Sooooo, today was Joanna’s birthday!!! Hahah what are the odds, right? Well, first off, we celebrated by going to class. hahaha exciting, I know. Gladly, we didn’t binge eat in the morning like we did yesterday. We just got a little breakfast from the convenient store (a small bread) and went to class. Class was sort of boring today…I felt really bad, because I was tired and I couldn’t fully pay attention. Morning session was about China’s political movements since 1949. Goodness, there were a lot. This lecture wasn’t really that interesting to me…although it was good to learn about the different major movements in the past. It’s interesting to know that Chinese political movements are so much different than American political movements, because Chinese political movements aren’t really voluntary. American political movements tend to be a voluntary expression of a group’s opinions on an issue…but Chinese political movements are not so voluntary, and started by the party-state. That was interesting to note. But the professor that gave us this lecture sort of didn’t speak English very well..or had a very heavy accent, so it was hard to understand him and I was too tired to try really hard.
After morning session, we went to the Fudan cafeteria for the first time and had the campus food. It was pretty good…a lot better than OVT. But that might be just because it was legit Chinese food, and I like Chinese food. I had some tofu with gravy and tomato w/ egg. It was pretttty good. Anyways, after that, a grad student who is an assistant to our class (so like a TA I guess) showed us around Fudan campus. It’s a HUGE campus, though, and we were mighty sweaty after just 10 minutes of walking, so we decided to go back. The only thing we saw was a giant statue of Mao and some buildings. It looked like any other college campus though, apart from the Mao statue. Anyways, me and Kelly went to get Joanna a birthday cake (just like she did for me yesterday) and surprised her w/ it today after lunch. Hahaha it was like déjà vu.
For afternoon session, our professor reminded me a bit of Winnie the Pooh. His voice sounded like Winnie the Pooh’s and he tended to giggle a lot like Winnie the Pooh. But I was the only one that thought so. I asked Joanna and Geneva afterwards, and they both thought I was crazy. Anyways, the professor (Professor Pan Tianshu) lectured about the urban socioeconomic changes in Shanghai. Again, not too interesting…but his English was a lot better so I could understand him. Not that it helped…I kind of stopped listening after a while.
After class, we went to the Bund! We were supposed to do that a couple days ago, but it got rained out. So we went today. The whole area is under MASSIVE construction though, so it wasn’t a lot to look at. Dan said there is a boardwalk-type area that you can walk on to walk along the river, but we couldn’t even get to that because the whole thing was blocked off for construction. Very sad L but it’s okay, that just means I have to come back again to see it. But anyways, we walked around the Bund and saw the very old westernized buildings, but almost everything was under construction or had piles of trash around it. Then we walked along Nanjing Rd, and went to People’s Square, which is all full of stores and malls and such a consumerist area. So yeah, that was pretty cool. We went to a little café there that had fruit drinks and shaved ice and stuff like that…me and Christine shared a mango & watermelon shaved ice w/ soga (little tapioca balls). It was SOOOooo good! It was very refreshing, because outside was SO HOT AND HUMID. But yeah, that was very yummy. Afterwards, everyone went shopping and I looked around a little, but I got really tired. I don’t know why I keep getting so tired… I think everyone else is really tired too, but they say it’s not because of jetlag. Geneva and Michelle, who have been here on vacation for a few weeks before starting this program, say it’s probably not jetlag, it’s just the humidity and the fact that we’re not used to walking around so much. Everyday we walk around for like 3 or 4 hours straight in the humidity, so the combination of it probably drains us. I think it’s also the fact that we sit in class for so long..and I just get really tired in class too. But anyways. Me and Geneva were really tired while the others were shopping, so we decided to take a cab back to the hotel. When we got back, we went to grab some fast food at a fast food restaurant across the street from our hotel (we each got a chicken sandwich and a milk tea). It was pretty good…but I don’t really like fast food, so it was whatever. Anyways, I took a shower because I was SO DISGUSTING and SWEATY, and now I’m here writing this blog.
Facebook has been blocked by the Chinese govt because some riots broke out in Western China, so I can’t even go on my facebook to keep in touch with my friends. I got about a million birthday wishes from them, and I really wanted to go on and thank them, but I can’t. I emailed my sister to ask her to do it for me though…hopefully she will. So far, every site that I usually use is blocked except for gmail. Oh man, if Gmail were blocked, I think I’d die. I desperately need gmail. The second site I need is facebook. Then youtube. And my blog site. BUT, all of those have been blocked. It’s so strange being in a country where they can just do that…I guess I’ve really been taking advantage of my freedom in America. It never occurred to me that a country could just block sites from EVERYONE. Geneva told me that in some places the internet has just completely shut down altogether. It’s so foreign to me that the govt can just DO that. I mean, I know they have the power to, but it just never occurred to me that they could and it would go unchallenged. I guess in the US, we have checks and balances, so even if like the President wanted to do it, Congress would definitely veto it and not let it happen. But here in China, the govt does whatever they want. There’s no checks or balances, and the people’s freedom isn’t ensured by a Constitution. I’m quite glad I live in the US, where I have rights like that and my rights are protected.
So, I still miss home a lot. I’m constantly counting the days until I get to go back home…but I know that I can’t. I feel like I’ll gain so much by being here, I can’t wimp out now. I do miss home SO MUCH, but I owe it to myself to stay. I’m in this constant state of weighing the pros and cons, but I know in the end that no matter what the outcome is, I will stay. It makes me sad that only 4 days have passed. I feel like it’s been at least a week, if not more. I just hope that time starts to speed up soon…
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