First Arrivals (Written 9/1)

Greetings from the future!

Wow. Where do I begin. The beginning I guess.

Saturday morning I got up at about 8:45, showered, shaved, ate breakfast, and headed out to the airport with my parents. The flight to Detroit was generally uneventful- I sat next to a woman on a business trip and talked briefly. I had a window seat and saw us go over Lake Michigan.

I ate a buffalo chicken sandwich for lunch in the airport (Detroit’s airport is sweet) and then boarded the plane for Shanghai. There, I sat next to a woman who was recently divorced but seemed extremely young. Dave Chen probably would think that she was 50, but I think she was more like 25. Anyway, we watched 3 of the most TERRIBLE movies ever created: 17 Again, Monsters vs. Aliens, and The Soloist. Crappy plots, crappy actors, and generally no creativity. In between they showed a few TV shows, none good enough to mention. Dinner included shrimp cocktail, vegetables, chicken, and a brownie.

OH! Good news. Because I can’t count, this flight was actually only 15 hours instead of 18! Never-the-less, at about 4 am EST, I was subject to motion sickness for the first time in my life. It was partially because of three main causes. First, I hadn’t slept for one second. Second, we had some moderate turbulent air for a while. Third, they were cooking sausage for breakfast within 3 feet of my face. It smelled awful and for the remainder of the trip I spent with my head back and my nose pinched, hoping that I wouldn’t puke for fear that I would be sent back to the U.S. by Quarantine and Inspection. I had tea for breakfast.

At about 6:30, I arrived at Pudong International Airport. Customs and inspection was a breeze, which is a good thing because I was in no shape to struggle with something. I claimed my bags and had no trouble finding Annie, Yoyo and Gina. They handed me a tuna sandwich from Starbucks and we went to a bus.

Which leads me to Chinese traffic. Good. God. Chinese drivers weave in and out of traffic within inches of other vehicles. Our bus was so close to the nearest cars that I couldn’t even see their passenger side. The roads were full of potholes. The left turn lane was occasionally on the right side of the road!! I also learned quickly that cars have the right of way in China; not people. So we nearly killed about 1,000 Chinese people on the way to Fudan.

Annie, Yoyo, and Gina took me to Walmart before we went to the room. There I bought a pillow and a blanket in addition to the one provided by the dorm. Walmart, by the way, is nothing like ours. It is 3 floors, smells like fish, and is crowded with crazy people who are searching through random isles filled with a random assortment of Chinese made goods. Oh wait, the only difference is the quantity of floors.

Which reminds me, China smells. You know how when you are at the beach, EVERYTHING has a smell of the beach? Well, China is the same way, except exchange the smell of the beach with the smell of Chinese food that has been in the trash for 2 weeks. That is China. Shanghai is amazing, though. I have some random pictures, but I was tired and not really capable of taking good ones. I’ll post better ones later. There were people line dancing on all the sidewalks, crazy cool lights and buildings, and kids running everywhere.

Anyway, we took a cab to the International student dorm. I checked in with some fast talking and rude people at the desk, and they gave me my big freaking bag of sheets, pillows, and a thermos. Then came the surprise of the evening. We went to my room (on the 7th floor) and said “Hello” to my roommate! Fortunately, it was Ben Morrow from W&J, so he is cool. I was disappointed, however, that I didn’t get a single like I was promised. Good going, Viet.

After thanking Annie, Yoyo, and Gina profusely, they left and I showered. I finally went to sleep (on the hardest bed ever created, but I luckily had the extra bedding, which I stacked to make it softer). The next morning, I unpacked, took a long walk to Walmart with Ben to pick up some more stuff, and then met Annie at 1 to buy a local cell phone and eat lunch. Again, I was plagued with a bit of nausea after eating.

I decided I would take a short nap before dinner. So at 6, I went to sleep. I then woke up at 5 am the next day. So... fail.

I apologize for the length of this post. I don’t have internet yet, and I’m a terrible writer and don’t know what to leave out and what to include. I will hopefully get better. By the way, this site is blocked in China, so I have to use a proxy site just to access it. Sweet. Anyway, I hope the W&J Cross Country team is running fast. Send me updates.