November 8, 2011

 

Shanghai:

 

Yesterday we arrived in Shanghai. In the morning, Eric, Robin, and I went out to walk around the city and explore. We honestly saw nothing that seemed to strike our interest. We walked for over an hour, and were somewhat confused as to the lack of even things to see. We ended up taking a taxi back to the ship, and had lunch. We then found out from the field office that the entire downtown area was the opposite direction of where we were walking; I was still somewhat skeptical. Kyla called me when she got back from her trip around 2 or 3, and we decided to go out together. We had to wait for her passport to be processed by the Chinese officials, and then headed out. We took a taxi to Old Town, which I fell in love with. The area was amazing; it was almost like the markets in Marrakech but with less people. Old Town was intermixed with old and new shops; one corner had a Dairy Queen and Starbucks, while the opposite side of the street had Chinese street food and stalls. Kyla and I did some bargaining, and then headed to find some sesame balls, which I have absolutely become addicted to. We went to so many different food stalls asking about sesame balls, and showing the Chinese characters for them, that we had gotten from a woman at the tourist kiosques, but no one seemed to have them. Finally, we came upon something like a Chinese fast food court. You were supposed to grab a tray, and go from food place to food place and just put the plates on the tray until the checkout line. Again, we searched endlessly for sesame balls but to no avail. Kyla asked a random table of Chinese if they spoke English, and to our luck, one of the women did. We told her we were looking for sweet sesame balls, and she led us through the entire line of food until the very last stall, where we found them! They were well worth the search! We also grabbed some type of teriyaki rice and pork dumplings. We sat down with our food, and noticed that everyone seemed to have dumplings that had a straw in them. Slightly confused, we decided to try those as well. Kyla went and got us two; when in Rome. We had thought that maybe there was tea inside them, but to our surprise it was actually soup. I enjoyed both the soup and the dumpling, and Kyla gave me hers because she wasn’t a big fan of them. We then took a taxi to another part of Shanghai, which was definitely the European tourist area. Everything was extremely expensive, and there were numerous French boutiques and cafés everywhere. I am actually really surprised at the extent of the French influence in Asia. I wasn’t aware that there were so many French stores and restaurants in China and Japan. We browsed through a massive Apple store too, where I gazed longingly at the Macs. I have decided to make the switch from PC to Mac soon, so I am hoping I don’t regret it. Anyway, after the Mac store we decided to head back to the ship. We took a taxi back, and the waterfront alongside the ship was absolutely gorgeous so we tried to tell the taxi to pull over. After a few minutes, he finally understood what we were trying to convey. Laughing, he pulled the taxi over and said good night to us. We walked along the waterfront snapping pictures of downtown Shanghai. Each night they do a light show in Shanghai, so the buildings were lit up and colorful. Passing by us were so many fashionable people; everyone seemed dressed to impress. We came to a neon flashing bridge, where I told Kyla to take a picture of me. She decided that her camera wasn’t focused enough, so I stood posing by the bridge for such a long time, that a crowd had managed to gather around me. A group of younger Arabic guys had gathered, and I could make out a little of what they were saying. They kept motioning towards me, and finally one of them came over and asked if they could each have a picture with me, in broken English. I said yes, and one by one they each took a picture with me. When they were walking away, I said, “Shukron jazeelan” and they looked at me in shock. I guess they didn’t know that I could speak a little Arabic. Stricken, they almost ran away because they had probably guessed that I knew they were talking about me long before they asked to get a picture. It was too funny :] Finally, Kyla and I made it back to the ship and turned in for the night.

 

Day #2 in Shanghai

 

On Day 2 I went to Fudan University with Annie, Wiliama, and a few others to give a presentation about Semester at Sea. We took taxis to the uni which was about a half hour away. When we arrived, I was shocked at how tall the buildings were. Fudan is one of the most prestigious universities in China, and perhaps Asia if I am not mistaken. It is equivalent to what we know as an Ivy League prestige. The campus was beautiful; in between the majestic towering buildings were green square gardens and palm trees, as well as Chinese statues of what I am sure were prominent and well-known leaders. We were taken to the 15^th floor of one of the buildings, where we were to have our meeting. The floor doubled as both a restaurant and a space for meetings. We were led into a spacious meeting room with comfy chairs and a dark mahogany table. Slowly, Chinese students started to trickle in, and we were happy to find that many of the students were already applied and coming on the spring voyage. We were able to order drinks on the house, and I went straight for the chocolate milkshake. We led a presentation that started with a promotional video that was filled with all the things that you can do with Semester at Sea. At the end of the movie, there were video clips of students saying good-bye to one another at their debarkation port. I realized that we would be doing that in just one month.. This semester truly has flown by! I can’t believe that we only have a few more countries left; it is totally unreal. I was actually tearing up by the time the lights were turned back on :P C’est la vie. The presentation went well, with each of our administrative staff members giving a little speech, and then answering questions. When they were talking about their jobs, I was actually a little inspired to work with Semester at Sea when I graduate. I think that I would love a job with SAS honestly.

 

 

November 11, 2011

 

Today we arrived in Kobe, Japan. I woke up for the sunrise around 6:15 in the morning, but unfortunately it was rainy and cloudy. After the sunrise, I went and worked out at the gym until breakfast at 8:00am. I then went out into the city with Lizzy, Eva, and Caroline. We took the subway from Kobe to Simmoniya where we got off and tried to find a place that had free Wi-Fi, but were not successful. Even Starbucks required you to purchase internet time. We ended up at an internet café called Litz where we each got our own cubicle. It was the strangest thing; each cubicle was somewhat elevated, and there was a cushion in each compartment with a very nice desktop. We went on the internet for one hour, and then headed out and went window-shopping. We had McDonald’s for lunch which was AMAZING. I tried a Teriyaki McBurger, which is basically what it sounds like, as well as some French fries. After, we went shopping at a massive mall called SOGO that had streets upon streets of shops. Lizzy got her and me a necklace; me an anchor necklace and her a leaf necklace. We walked around for a long time, and finally ended up getting dinner at a place called Mo’s Burgers. After Mo’s, we headed back to the ship and turned in for the night.