Shanghai Thus Far

Initially, I loved the city for its beauty and hated the people for their rudeness. Two weeks have passed since I arrived here, and I love it now. I have learned to ignore crazy drivers and just walk when the light turns green for pedestrians, to ask what a dish is when I know that I ordered something else, to ask taxi drivers for tips and places, and so much more.
Each day of the past two weeks has been an adventure, and to add them altogether equates to about $400 worth of spending, which I suppose isn't all that bad, because it's all in the name of exploration and fun. I feel so much more cultured now, though I am certain there is much more to explore and learn. I'm so excited to go on more adventures in the upcoming (and last) two weeks here.

Here's this week in pictures:

Saturday: Our film class went on our second field trip to Thames Town and Che Dun. Thames Town, an imitation of the area around Thames River (it sounds like that, anyway) is so beautiful that it made my heart melt. Soon-to-be brides were taking pictures everywhere. Che Dun is a film park analogous to the backlot of Universal Studios.

For some reason, I don't have any pictures from Friday, but we ate at the Hong Kong restaurant across the street from campus and proceeded to go play billiards also down the street. We played for two hours, and my lungs suffered for just as long, but pool was fun. I actually hit (if that's even the correct term) balls in, though it took me a while to get started!

Thursday: J, S and I went to Jing'an Temple for our group project, which other than visiting the temple we have yet to start. It was a nice place, but with only one monk, which we found weird. People were throwing coins into a fortune statue thing; that was fun to watch. Jing'an is supposed to mean peaceful in Chinese, but the area surrounding the temple is completely commercialized, with tall hotel/ corporate buildings as well as a grand shopping center. At night, I went with other classmates to watch a very lame scary movie quite a trip away from campus, and since we weren't satisfied with it, we watched "Tale of Two Sisters" (Korean scary movie) online when we returned.

Wednesday: Right after class, MMR and I went to a cheap rice place nearby campus. I originally wanted fried rice, but what I got (bottom right) was fine, too, though it made me have to poop almost immediately afterward. We watched "Kung Fu Panda" at night.

Tuesday: We had no class at all (hallelujah!), so we decided to go to Zhu Jia Jiao, a water town in a very remote part of Shanghai. It was extremely enjoyable, what with all the vendors with whom we could bargain and the peaceful natural surroundings we rarely get to see elsewhere. We rode on a boat for about 20 minutes, and then had a delicious turtle/ fish dinner. I want to go back!

Monday: After class, I decided to go with a few other classmates to dinner with the professor. We walked down to the mall in Xu Jia Hui and decided to go to Din Tai Fung. It was absolutely heavenly. The service was excellent, and the food was even better. Although with six people, we still had to pay 105 yuan each, my stomach thought it was well worth it. I was so happy. Eating at Din Tai Fung was one of my top things to do upon coming to Shanghai.

More to come soon!

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