On Friday, my UXD group headed to Suzhou for their start-up weekend. We all had class until 6pm, so we didn’t make it to Suzhou until 9pm, missing the first day of the competition.
Saturday:
We arrived at the competition site at 9am Saturday morning, and immediately got to work on our idea. We were only a group of three, and each group needed 4 people to be considered legitimate, so we recruited another person who had come to Start-Up Weekend a day late.
From 9am until about 6pm, we fleshed out our idea, developed a business plan, and started on some preliminary prototypes.
That night, the three of us also went to a cafe in Suzhou where we relaxed and talked about the future of our apps.
Sunday:
Sunday was much more stressful than Saturday. We had to finish everything by 3pm to present to the practice judges as well as to the real ones only thirty minutes after. I was working on the Sketch/ InVision prototype, so my work was cut out for me. While I wasn’t ready for the practice round, I was prepared for the final one.
When the final round came along, we were ready. Tisa covered the overall concept, while Masaki covered the business side, and I reviewed the UXD portion of the presentation. While only two of the judges were fluent in English, we had another one of our team members translate for the third judge, so for the most part, they understood our presentation.
Ultimately, we won second place for our app Winnow (WHOOOO but also I’m really salty because it wasn’t first ugh), which will hopefully be out on the app market within the next two years.
Overall, I thought the event would be more fun. It wasn’t boring, but I expected a bunch of young people networking and having fun with one another, rather than people of all ages meeting. While I definitely liked the diversity of individuals there, I was hoping to meet people closer to my own age with similar interests.
This weekend, I headed to Xi’an to hang out in the Muslim quarter and see the Terracotta soldiers.
Friday:
Friday at 3pm, my friends and I headed to from campus to Pudong Airport catch our 6:15 flight to Xian. There were a few people in the group I hadn’t talked to a lot in the last few weeks in Shanghai, so I was excited to learn more about them and spend more time with them.
We got to the airport fairly easily, and getting our tickets for the flight just required (most of) us to input our passport information into the airport automatic check-in stations. However, a few people did have to get their ticket from the counter (which ended up being better for them because they got window and aisle seats while the rest of us got middle seats.
After we all checked in and went through security, we sat at the gate for an hour before boarding our flight to Xian.
It took about three hours to get there, and when we landed, we had to decide if we were going to take 2 taxis (when only one person in our group could speak chinese well enough to understand what was going on) or a bus together, then a taxi. As luck would have it, there ended up being a service that would take all of us (on what was essentially a private bus) straight to our dorm for 50 kuai each (which is about 8 dollars). What would have been a 90 minute trip from train to taxi to hotel turned into a 60 minute trip in a car. Needless to say, I was very thankful for the chinese speaker in our group (Shout out to Isabelle if you ever read this).
When we finally got to the hostel (aptly named the Party Hostel) we met up with our friends who’d showed up that morning, and they told us about all the things they’d done and the places they’d eaten (all of which we would be doing tomorrow while they did homework). There was also someone that could speak chinese in that group, so the two of them essentially saved us the entire weekend.
After putting our stuff away and picking rooms, we went to a bar downstairs and hung out there for a few hours.
Saturday:
9:30 am on Saturday morning, our group of 12 headed to see the Terracotta Soldiers. The journey there took about an hour and a half, so we all slept to recover from the night before.
The Terracotta soldiers were the one thing I wanted to see before I left China, so I was especially excited about today. After we got our tickets, we headed down a flowery path until we reached the actual crypt (or what was above it, since the real crypt hadn’t been dug up due to issues involving a collapsing chamber and Mercury poisoning (apparently the Emperor who ordered the soldiers was crazy af).
