Hello from Shanghai

Ni hao (hello),

I’m now at Shanghai University in my new dorm room. I apologize for the late response, but I just got my internet connected two days ago. Things are going great. The accommodations at the university are nice. My room is very basic with a cabinet, desk, and a bed. I have two other roommates who have similar layouts. We share a common bathroom complete with a shower, two sinks, and a toilet. My roommates are very nice. They are from Columbia and Bangladesh. Both live with their girlfriend/wife, the apartment is busy between the five of us. The room has AC, but rarely works. It’s been hard getting use to the humid air. The worst part is mandatory service requirements for Chinese students. The university has drills starting at 6am and ending late into the night. Drills take place throughout the campus, so getting to sleep has been a challenge. I have included pictures from my dorm room above.

Shanghai University is very impressive. Walking the campus alone takes almost two hours. Running water and gardens are found throughout the campus. Most notably are the library and a fountain nearby (I will include them in later posts). All the international students I’ve met are very nice. Most of them speak two or three different languages. English is the most common. We have spent the last week discovering the university and downtown Shanghai. Monday we decided to head into the city on the public transit system to a local market. Transportation around the city is packed from the subway to the bus. The streets are overrun with natives, tourists, and salesman. The population in the city makes it difficult to appreciate the size. Even while downtown it was hard to see the skyline in part because the endless high-rise living areas. The majority of the haze in the pictures is a product of pollution. The local market was full of cheap goods from around the world. Shirts, purses, and watches are the common theme throughout the market. Natives are always trying to sell you something. While walking down the street we were stopped by two Chinese men who attempted to escort us to their shop. Although politely telling them no thank you they proceeded to follow us throughout the city! The streets are crowded with bicycles and motorized scooters. In fact if you’re not paying attention you could easily be ran over or pushed to one side. I enjoyed my first day in the city. I learned a lot about modern cities in China.

Classes will start on Monday. I’m enrolled in the basic Chinese language program. The last few days have been administrative. Monday was registration, Tuesday was a placement exam, and today was a medical exam. The medical exam was very interesting. After paying for the services we were required to have a basic physical, but provided in a mobile vehicle. A Chinese bus was equipped with an x-ray machine, EKG, and a blood pressure machine. The experience was very enlightening and downright creepy at the same time.

All is well and I look forward to starting class in a few days. Very few people in the city and the university speak English. The other international students and I get around in groups. A few of them have taken several years of Mandarin classes, which has helped getting around the city. They have also took us to authentic Chinese restaurants. The food is good, but very different from the US. The final picture on the left is from the South Korean airport.

Hope all is well!

Zai jian (goodbye),
Travis