This last week has been a whirlwind of adventure, fun, and emotions. My last week in Shanghai was full of final papers, presentations and final exams in Chinese. Wednesday we ended our morning classes to find it snowing outside. I emailed mom to tell her that it was snowing but that it probably wouldn't stick... I was wrong. By 5 o'clock there was at last an inch on the ground and a snowball fight happening on the third floor. You would've thought we had never seen snow in our lives.
Thursday was our Chinese final exam and our last day of class. We went to our favorite restaurant out the back gate, Xue You, for dinner one last time. It was fantastic. We told the waiters and the door lady that we were returning to the United States and wouldn't be coming back for a while. It was the first of the emotional goodbyes! That night we went to M1NT a fancy lounge for a "birthday party" for Blair (who's birthday is actually in March) just because we wanted a reason to celebrate and go out. It is always fun to have a reason to get dressed up and see the boys in ties! Friday morning was our Farewell & Graduation Ceremony and we had "talent show" with performances from the different Chinese classes and talented students. Our class attempted to sing the theme song from the Beijing Olympics, Beijing Huanying Ni, but that was more of a joke than anything else. We were given diplomas and pictures and watched a slide show from the year. To end the ceremony, Chelsea and Charae sang "Friends Forever" and got the whole group singing. It was a great way to remember the semester we had together. That evening Lucy, Emily, Dan and I went to Tianzifang Art Street. This area is full of small alleys that are filled with art galleries, shops, and restaurants. We spent some time shopping until we were too cold to go on and then got some Vietnamese dinner in the warmest restaurant we could find.
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| Snow in Shanghai |
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| Our last meal at our favorite restaurant "Xue You" |
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| Rob, Me, and Henrik before M1NT |
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| Singing at the Farewell ceremony |
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| A night on the town- Tianzifang Art Street |
Saturday was our last day in Shanghai and it ended up being one of my favorites as well. We went to M on the Bund for brunch to celebrate Emily's 21st Birthday. Happy Birthday Emily!! After an amazing brunch we went out on the balcony and took pictures of Pudong for the last time. It was a fantastic start to a great day. From there we went to my favorite little teashop and had some tea and finished our last minute shopping. We split into two groups and James, Min, Laurie and I went over to Pudong and up into the Bottle Opener. We wanted to go up to the observation deck but found that it was over 20 dollars a person!! Instead we went to Blue Frog and had happy hour drinks, 2 for about 8 dollars. Much better! We came back to campus, ate our last dinner in the caf and then went to the House of Jazz and Blues for our last night out.
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| The last day in Shanghai, looking out at Pudong from the Bund |
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| Emily's birthday brunch at M on the Bund |
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| The Financial Center |
Sunday morning I woke up and had to say my goodbyes. The van was leaving at 10am so I woke up and got showered and gave myself about 30 minutes to say my goodbyes. Bawling as I climbed in the van, I was ready to go home, but not ready to leave my Shanghai life and friends behind. Everything went smoothly through check-in, boarding, and then not for take off. We didn't even make it away from the terminal. One of the generators wasn't running so they cancelled the flight, but it took an extra hour to get off the plane because the government had to "approved" our entrance to the airport... 3 hours later they let us back inside, where we had the joy of going back through customs were they cancelled our visa stamps. Luckily I was with Dan because if I had been alone I would've been miserable. We met up with James, Drew and Emily at the entrance of the airport. Their plane had been delayed 6 hours and wasn't going to leave until 11pm. When Dan and I went to the United Airlines counter they told us our flight had been scheduled to leave the following day at 3pm and they would put us in a hotel until then. Shanghai has no other flights to the states after 5pm each day, but fortunately the American Airlines flight the other group was on had been delayed. After James and Dan finagled with the United workers for about 30 minutes or so, we got switched (for free) to the AA flight to Chicago. We had about 5 hours before our plane was going to leave, so James took us to the first class lounge were we relaxed with comfy chairs, free foods and free drinks. After a few glasses of champagne we made our flight to Chicago with about 15 other CIEE students. We got a hotel voucher for our long layover in Chicago and made our flights home to our final destinations. About 40 hours after my goodbyes in the CIEE dorm lobby I made it to PDX. Mom, Dad, Chris, Ellie, and Grandpa were there waiting for me. It is amazing to be home, but it is sad to leave. My first night home I fell asleep around 8pm and woke up around 1pm the next day. The jetlag is going to be difficult, but being home is worth it.
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| Lounge at the airport during 40 hours of traveling |
On other note...
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