The first room we entered was room 1 (which was a bad idea--if you ever go, do the third chamber last). Pictured above, it was the biggest room, and also the best. The room was the size of a large warehouse, and from wall to wall, the room was filled with horses and people. Honestly it was super cool to see in real life, but after 5 minutes you realize that they’re ultimately just a bunch of clay things. It’s cool that they lasted that long, but you really just need your picture and then you’re good. All of the soldiers are different from little traits here and there, maybe a missing head or two (tbh those were cool) but overall everything looked the exact same. There was, however, a section in the back of the room where they were repairing the soldiers which was cool.
Satisfied, and relatively happy with the first room, we moved onto the second room, which was largely disappointing. It was much smaller than the first room, like epically, and the soldiers were a lot fewer as well.
Moving onto the third room, was equally as disappointing. The room was smaller than the first, but much larger than the second, but there were no people. It was empty (save the museum-like area surrounding the pit) and only filled with shards of pots and people here and there. We took a quick round through the museum in the compound then (it covered the history of the soldiers discovery) before heading back to to hostel, where some of us took naps, while the others went on a bike ride around the wall, something the first group had done when they arrived yesterday.
From three until five, seven of us took a bike ride around the wall surrounding Xi’an. After a while, we split into two groups, and while one group (aka me and another person) made it back to the bike station on time, as well as back to the hostel in a timely manner to go to dinner, the other group got lost on the other side of the city. We later learned that one of our friends had gotten a really bad Charley Horse and that after a few encounters with the wall security, as well as a well faked injury, they managed to get a car ride back to the side of the wall where the hostel was and made it home. Once we got home, we all learned that neither group had seen the first Polish kid that had disappeared at MYST the first night we’d gotten to China (See week 2). He’d messaged the group that he was waiting for us at the wall exit, and when neither group had seen him at the exit, we assumed he was with the other (He then proceeded to get lost in Xi’an for the next few hours but we had long moved on by then--according to a close source, its not unusual for him to get lost on trips).
After the bike ride, and an hour of rest and waiting for the Polish kid to show up, all of us headed to the Muslim Quarter for some street food.
Up until this point, I had been extremely hesitant to eat anything in China that involved meat. However, as this was the Muslim Quarter, and all the mean was halal, I threw caution to the wind, and ate some dank chicken. Well, really it was mediocre but the fact that it was authentic street food made it cool. It was just chicken stuffed with rice (and maybe veggies, I wasn’t sure) so the food wasn’t too crazy, but it was still a jump. Besides that, I took a bite of the other Polish kid’s squid, at some cotton candy, and had hella watermelon.
To end the night, we went to a bar that was made from an old train station.
Sunday:
On Sunday, we woke up to a steady rain at around 10, and immediately learned that that was our checkout time. One of our friends knew that, and had simply declined to tell us. Cool.
As our flight wasn’t until 6pm, we spent the morning at Big Wild Goose Pagoda hanging out in the rain, looking really tired wishing we could ring the bells in the Pagoda. We also watched the performance of a really long and intense Buddhist prayer.
We then spent the afternoon eating the famous and delicious Bian Bian Noodles of Xi’an (except at a halal place in another area of the Muslim Quarter, so there was no pork in them--WHOOOO!) before heading to the airport to board our plane to Shanghai. Which we almost missed (we arrived at the gate in the middle of boarding #Hallelujah)
aka It’s Grilled Yo--and other stories from around China
Friday
Besides going to school on Friday, my friends and I went for some grilled cheese at Co Cheese Melt Bar. We’d tried to go last week but we arrived after the kitchen had closed (ugh it was the worst after craving good american food). We left really late, and totally thought we weren’t going to make it on time, which resulted in us sprinting the entire way there (**not a exaggeration** we literally sprinted from the dorm to the 6 line, to the 2 line, and from the two line all the way to the restaurant--I should have skipped working out that day because I was dying). We arrived at the restaurant at 9:30, and all of us either ordered a large grilled cheese, or two regular. Personally, I got a Kraft Mac & Cheese grilled cheese (not really acceptable in real life, but you know, #China) and it was fking awesome. Like literally the best grilled cheese I’d ever had. 20/10 would recommend, and I will definitely be going back for that cheesy goodness (I don’t even like cheese and I liked this place).
