I Left My Heart in Shanghai

I've been home for a good two days now, and I can't help but feel nostalgic and depressed. Of course I'm glad to be home and am enjoying the comforts of being at home... but I miss my friends and the connections I made back in Shanghai. Before I left for Shanghai, I never imagined I'd meet such a great group of people. The first week was full of awkwardness and silence between everyone. Little did I know, I would make life-long bonds with the other 25 students who journeyed with me to China. But, enough of that! I promised myself I would stop being sad... and it's time for me to do a little reflection on my whole experience in Shanghai!

Friends

I lived in a shell before I decided to go study abroad. I was hardly social since I spent most of my time with my ex-boyfriend and his group of friends. I didn’t live on campus for college; an integral part of college life. I think I was always in the mindset that I’d get in college and graduate in three years… trying to cram so hard that socializing never crossed my mind. Living the dorm life gave me a taste of what college could have been had I decided to go somewhere else for school, or had I decided to spend an extra $10,000 on housing for a school 10 minutes away from where I lived (yeah, right). But, it was so convenient to just have your friends a couple of rooms down, or a couple of floors apart. Walk a couple of steps, and you could knock on your neighbor’s door to see if they wanted to get lunch or dinner.

It was also nice being able to bond with these people these past couple of months. If we ever needed each other for anything, we were only a phone call or a knock away. I think being in a foreign country with a bunch of kids like yourself really gives you that extra boost of energy. We were always looking out for each other—whether it was making sure everyone was eating right, or taking each other to the hospital when we were sick, or making sure we weren’t dead after a night of hard-clubbing.

I’ve made connections with people that will never be severed. Saying good-bye to everyone when we were all leaving was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do in my life. I have never cried so much in such a short span of time! It was like a dominoes effect—one by one, we walked each departure out, and one by one, we would all start to bawl. It just goes to show how deep our relationships with each other are. I can truly say that I’ve made lifelong friendships during this trip, and I am so glad that I got the chance to meet such wonderful people.

Lifestyle in Shanghai

Living in China is so different than living in the States (duh). I kind of expected it to be like life in Taiwan, but it was different from that as well! Adjusting to life there was a bit hard at first, and I don’t think it got any easier as we moved forward during the semester. Having my own room was definitely a plus, because I got my own privacy and space. I felt a lot of freedom, being able to do whatever I wanted to do in my own room, and I cleaned it more often than I clean my own room at home!

Eating was one of the hardest parts. Although there are delicious foods in Shanghai, my stomach (and my skin!) had trouble adjusting to oily Chinese foods. Even though it got progressively better throughout the semester, there would be times where I’d break out in a massive stomach-ache and had to make mad bathroom runs. I’m so glad to be going home and finally eating foods that I’m used to, especially SALAD (this doesn’t seem to exist in China). But, I’m going to miss the accessibility of street food and the cheap prices of xiao long baos or shen jien baos!

Currently, Shanghai is remodeling itself to prepare for the 2010 Expo, so the city is a hot mess! The roads are full of construction, and there are fences everywhere, blocking off random parts of the road. It seemed to get progressively worse as the semester went on. As if traffic wasn’t bad enough… every time I got in a cab, I would see new bumps in the road and would sigh at the deafening construction drilling right below our international dorm. I hope Shanghai will be cleaned up for the Expo, and be as pretty as Beijing was when it remodeled itself for the Olympics (although, Beijing was a bit creepy because nobody would be out on the roads past 10 PM). I look forward to seeing the differences pre-and post-Expo.

One thing I’m not going to miss is taking cabs. It’s so hard to live in the city and not be able to drive yourself. Of course, I don’t think I would ever drive myself if I lived somewhere like Shanghai. Public transportation was something different, and I really enjoyed taking those long subway rides to get to places as far as Pudong. However, I missed driving, and I missed having the freedom to go anywhere I want, anytime I want. Plus, I always felt like I was getting ripped off when I sat in cabs—especially during the first few months we got there and we had no idea where to get anywhere!

