Belated First Day Impression

[Note: A lot of this was written during that day so some impressions have been changed and I've tried my best to note things that have changed]

I got in on Tuesday at 8 in the morning since my plane got delayed in Finland (le sigh). But I didn’t have anywhere to be. It was pretty quick to get through immigration and customs here. Also, a bunch of Chinese hotel/taxi drivers will attack you with questions once you leave customs. They’ll ask things like “你去哪里？ 你要出租车吗？你要sim 卡吗？” I politely declined and just waited for about 1.5 hours for my friend (and now roommate!) Eddie to arrive. And not going to lie, I couldn’t get access to any of the free WiFi that people tell me is everywhere. Maybe it’s cause I didn’t have a simcard…Anyways, if you’re thinking about arriving in China and using airport WiFi to call home or message people, don’t count on it being easy.

After Eddie arrive, we were on our way to the hotel. Both of us combined, they charged us 500CNY to get from Pudong  airport to our hotel in Hongkou district. It was about an hour away from the airport so I guess it was worth it. Our hotel was a lot nicer than I thought it would be, especially for the price. I booked it for $34USD a couple days before we left. It’s called New Asia Hotel ( 新亚大陆管).  Overall, it was a cool place where you had to use your access card to use the electricity in the room (is that the norm in Chinese hotels because well….that’s awesome?).  The only thing that bugged me about the hotel was that there was a window in the bathroom by the shower that showed to the room. There were shades/curtains in the room but not in the shower. I don’t know why it bugs me but it was a room with double beds. In what world do you need to see into the shower if you’re sleeping in separate beds? It’s a minor detail……

We ventured out into Shanghai because we were hungry and well… we’re in China! Family Mart became quite familiar to us because it’s like everywhere. It’s a little convenience store (it’s been extremely useful for us, from bottled water to sandwiches to soap and shampoo).  We wanted to go to the Bund for food but our adventure did not really end up there. Not to mention not knowing the Bund in Chinese was a huge mistake since we could never ask for directions fully. It was always, “Bund 在哪里?” or”怎么去Bund,” or my favorite “怎么去那边.” ... we ended up going to a Chinese restaurant. When we walked in, we quickly realized we couldn’t read the entire menu. Eddie, with his (I’m growing to like) witty humor, told me “Let’s just stand here for a few minutes and pretend we don’t want anything and leave.” That’s not what we did and I don’t recommend it if that happens to you either! Eddie ended up getting a translated menu from the cashier and we were able to order our first Chinese meal! And I found out that restaurants don’t accept foreign cards [Mine wasn't a credit card, boo]….. We got fried rice and 小笼包(xiao long bao); everyone always says how good xiao long bao is in Shanghai so I was really excited to have that as my first Chinese meal! It's pretty good but since I've been having it quite a bit while here, it's becoming normal (though still good) food.

After our meal, we ended up going back to the hotel to figure out how to get to the Bund [technically we were in the Bund area but we weren't at the places we wanted to be] and planned our evening plans but unfortunately, it fell through once we both fell asleep.  It was fun but we were literally dying from the heat and humidity. I’m pretty sure I’m 3-4 shades darker than I was before I left the room…. So sleep was good, even if we didn’t get to enjoy the Shanghai night life on our first day. Eddie also coined YOCO (if you’re familiar with YOLO, you’ll pick up on it right away). You only go to China once! That’s pretty much that sums up our adventure of the first day. 

That first day walk was so tiring, but I've been walking around in China everywhere! Especially since we go on a lot of sightseeing adventures. Remember to bring them good shoes because flip flops aren't too comfy and shoes are about the same price here.

Signing off y'all~

Thomas

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First Update

Hey Everyone,

I've been in China for over a week now! Time seems to fly by pretty fast. All in all, orientation week was pretty much awesome. I learned a lot of things about China and met some pretty awesome people. My Chinese has also been improving bit by bit. I definitely have to update this on the weekend or something. I'll at least tell you all about my classes right now though!

I'm taking the Intensive Chinese track with Alliance. I was pretty nervous about it since...well, it sounds pretty scary. There are actually quite a lot of students from all over the US here though. So we took a placement test last Friday to determine what level would be best for us. There was a written part and an oral part. The written part has a bunch of parts like any Chinese test I've had, such as listening, grammar, fill in the blanks, composition, etc. I didn't do too well on that. It was definitely difficult because I would understand all but one or two characters in a sentence and I would have to skip it or hope I was using it right. The oral part was....Well, I'm a bit nervous with my speaking part since I'm not too good at speaking. So it was a bit difficult. They get you to talk in Chinese about different things like yourself and your classes.