Afterwards, we went through a hella sketchy alley to a local bar, Kartel, where we had a few drinks, and then half of us split off to go home to get ready for tomorrow’s trip to Tong Li, while the other half went to check out a local bar, Revolution. I’m a grandma so I went home.
Saturday
At 8am on Saturday morning, my friends and I headed to the Shanghai Railway Station to Suzhou to visit the river town Tong Li.
The night before, we bought our tickets on ctrip.com from Shanghai to Tong Li. We figured we’d go to Tong Li for a few hours (since it was only an hour bus ride from Suzhou) and then come back and spend a few hours in Suzhou since there wasn’t much to see there. However, like most adventures in China, it did not go according to plan.
We arrived at Shanghai Railway Station stop, and exited the building, following the signs for Shanghai Railway Station Square (North). However, when we finally exited the station, we kept going north, and completely missed the station, which was located behind us (we were busy following a bunch of Chinese people in front of us to what we would later find out was the station exit, not the entrance). Once we finally made it to the entrance of the station, we picked up the tickets we’d booked, grabbed some Starbucks (conveniently located right next to the station) and headed inside to grab our train.
Finding our train was easy (there weren’t a lot to choose from) and getting to Suzhou was even easier, as we left at 9:43am (it left early) and arrived at 10:16am. It was the third stop on the train, so we weren’t on there for too long. So far, so good.
And then it got hard (like REALLY hard). We had been told that when we arrived, we would leave the station and there would be a bunch of buses outside along with a place to buy tickets to Tong Li. While this was partially true, there were a lot of buses outside, none of them were the ones we were looking for. So, we headed back inside the station to ask the Tourist Information Desk what to do. Unfortunately (and somewhat surprisingly) they did not speak English. However, they did tell us to go up some stairs located behind them, and take bus number 81. We followed their instructions and found a bunch of buses coming in and out immediately. Great, we thought, now we just need to find the ticket stand and hop on bus number 81.
After many minutes, we had still not found the ticket stand, and were about to head back upstairs (I literally wanted to die looking at the stairs I was not about to climb them there were so many) when bus number 81 showed up. Sprinting to the bus (I don’t know if you noticed but there was A LOT of sprinting this weekend) we hopped on, and someone asked the bus driver if this was the bus to Tong Li. He immediately replied yes, and said the ride was one kuai. We were a little confused, having read online that the ride to Tong Li was 88 kuai, but didn’t really care, since we just really wanted to get to our destination. We all started getting in line for the bus then, when someone wanted to make sure it was the right bus, and showed him Tong Li in Chinese. The Bus Driver immediately told us that we were not, in fact, on our way to Tong Li, and instead some random place in Suzhou. Deflated, we shuffled off the bus, and found an escalator going upstairs.
When we got back upstairs, we followed signs to another area labeled bus on the opposite side of the first bus area we checked, before speaking (well more like pointing to the translate app) to someone over there, who told us that we needed to go to the other side of the station and exit over there. We scurried back inside then, only to see that a Suzhou Bus Directory table had suddenly appeared. We spoke to the people there then, who told us that we had to look for bus number 91 on the other side of the station outside (similar to what the last man had said). We followed their instructions to the outside, when someone pointed out that there was a sign in the middle of the stairway that sait Long-Distance Buses. After that, we argued whether or not an hour away was considered long term, when we saw another Tourist Help Center. It was then we noticed a member of our group had entered there while we were arguing.
When we entered, the member of our group who had essentially taken charge in getting there began to speak to the THC representative in Chinese, but, guess what he spoke English (YASSS FINALLY!!!). He told us that we should go to 91 (I’m not really sure in what context I missed this part..just that initially we thought it was bus then not bus...) and that our bus was Long-Distance. From there, we followed the Long-Distance Bus signs, and made it to a room labelled 91. We walked in, we thought we’d finally made it, when a man told us we had to go to the tickethall. So, again, we were re-directed. However, the ticket hall was across from us and up some stairs, so we made it there easily, bought our tickets, and hopped on the 11:50 am bus.
