Back to School

Sunday definitely felt a lot different from Saturday, which felt a lot different from Friday, so it must be that somehow I am actually adjusting. Unfortunately, that doesn't include my jet lag, which actually seems to be getting worse...but it's nice when you get the worst part of your day over with before 6am.

I went into the center of the city all by myself today...except Damin walked me to the bus stop and put me on the right bus and told the ticket woman where I was going. At least I felt somewhat independent watching for my stop on my own...anyway, got to People's Park and called Amy, and we shortly found each-other. We went to lunch in the park at this nice middle eastern restaurant on the water, and it was really fun to talk to her and walk around a bit. (For those of you who don't know, Amy is the friend and former roommate at Wellesley of my friend Mary from home. Amy is also here for the summer for an internship. Difference being, her parents live here and she is Chinese. Interestingly, she is actually from Troy, Michigan, which is home to fewer people than her current apartment complex. We walked the Freedom Trail together when I visited Mary in October of freshman year.) Amy helped me buy a transportation card, which is accepted by the subway, buses, and even taxis.

Speaking of, I then took a taxi to Fudan University (which is near where I live) and sat around there reading for a while. Damin came to meet me and we walked around campus and talked about university in China and the U.S. It appeared to be graduation there today, just like at Swarthmore, and there were lots of people around.




Some people were all dressed up like this guy for the occasion...asking him to take a picture was not my idea, I promise.









And here, in honor of Farah, is the Chemistry building of Fudan University. A lot of things about being on a campus made me nostalgic (yes, nostalgic for like 15 days ago when I was on mine). Seeing dorms, and the cafeteria...and the libraries, except just looking in the window I could see they were nothing like our libraries. Every table was full and I bet no one was listening to their ipods.





After seeing Fudan, which is really beautiful, we went to Damin's cousin's apartment nearby to eat dinner. It was a really gorgeous apartment and delicious dinner, with good company as always. But as always, I started to fade seriously after dinner, so it's good to be back in my room again. I don't think I've mentioned it, but we are moving to a nicer apartment around the end of the month, which is near here. "Here" is about 30 minutes NE of the center of the city, and around 45 minutes from where I'll be working (and about 60 minutes from the airport). Buses serve the area well, but the Metro doesn't...yet. There are something like 4 Metro lines right now, and I heard there are going to be 17 by the 2010 Expo. So why can't we get a second Light Rail line at home??? (Wait, don't answer that.)

Shanghai is all about money. There are stores everywhere (including mini-malls in EVERY metro station), the reason most people are here is because of business, and I'm sure the nice climate for foreigners is largely based on the monetary contribution we general make. (And the fact that we speak English, which everyone learns...for the sake of business.) Amy says the people of Shanghai have always been generally mean, except with a huge soft spot for foreigners. Big, new buildings are being built and celebrated an an amazing rate. (Amy showed me the building that was tallest in 1986, and it was laughable. 1986!!) It's so interesting that all the cultural and political stuff is Beijing...Shanghai is really just industry. Not that that isn't huge. And in fact, I've seen it - everything about it is huge.