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ravenandawritingdesk — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 05:16:40 +0000

Okay,

So I was able to use a proxy to get on here and check things out… I figured out how to use this, so hopefully I’ll be able to post more blogs about my experiences.

I can get on facebook, but unfortunately I cannot comment or see messages because there’s no javascript on the proxy I am able to use.

I am on skype pretty much every week day between 6-7:30pm and again at Midnight – 1am your time. It’s all working good and fine.

Yesterday we went to the Yuyuan Garden and went shopping, then walked up to the bund. Oh man, was that a walk. Ridiculous. I got some pretty pictures- I’m going to see if I can get them onto the computer later, maybe post some with my blogs.

Alright, love you all!

美甘

Figured it out!

ravenandawritingdesk — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 05:12:53 +0000

China Blog
7/2-7/3
你好！
The airport was fairly uneventful, I got on the plane first because of the elite access pass that Eddie got me. When I sat down this boy sat next to me. He was immediately very polite and talkative, I was worried he was going to be too talkative, but he seemed to be politely interested. He was Chinese, but very fluent in English. He was studying business at a lot of foreign universities, he said the last one he studied at before NYU was Amsterdam. I don’t know how long he’d been at NYU though, because he was asking a lot about Newark versus other New York airports. But it wasn’t like 10 minutes before I passed out, and I woke up forty minutes later at take off. Then I was out again till around 2 o’clock.
I watched Shutter Island, Fargo, and Alice in Wonderland, along with two episodes of the office, and I tried to sleep the rest of the time, even though I told myself I’d study. Fargo was my favorite, but Shutter Island was very good too. It was the most interesting, and probably one of my favorite movies, despite it being a little gross.
Who ever said this was a three star hotel has obviously never been to a three star hotel in the states. Because there’s definitely a few differences. Maybe they got yí and san mixed up. (the Mandarin words for 1 &3). They also stuck us with randomized roommates. (which they said they’ll fix in a few days when more of the students from the previous semester check out) Before getting to my room, I heard like four horror stories of slobs living in the room. One boy, I think it might’ve been Tenzing said he went into his room and there was a large stain in the middle of his bed. And it was still wet. Another kid talked about rice pots strewn across the room like someone was making it for money. Because they couldn’t possibly consume that much rice.
This was probably a blessing in disguise because I talked to and roomed with this girl named Aya. She said she was returning to Japan in the morning, so I believe that she’s Japanese, but also fluent in Chinese. Not so much English. She was super-polite and said, “oh. very sad. I leave for Japan tomorrow.” We tried communicating for a bit before she went back to blow drying her hair and I tried to study for a bit, I invited her out for dinner but she said she already ate. I’m not sure if I invited her right, or if I was too vague about it. When I got back from eating she wasn’t there for a bit, but she came back briefly to get a few things, and ask if I wanted to watch the World cup with her. I felt like her friend looked angry for inviting me, so I politely declined. So I studied and went to bed. Aya left at like 5am, I think I heard her moving around a bit and I checked the time. When I got up at 6:30 to write this blog, (By the way- no internet. So this will be posted when I’m supposed to get the internet on Monday even though it’s Sunday morning – Saturday night by your standards) Anyways- she left me a little note that said “Bye Bye – Aya” With a little heart on it. She left a lot of her hygiene products behind. I might steal her face-wash… because I forgot mine. And her perfume… because it smells good. My bed is lumpy and so hard I think I could bounce a basket ball on it.
Anywho, last little notes before I forget the important things. The campus isn’t as big as it looked online, everything is more condensed. It’s still pretty nice on the outside. Inside, not so much. But I can see the back of the bund from my window, so that’s pretty cool. Sara’s dad bought me a transit pass, so I think after school this week we’re going to go in a group to the city center or down to the bund.

Things I’ve learned already.
- There is American stations here, but only like 3. There was news, some discovery-esque channel, and then MTV. I watched the 2010 MTV movie awards last night instead of the world cup. (I think I saw that like two months ago in the States) Korea is a big source of entertainment for them, because like five out of the six music videos I watched were in Korean. Two of them were wearing gem studded Yankee caps.
- It seems that your key card controls the power to your room. There’s a slot next to the switches (Which don’t really seem to work all the time) that you stick your room key into, and press down and everything turns on in your room. I didn’t realize this and putzed around for 20 minutes when Aya left and I wondered what would happen if I took the card that was already in there out.
- Wash everything before you put it in your mouth. I already heard tap water isn’t okay, but if you go out to eat, you get a pan and you should wash the dishes you get before you eat off them. We didn’t, but apparently it’s not too sanitary. No forks anywhere.
- Shanghai, the bad neighborhoods that we drove through to get here, are bad. We saw six naked people chillin’ on the sidewalk from the bus window. Everything else is like a gigantic Chinatown.
- I’m 12 hours a head of you, not behind. I got confused when I called home last night and I thought it was Sunday morning, but it was Saturday morning.
- I’ve seen three large advertisements, only featuring Jackie Chan. They loves them their Jackie.
- It’s almost always a little foggy because of the smog. I probably won’t see a clear blue sky while I’m here. Also, a lot of Shanghai just smells like feet. I’m getting used to it, but overall everything is a little odorous.

So no news on skype yet, because no news on internet yet. Maybe when I get this up and running I’ll try to get on. Also, someone mentioned I might be able to get around the blocks to go on facebook. So I’ll see.

爱，
美甘

Leaving for China!

ravenandawritingdesk — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 06:32:19 +0000

“Have you guessed the riddle yet?” the Hatter said, turning to Alice again.
“No, I give it up,” Alice replied. “What’s the answer?”
“I haven’t the slightest idea,” said the Hatter.
“Nor I,” said the March Hare.
Alice sighed wearily. “I think you might do something better with the time,” she said, “than wasting it in asking riddles that have no answers.”

So that’s where my little quote and domain name came from.

It’s 2:30 in the morning, and I’m very tired. I’m just glad to have this up before I go in 3.5 hours. Good night, Hopefully next time I’ll write will be in Shanghai!

Meghan's Blog

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Figured it out!

Leaving for China!