We all slept on the bus (mostly because we’d all gone to bed late last night) and arrived in Tong Li in what felt like minutes (but what roughly an hour). It took us a bit of walking post-bus ride, but we made it to the river city around 1pm.
We mostly walked around Tong Li looking at the history and just exploring. We all wanted to go to the Museum of Sex, but it was closed forever according to the tourist center (:/). So instead, Chen’s Home (not really sure who he was...) and the Pearl Pagoda, as well as took a river cruise (which was by far the best part).
The river cruise was 15 kuai per person (and 6 people per boat which was perfect), and it was definitely the most fun part of Tong Li. The cruise went in a circle within the inner ring of the city, and we sat and talked, watching the people eating on the edge of the water and taking pictures along the canal. Because we were a bunch of Americans, we got stares and waves from everyone in and out of the water.
We interacted a lot with the other people on river cruises as well. At one point, the group in front of us went under a bridge and yelled “WHOAAAAAAH” so, we too did that, getting a few laughs from the people behind and in front of us. We also had a few conversations with the people behind and in front of us, and got some pictures of them and them with us. When the cruise was over, the group in front of us waited to finish, and took photos with us (the people in the cowboy hats in the above pic).
Afterwards, we spent a long time searching for the Pearl Tower (which we wrongly assumed was the replica of the one in Shanghai) as we would follow signs going in one direction, and then would flip and point in the opposite direction. As it turns out, the Pearl Tower was actually the Pearl Pagoda which we had already spent enough time at. So, we grabbed from drinks by the water, people watched in Tong Li, and headed back to Suzhou.
Getting out of Tong Li was a bit harder than arriving as we hadn’t checked the bus timings when we arrived (rookie mistake--definitely learned from that). When we checked with the Tourist center, they provided the bus times for us, and we were able to figure out our exit plan. But (of course) when we got to the station, the 4:40 bus was sold old, and so we left at 5:10. When we got back tot the railway station, we were redirected twice (once by a cop, and another time by a THC rep), but after after we figured out where we were going, we ate a snack and headed home to eat some Lanzhou Noodles and get some sleep.
This week I visited the light exhibit that inspired the Hotline Bing music video, discovered my true calling for the third time, and solved a Rubik’s cube in under a minute.
Saturday
After sleeping most of the morning, a few friends and I took the metro to the Long Museum, where we spend the evening walking through the James Turrell: Immersive Lights exhibit. Now, this was no ordinary exhibit because James Turrell’s exhibit was the inspiration for the lighting of Drake’s Hotline Bling Music Video.
Naturally, I had to channel my inner Drizzy and recreate portions of the video while here (Above is a Boomerang, not a real video)
Aside from Drake, the exhibit was actually pretty cool. You know, besides the fact that we were literally fascinated by shapes being projected onto walls (Plot twist that cube is actually a light on a wall corner which is what makes it look like a cube). Honestly, if I were you looking at this, I, too, would be a little skeptical of how interesting this exhibit actually was. I mean, how interesting can lights be? I’ll tell you: cool enough to stand in a line for an hour just to see a room that changes colors. Yes, that cool.
And here we have a white triangle lighting a wall corner and creating the optical illusion of a physical presence.
Besides, the lights, though, there were a few pieces that were likely more difficult to create, such as this mirror tunnel and some reflective holograms that are only given justice in real life. Hence, no pics.
Sunday
Sunday was just as cool as Saturday. The dorm payed for us to go to an exhibit in Global Harbor Mall (the largest mall in Shanghai) called Beyond the Cube. It took about an hour to get there from the dorms by Metro (whoa what a surprise *eyeroll*) and when we got inside the mall, we ended up taking a little detour.