Since I've had four semesters of Chinese, I was correctly (wishful thinking?) placed into the 300 level. Although I know some people who studied for awhile and got placed differently. It really depends on how your school's Chinese program is. And the teachers definitely make a conscious effort to put you into the right class. I've seen people move around quite a bit the past couple days.

For classes in general, they're a bit....hard? I don't know what they would be otherwise. We start at 9 in the morning Monday through Friday. There's a dictation part where we have to write the characters for what we studied for that day. Then we begin class. The classes are about an hour each. So we have grammar class, then drill 1 (which basically drills us on everything we learned in grammar class). Then there's drill 2 class where another laoshi takes over and we usually have a topic to talk about or go over. It's still about the same things as the first classes, just more independent speaking. Then we break for lunch! (We usually all go out together and grab food somewhere or go to a restaurant). Or we might have Chinese language table where we have food together with some teachers and chat in Chinese.

After lunch, we start the Intensive Chinese class with our third teacher. It's a whole different book with it's own vocabulary. There's a lot of emphasis on the oral part (as is the first part but moreso in the second part).    But we definitely need to know all the characters and we study all that on our own time. Depending on the schedule we might have a one on one with a teacher after everything. So far, it's kind of a free-for-all type of deal where you can talk about anything. It gets you use to talking with Chinese people. And the teacher also corrects you so you know what's up and what to pay attention to when you're outside a class setting.

Overall, the classes aren't too bad. It's actually pretty nice to have small classes. The teachers will correct you immediately if you say something wrong or if your tones are struggling.....It's a bit hard to get use to still but it really helps. We're all expected to speak in Chinese like all the time. It's so hard especially when you don't know how to say/describe something. And since we have a Chinese roommate, they speak Chinese with us too and it helps because they're just students and don' have that teacher relationship with us. But the teachers here are awesome too and we can talk with them and text them and everything.

After classes, I've had to spend a lot of time doing homework... It's way more intense than any Chinese class I've taken. It usually takes me a good while just to finish a few worksheets, read things, and study all the characters. It gets pretty tiring between studying, sleeping and attending class. Doesn't seem like we'll have too much free time during the weekdays. I feel like I'm being lazy already just by writing this blog post and not studying more. Ah~

Anyways, ask me any questions! I'm sure I missed out on the class life somewhere~
Thomas

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I'm half way there!

What's up everyone. I arrived in Helsinki, Finland not to long ago. It's about 9 in the morning here and it's lovely, although a bit chilly. Yes, I know....I'm traveling the opposite way most people do when they go to Asia but hey, I saved a couple hundred bucks that way. Plus, I get to experience yet another culture! From Chicago, IL to Helsinki, Finland, it took about 9 hours (a bit less?). It's my first time flying by myself and oh boy, I've been so nervous. From when I started out and got dropped off at the airport, I had no clue what I was doing. I'm so glad I made it this far. Although there have been embarrassing moments; I get into the wrong lines/places a lot. The flight itself was nice. The sunrise above the clouds is definitely a sight to see. Flying through the clouds too, is gorgeous because of all the different colors and light refracting. I've flown internationally quite a few times already but as a grown up all by myself, I have a different appreciation for it.

My advice for planes! Wear comfortable clothing, especially if the flight is long. I'm wearing pretty loose jeans and it's still unbearable. I should have just worn sweats but my conscious wouldn't let me do it. Try to pick some good seats. The aisle seats are always nice in my opinion, especially if you don't like having to reach over people and asking them to wake up so you can go to the lavatory. I got a window seat and it was pretty chill watching the entire take-off and landing. Flying isn't so scary, but if you're nervous definitely don't go for the window seat. Could be of better use for someone who actually wants it. All in all, just don't worry about flying. Think happy thoughts or else you'll be freaking out the entire time....LIKE REALLY. And maybe have something to do. I took Finnair so there wasn't much besides a small TV in the middle rows, and I was in the window seat of the left side. My flight was just nappy time. If you take the nicer seats (more expensive) or even nicer airlines (cough, Korea or Japan), you get your own screen and gaming set and everything. Oh how I wanted that. The plane food wasn't too bad for Finnair. But let's be honest, plane food is just blah. Also, don't bring blankets. Some lady brought a giant quilt and I'm sure that was over-kill. Most, if not all, airlines (at least the ones I've been on) provide a neat little blanket. Mmm, that's all the advice I can think of.

For my flight over to China, I'm just going to look over my Chinese text books and cram like crazy. I'm a bit nervous. I'll update you all on how my arrival goes! Probably will....I'll be in the airport at Shanghai for awhile since I'll want to wait for my friend, Eddie's (he's also doing the Chinese Intensive Language Program) flight to come in from Korea. Hopefully we'll have some awesome adventures arriving a day earlier but I'm done for sleeping if not....My back and legs are killing me from sleeping in those plane seats.

