CHINA!

14-18, 2010

China is different from anything I’ve ever experienced- the people, their culture, the food, the traffic. I have travelled before, but never without the ability to communicate or at least read signs. Yet, some things are the same,probably as a result of globalization, like the many “American” restaurants including Pizza Hut, Dunkin Donuts, KFC, Starbucks, Coldstone Creamery and dozens of others.

When I stepped off the plane into China for the first time, the first thing I noticed was the lack of normal letters of the alphabet and their replacement,symbols that I didn’t even begin to try to define with my dictionary. One of the next things that stuck out to me was the cleanliness of the airport and the streets. I took a taxi from the airport to my hotel, the only Marriot in Shanghai. I think the taxi company assumed I was rich because of how nice the hotel is, and I ended up paying 300 RMB for the tax ride when I came to find out I shouldn’t have paid half as much. I concluded that Chinese are like most other people I’ve ran into in foreign countries-they’ll tell a tourist anything they want to hear to make more money.

I checked into the high-end, skyscraper hotel with no problems, thankful for my Dad’s hotel points. I ran a few miles on a treadmill overlooking the city and noticed how dreary and smoggy Shanghai is. I met my friend Dan in the lobby of the hotel at 3:00 p.m. and we spent the next few hours walking the streets of Shanghai. Some of the things he told me helped to confirm my preconceived notions and first impressions: The city is so clean, especially considering it’s one of the largest cities inthe world, second to Mexico City I believe. Dan informed me of how much they were cleaning up the country to present themselves to visitors of the World Expo. There were street sweepers with huge grass and twig brooms everywhere, bringing back memories of playing Roller-Coaster Tycoon as a kid and purchasing“street sweepers.” Of course I also noticed the ridiculous driving. Dan told me how much the people rely on public transportation, especially considering the high fees placed on owning and operating a vehicle in Shanghai.

I quickly observed the smog that created a haze over the entire city and felt my asthma flare up. Dan told me he hadn’t seen the sun since he moved to Shanghai, which broke my heart for the millions of Shanghai residents. Of course I noticed how big the city is as people seemed to be everywhere, emerging like ants out of the cracks of the sidewalks. The smells are awful. The Tofu smells exactly like if someone were to not clean their fish tank for two years and then throw it in a dumpster. The smell that would emerge would remind me exactly of “stinky tofu,” a Chinese staple. While I appeared in awe of Shanghai, Dan seemed sad he was leaving in only a couple days.

We took it easy the first day because I was exhausted from the 12hr. time difference and extreme jet lag. The following day, Saturday, Dan and his friend Ryan and I spent the day wandering around the city, exploring by foot and subway. We headed first to a Chinese market known for their copycat products, including fake Ugg boots, Converse All-Stars, Northface jackets, and hundreds of other products appearing almost exactly the same as their originals. We walked around Yu Garden and into “Old Town” China. I loved seeing Old Town because it was literally like I expected all of China to be, with the red and blackbuildings, curvy architecture and all. We also spent some time in one University Dan and his friend had stayed for a few weeks. One of the highlights of the day for me was our time spent in a Chinese supermarket where we found milk flavored Cheetos and green tea flavored everything. Afterward, Dan, Ryan and I went out for traditional China tea and we sampled a variety of different teas and sat in a booth in a teahouse, obviously not a place for tourists, since it took us nearly 15 minutes to communicate what we wanted to order.

The entire time we were sightseeing, I never felt like I was in danger like I sometimes have in other countries, even in Spain. It never felt as though I was going to get pick-pocketed or kidnapped. The day I had to meet my group I accidentally mixed up the location (typical Sarah) and ended up having to get directions in very broken English. With all of the people wanting so badly to help me even though we didn’t speak the same language, I was pointed in the right direction and able to find my way to the subway and make the hour long trip to the correct location, which was conveniently the same University Dan was staying at.

After getting a tour of the campus from Dan and a few of his Chinese friends, I met the group of students I’ll be studying with during these next few days. We went out for dinner and had a brief orientation; I was just glad I had 16 others to speak English with!

These past two days we’ve had various lectures and talks given by the Shanghai Jiatong University Dean, Purdue University Professor, Dr. Stacey Connaughton and PU Dean of Communication, Howard Sypher. We also had the opportunity to meet University students and get to know them and their ways of life a bit. We also did some sightseeing, but this post is becoming a book so it looks like I’ll have to post again soon!