On our way to the exhibit we saw this mirror room with flamingos and quickly entered, eager to investigate some more art work before arriving at the actual exhibit.
As a born again flamingo enthusiast, this was a very exciting time for me (when I came home, I immediately changed my computer background).
Inside the exhibit there were a plethora of interactive activities to do, and I immediately decided that when I grow up, I am going to do something in interactive media design, or maybe the coding behind it or maybe the person who plans and suggests ideas for exhibits like Beyond the Cube (fun fact, Google was the main sponsor so I know this is a legitimate field). I don’t really know I just know I want to do something that involves people and tech...and will possibly make me famous (I know I’m going to become someone important one day but I haven’t really decided what yet *discovers ego is larger than initially thought*).
The first part of the exhibit included a triangular space with half and a roof of mirrors and the rest of the area consisting of the Rubik’s Cube pattern. Mirrors and small spaces are clearly becoming a thing for art and artists (not that I’m surprised--everyone, including me, is totally into it). Our small group of seven immediately had a photoshoot at the sight of this space while waiting for our tickets to be purchased.
Once we were actually inside the exhibit, there was a lot to do and look at. When we first walked in, there was a giant Rubik’s cube (pictured above) that could be moved and controlled by a smaller cube about the size of a curled up 6 month old baby. It moved pretty slowly, but the overall concept was pretty cool. I will say, that I was disappointed that the colors weren’t set up in a way where one could solve the cube.
(@Brian if you ever read my blog thanks for your hands. And actually reading it.)
After the section where you built different shapes and essentially clicked buttons to see things spin and move, there was a more interactive section where you could engage with the tech and logic behind the cube. One of the sections included a station where you could take one of the cubes in the exhibit, take a picture of each side, and solve it with the help of the computer. It was a bit annoying because it wouldn’t detect the color a lot of the time, but the program was easy to follow and provided quick results once the initial data was input into the computer.
There were a few other games as well, such as a kinect-like game where one had to find the three common shapes and move your hands over them, as well as some moving bee game where you program the bee to move when it runs into an obstacle (I’m not 100% on the bee one--I didn’t play it). As for the hand game, I got the highest score to that point (Expert: 18,200 hehehe). The game was very difficult after a certain point, because the hand control was not very responsive and at one point the shapes would start changing if you took too long to find the three shape pattern. So, by the time you found the right pattern it was impossible to run your hand over all three shapes because the hand recognition was all over the place. Personally, I think the game has potential because of the simplicity, but it would have been nice if the motion sensor (or whatever they use) was better. But I enjoyed it so that’s what counts.
A post shared by Zayna Quader (@zainy924) on Feb 26, 2017 at 3:37am PST
After looking at the Rubik’s Cube made of amethysts, rubies, etc., and playing a few of the musically inclined games (along with others), the final part of the exhibit I looked at was a machine that solved a Rubik’s cube. For the most part, it took about 19 turns and 57 seconds for it to solve a cube, but I was pretty proud of myself, because the cube I mixed up took it 21 moves and 58 seconds to solve. Yeah, that’s right--I made it take a whole second faster. I’ll accept my award now.
aka I explored the Qibao Temple, went to the Shanghai Museum, had a conversation with ZEDD and got my Dada on
Sorry my blog was late I had a lot of work this week and a busy weekend (which you will read about next week!!! #HotlineBling)
Saturday
Saturday afternoon, my friends and I headed to Qibao, located in the river city area of Shanghai. Similar to Yuyuan Garden and Tianzifang Road, it was a very touristy area filled with people and local stores. There was an archery store, though, where I shot a few arrows and decided that I want to become a pro-archer.
In the Qibao area, there was also a local temple, aptly named the Qibao Temple. When we entered the area, we immediately ran into a procession of monks and what were (my best guess so don’t quote me) Buddhists. There were two groups, each chanting and walking from the main prayer area to a smaller one. It felt like a very intimate experience, and I wasn’t sure what to make of it--aka if it was an everyday/month procession, or if it was for a special occasion such as the new year.
