is a large campus but it doesn’t seem that way because the campus is so interesting.  The buildings are fairly large, people air-dry their clothes on their balcony’s, some scenic places, people playing basketball, a number of shops placed in the middle of campus with stores ranging from food type items to a shop solely for buying badminton and tennis related items! They’re also a bunch of stores just outside of campus.  So convenient!

(I did not bring my camera while I walked around so I will take/post pictures later)

First Days

I have been in Shanghai for about 3 days already and so far and I have learned quite a few things since I arrived:

•  Roads are so dangerous. I know that I am suppose to walk in groups while crossing the street but even in a group you can still get hit. It has only been three days and I already have had so many encounters with cars/ buses/ motorcycles just inches away from running me over.  I have since learned to stay in between at least 2 or 3 people on each side when I walk. 
• Chinese people speak really fast even if it is obvious (at least I think it is) that you cannot speak the language.  During the time I spent interacting with the locals it seems like Chinese people do not slow their speech for foreigners as American tend to do.  I used to think it was rude to speak mockingly slow to foreigners but now I have changed my perspective on that completely.
• Every other sound I hear are the honking of cars.  I am convinced that drivers in China spend more time honking their horns than actually driving.  I wake up to the sound of car horns and go to bed with the exact same sounds.  Actually, I am writing this post to the sound of car horns.
• The weather is always humid. 
• Women dress very nice.  From what I see from roaming around People's Square, women typically wear a sundress and a cardigan with nice shoes and bag.  I rarely saw anybody in jeans.
• The toilets in China are so much different from in America.  Although some areas have western toilets, most of the toilets I have went to are in the ground.