SHANGHAI --- Arrival

and so ends my blog for Taiwan.
But, now, on to Shanghai -- the international capital of China:
It’s been a full day and 2 nights since my arrival in Shanghai. Other St. Olaf students (Virgina Ma, Matt Venker, and Nick) will be arriving today (and possibly Tim Knutson?) ~ Um YaYa!~
The campus here at ECNU is GORGEOUS!!!! It’s like taking a leaf out of Hangzhou’s or Suzhou’s book….(two famous Chinese cities, known for their gardens). The campus is big, I got lost at least 4 times trying to find my place of residence and then a place to eat…..albeit, I did arrive at night. The staff have been super friendly, and the maids always say hi when you walk by. My room is comfy and does have air conditioning. The weather isn’t much of a change – although, it is a little smoggier and rainy here =(
Today I’m heading out to the Yu Gardens with a friend, Ling Gu, who is also a St. Olaf student – but who will be returning to St. Olaf’s fall semester on Sept 9th or so. I’ll face Shanghai’s elaborate subway (which has at least 14 lines) in about an hour. 0___0; it’s huge compared to Taiwan.
I live on the 15th floor of my building, which is of average height for an apartment complex. I have my own TV! And the bathrooms are nice – and partially western style (they have western toilets, as compared to squat). As of yet, I do not have a roommate – but that will probably change later in the week. School starts next week, on the 9th? (I should figure that out, haha). Before then, I look forward to exploring. Already, I’m comfortable with some parts of the campus and 2 entrances. There is a huge statue of Mao Zedong at the center of the campus, which serves as a great place-marker. ECNU is well known here – a good school for many different fields of academia.
I do have internet, but quite a bit of my regular sites (including this one) is blocked. The way my room is set up, I can have either internet or power, but not both. The skype connection, for those of you who want to talk with me face to face, is not so great – as Thu, Erik, Alex, and Kelsey found out……email is best for contact. (among other things)
I’m on the north-west side of the city, and the architecture is CRAZY. It’s like taking random things from Italy, Beijing, France, Hong Kong, the US, England and shoving them in random places and random buildings ><; very confusing for the onlooker. Very confusing, BIG, and exciting.