"Entering the economical capital of China"

If one thing should be said about the Chinese, it is that they wish to be helpful. This is really a huge pain in the ass, excuse my French. They don't know how to say: "I don't know." Whatever you ask, weather they understand absolutely nothing of what you ask, or if they just don't know the answer, they will try to help you.

When I got out of the subway station closest to my hostel, I showed a man the map, asking which way to go. He said I should go left, then right. I thanked him, and did as he had suggested. To me this looked a little weird, but since I could not find any street signs, I just kept walking. Then I asked another person, who told me I was on the right way, so I kept walking. I was wearing way too much clothes, and the temperature here in Shanghai is higher than in Xi'an. Desperate to put my backpacks down, I did, and dug deep into my backpack to find the compass I had bought on a market in Xi'an. This was not the first time I had trusted a Chinese for directions, but I had not learned from my mistake. So with the compass I back traced a long way, then finally found my hostel.

When I got inside the room I met Matt and Magnus. A Norwegian and a German. They had both been teaching English in China for six months, and were vacationing in Shanghai. They were both staying longer in China, so Matt was going to Hong Kong to apply for a new visa. Magnus is flying home to Norway to get one. They were studying Chinese as I entered, and just a few minutes later they were heading out to meet a Chinese girl, whom was a friend of a guy they had met in southern China. I joined them, and spent all my time in Shanghai with them and their other friends from the same teaching program.

The Chinese girl, He Chen, a very funny and open girl, working part time as an English teacher, took us around town. She showed us the Fudong University, where I might study. The campus was enormous, and at the main entrance to campus there is a huge statue of Mao. The university is very famous here in China, and it has a lot of foreign students. I asked a lot of questions about studying there, and found out that the standard of living on campus is way better for international students. In the domestic dorms they are lucky, because they have air conditioning, but they live maybe 8 people cramped up in one small room. But it is still better than most other universities.

We had dinner in a local Chinese restaurant, and the food was more than spicy enough for my taste, but I need to buckle up and learn to like it now, before entering South-East Asia.

We then walked around in the French concession, an area with some French architecture remaining from the colonial times. There are loads of small, expensive stores there. I bought some beautiful tea to ship home, and some bowls.

He Chen had to go home, and we went by our hostel to drop off the newly acquired goods. Then we headed out to a bar on the main street to meet up with some more English teachers. One of them, Camilla, was from Trondheim. James is from England, Fabian and Laura from Germany, and Ellen from Holland. All great people. We stayed there for a while, before heading to a club. The club was huge, packed with people, and really nice. Everything looked new, the decoration flashy, and the sound system just way too big. The entrance was free though, that would never happen in Trondheim, not that we will ever get a club that big either.

When we went to bed, we could all hear a peeping noise in our heads, just hoping it would be gone by morning, and it was.