More shady dealing! Since we bought more plane tickets, we had to wait for another guy give us the tickets in exchange for a giant wad of cash. This time, it was at the front gate of ECNU. It really does feel awkward doing the exchange, especially in broad daylight and in such a crowded area.
September 16, 2009
Life in Shanghai – The apartment at Jinduyuan
The most important thing about living in Shanghai for us NYU students is of course, our home in Shanghai. NYU in Shanghai gave us two options: on-campus dorms or off-campus apartments. I chose the off-campus option and I finally got around to taking pictures of my apartment and uploading them. So here’s a comprehensive photo tour!
09/15/2009 – Day 24 – Another day
What can I say? Today was a typical Tuesday. Not much to do when class stretches from 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM. I did learn some very interesting stuff about Shanghai in City & Environment. Marketing, on the other hand, has sort of become a pain. I’m not really enjoying it much anymore and the work load is looking pretty heavy for this class in the upcoming weeks.
Anyways, I guess I won’t be taking a 24 hour train ride from Guilin to Chengdu. That backfired on us, so we’ll be taking a flight instead. I’m not complaining about the extra costs because the plane only takes two hours, which is infinitely better than a 24 hour train ride. Not that I would have hated the train ride. Would have been quite the experience.
09/14/2009 – Day 23 – Long Hua Temple
With my sleep schedule in complete disarray, I felt absolutely terrible when I woke up. I was tired, but luckily I only had Chinese. Not so luckily, I had a test today! Like the first test, the listening was my least favorite part. I really can’t differentiate tones, initials, and finals that well.
After class, Wei wanted to visit the Long Hua Temple, so I went with him and Pulton. I finally got to take the 3 line on the Metro, which is on elevated tracks. Sure there are elevated tracks everywhere in the outer boroughs in NYC, but this didn’t feel quite the same. Maybe it was the cleaner tracks or the smoother train.
The temple was located in this really dusty area. There was a lot of construction going on nearby so the dust and the already-not-so-great-air didn’t make it very pleasant to walk around. The temple itself was very pretty and tranquil. It didn’t seem like a big tourist attraction and it was Monday afternoon, so there weren’t many people. That made for a very pleasant walk.We got sticks of incense, but I didn’t burn them since I didn’t pray. They did break in my bag later on. Is that bad luck?
09/13/2009 – Day 22 – Oversleeping
Sleeping at 5:00 AM probably isn’t the greatest idea. I slept until 3:00 PM and still didn’t want to get out of bed. I finally got up, but most of the day was already gone. I think for the first time since I got to Shanghai, I didn’t go out. I stayed in the entire day. Didn’t go out to eat, didn’t go to Carrefour, nothing. I just stayed home, tried to study and did some Jailbreaking.
I think this is my shortest daily recap so far.