I will also not miss the occasional rude Shanghai people. I think most Shanghai people are just inherently rude. They don’t even realize it because they’re just so numb to their lifestyle. Crowds are the worst, people bump into you really hardly and there is no such thing as personal space! I always hated going into non-upscale stores because the customer service was always terrible. When I go to Watson’s, and it takes forever for me to find something, I always have to ask around. The service people are always rude and look at you like you’re an idiot when you ask them where something is. They’re not really helpful either—when I ask where something is, they make no eye contact whatsoever and just point in the general direction. When you ask again, they do the same thing. Oh, but sometimes, customer service is just too much! I hated it when people would follow me around in stores, suggesting which clothes would look good on me. Again, personal space issues. And the staring? Yes, I'm foreign! Stop staring at me! It wasn't as bad for me as it was for my friends who actually look foreign, but whenever I would speak in Chinese, the natives could tell I wasn't from around there.

I won’t miss being pick-pocketed. That was the worst! Being in a crowded place like Qi Pu Lu seemed exciting and fun the first two times, but it just got draining after that. But, I learned my lesson with that fiasco— don’t take all your things out with you when you’re going to someplace like that, especially in Asia. Going through with reporting my stolen passport, credit cards, etc… and having to replace my passport as well as my visa was way too much of a hassle. I never want to have to go through that again! But hey, at least now, I know the Shanghai metro system very well! I even had a bit of trouble getting through customs back in the States, but they let me through after questioning me for a while.

Shanghai

I will definitely miss Shanghai, the city. It sucks that I won't be able to hop on the metro and within half an hour's time, I'll be on the other side of the city (Pudong), looking at the skyline. I will miss the street food that comforts our stomach when we're in desperate need of something to fill our stomachs at 12 AM in the morning. I will miss my Chinese teacher, and the IES staff who worked so hard to accommodate our needs. I will miss walking around in the city (because back at home, no one walks anymore... we're too reliant on cars!) and seeing strange sights like people getting into fist-fights or children peeing on the streets. I've had a great experience abroad, and despite some hiccups during my trip, I will never, ever regret going to China! In the end, it's about the memories that I made... and oh boy, have I made memories! =) These memories can only be captured through pictures--and lots of them!


Great view and great friends


Watching Lucho and Taylor's soccer match against each other


Happy birthday, Michele!


Eli and I at the Thanksgiving dinner


Chinese 401 girls <3


The whole IES crew + parents at the Thanksgiving dinner


Eating dinner and drinking at Yu Hai's house... and watching him whistle! That man can carry a tune pretty well


A group of us with our homestay girls, Jojo and Summer


Us inside the Jin Mao tower


Happy birthday, Joe!! We love you!


Laverne, Jess, me, Mariko and Saitavius at Bon Bon


Jen, Laverne, Saitavius, Lisa and I at the Christmas party


Phil and Abe at the Christmas party in the IES office


Laverne, Saitavius, Jen and Hope at the IES Christmas party


Hope, Wendy, Sarah, Laverne, me and Jen before a night out


The girls at Jean-something's for dinner


We were lucky enough to be escorted by these handsome men =)


In front of the Christmas tree at the restaurant


Eli and I in front of the Bund


Girls at the Korean bar, celebrating Abe's 22nd!


Happy birthday, buddy!


Jess, Michele, me, Mariko and Laverne at the graduation dinner


Me, Jess and Cao Laoshi at the graduation dinner (isn't our teacher beautiful??)


Matt, Phil, Eli and Joe making a thank-you speech


The girls saying good-bye to Matty as he departs for Mumbai =(. You can probably tell that we'd been crying (not just for Matt, but for everyone who left that day)


Scott, Wendy, Laverne and Derek at Hard Rock Cafe... our last dinner together in Shanghai =(


Hope, Taylor, me and Scott at Hard Rock


Scott, Laverne, Derek and I at the Pudong airport


These guys went to Hong Kong and Macao for three days, while Laverne and I went home


Laverne and I at the airport... this was the last picture I took in Shanghai =(

I will always remember Shanghai, and I look forward to attending the 2010 Expo in two years (just about)! Thanks for the great memories, guys... I love you all!