How my body feels when I sleep in cars and planes...or pretty much anything that's not a nice bed.

Signing off!
-Thomas

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Tomorrow's the big day

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain." - Dune by Frank Herbert

So it's a Saturday night and my flight is tomorrow. It just feels really surreal to be traveling to a different country all by myself. The rest of the packing was....well, my mom decided she would repack for me so that was interesting. But she got me smaller luggages so I guess that's a win. I'm a bit nervous because I know I'm one of those people that forget something and remember at the last minute. Le sigh. I'm a lot of "one of those people" honestly! My brother is graduating tomorrow from his MBA program and it's disappointing to miss it but I would have planned to leave later if I could. Dearest mother of mine is still convinced something bad is going to happen to me because I'm just a little kid who doesn't know anything. Parents...! Although I do enjoy all of my favorite foods that she's cooking. In between the yelling and warning of kidnappers, scammers and drug dealers, I know it's all because she cares. Stressful but caring. I'm going to miss my family and friends. Nervousness, anxiety, and fear aside, this is going to be one of the best summers of my life. I can tell.

This is not how I will be on the plane but Bridesmaids makes me laugh and I need it. 

I might update at some airport but if not, see you in China blog buddies!
-Thomas

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Packing [Part One]

Today was laundry day so I could figure out what I should pack for next week. My mom got called into work so I was left to pack by myself, unlike what I had mentioned in my previous post. Packing is really stressful unless you're one of those people that...well....pack only the bare necessities. If you've seen Up In The Air with George Clooney, you know what I'm talking about. Anyways, after two hours of struggling, I managed to pack my carry on with all the clothes! Check it out.

Packed my closet into my carry on. Kudos to me.

To say that's my entire closet is honestly a blatant lie. Everyone usually has clothes they will wear and don't want people to see them in or clothes that are just too nice to wear for just any occasion. These are the clothes that fall in the grey middle ground, the clothes that are decent for everyday public use and the clothes that are a little bit classier. Plus, these clothes represent my style. (And I won't be dying in them in the Shanghai summer heat, at least not entirely!) My packing advice is to roll your clothes up. I literally rolled up everything. There's 4-5 layers of rolled up clothes and I'm also packing my laptop into my carry-on (which will probably contain a lot of my documents as well, but I'm making a bunch of copies and dispersing them in my luggage in case I lose stuff.) I decided to pack light on socks because I'm sure that's easy to get there. Shoes....That's a tricky issue, especially if you have like a bagillion pairs. There, you're on your own! I'm only bringing the pair I'm wearing on the plane and it's perfect for every condition. I'll also have a pair of flip flops because, uh, hello summer in China! Hopefully the weather isn't too whack there as it is here. And don't worry, toiletries are going in one of the front zippers. My advice for toiletries to to just get the nifty travel ones. Small and inexpensive! There's bound to be plenty of that stuff in China.

I'm gonna sign off before I keep rambling. Holla~

-Thomas

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One Week Away

I'm leaving next Sunday, which is a frightening thought. It seemed quite awhile away a few days ago but I guess the one week mark usually kicks me into high gear. This week is going to be super busy. I'm going to have to spend forever packing because I'm that person that overpacks - anyone else with me? It's hard to find the right clothes to bring and then bringing backup stuff and shoes and... But honestly though, I get really lazy and end up wearing baggy T-shirts and sweats all the time. My mom is going to help me pack though - which really means she's going to pack for me as I complain why she's packing the oddest clothes. An adult is still a kid in their parents eyes, am I right? Oh well, that's an excuse (however weak) to buy some nice outfits over there.

Also, I'm struggling to figure out what to buy as a gift for my Chinese roommate. I know nothing about them and I'm sure anything I buy over here, it would be available in China as well. My mom always buys chocolates or some sort of candy that isn't available in Vietnam as a gift for family members when she (or anyone in my family) goes to Vietnam. I'm leaning towards that. Maybe make some sort of fun assorted candy gift bag? Let me know what you think or if you have comments or suggestions on this!

There is a bunch of financial stuff I have to take care of as well. Always be prepared for that because it's so hard to do any of that stuff in a foreign country. Otherwise, I'm just going to chill at home, hang out with some friends, and practice my Chinese. I'll probably try to brush up on a bunch of characters I forgot how to write and keep learning a word (or phrase) a day! You know what they say... 孰能生巧 (shu2 neng2 sheng1 qiao3). Practice makes perfect. Use this four word idiom to impress your Chinese (mandarin?) speaking friends.

You can be smooth like this if you take my advice!

-Thomas

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