After the procession, we headed into a seven story temple, where we proceeded to climb to stairs to the top. There were different buddhas on each level that one was supposed to pray to, and each one sat in the front of the room, facing the window. The walls were also covered in miniature versions of the buddhas, each floor just as intricate as the last. By the time we got to the top, I was ecstatic for the break from the stairs after constantly climbing for 10-15ish minutes, and by the time we got back to the bottom, my legs were cramping so much I had to squeeze my thighs one by one to walk down the stairs. I really need to workout more.
The Qibao temple was also located in a less touristy part of Qibao, so we were more exposed to the less westernized parts of Shanghai for the first time this semester, and came one step closer to seeing how the people in the more rural parts of China live. It was a much different look and feel from the tall and modern buildings in the center of Shanghai, and I really do hope I visit places outside of Shanghai soon to gain a better sense of the country as well as a better insight to how the people outside of Shanghai live.
Monday
On Monday, my Religion and Society in China class took a trip to the Shanghai Museum. The trip was about 20 minutes by bus from school, and when we got there, we were split into groups with one chinese speaker per group.
My group was assigned to the paintings section, where we proceeded to take note of our impressions as instructed by our professor. For the most part, we were pretty confused about the meanings of the calligraphy on the paintings since since not even the member of our group that spoke chinese could understand them, but overall, the paintings were beautiful and I felt like I’d gained a better sense of the artistic history.
Thanks to Sun Yufeng and his endless donations of art (and constant reminders everywhere turned), I also noticed of the names of paintings were descriptions of the art themselves. For example, the painting “Squirrel With Peaches” was a painting of a squirrel with peaches (or maybe it was a different fruit I don’t actually remember the name).
However, there was one painting called, “Lonely Wild Duck in Sunset Glow,” that confused me for a while. Since all the paintings were descriptive of the content, I immediately started looking for a lone duck in the sunset of the painting. But, there was no duck, and I immediately felt betrayed by the entire art gallery. However, a fellow student, after also looking for the duck, explained that this was a common metaphor for saying “I am lonely.” Freaking. Drama. Queen.
Wednesday
At 10:30pm on Wednesday night, my roommate and I arrived at MYST for ZEDD’s concert. We waited until 1:30am for him to show up (we were sure he was going to every half an hour, but he never did), but when he finally got on stage and started DJing, the room turned from a bunch of people dying of boredom into a LIT LIT LIT night. He played all his well known songs/ classics such as Clarity, Candyman, Papercut, etc., as well as some of his remixes of other songs such as Cold Water, Heroes, and Rude.
The night only got better, because when my roommate and I were looking for an exit from the club, we ran into Zedd going out the back door. Apparently no one knew he was going out that way, because the area was basically empty. I said hi to him, and he looked at me and was like “Hey!” and I got a selfie (unfortunately a few other people showed up then, so it wasn’t alone or very good, so I will not be posting it). He seemed like a pretty nice guy, and given the opportunity to go to his concert again, or even meet him, I would definately take it.
Friday
Friday night, I went to Dada, a grungy bar in Puxi. The bar was small, had an even smaller dance floor, and the music was more beat driven (bootsa-bootsa-bootsa if you feel me) than the pop/techno/EDM that was typically found in clubs (likely because it was a bar). From what I was told, it was very similar to the clubs in London (which I will probably be checking out this summer). I was super into it as first, but after about an hour I was over the unchanging music--I love dancing, but the lack of beat change and music change tired very quickly.
I was chillin in the back after taking way too many pictures of a flamingo light (I really wanted to pick it up and take it home) when I found one of the friends I’d come with, and we proceeded to smash everyone in Foosball for the better part of an hour before leaving. The best part was that I suck at Foosball.
This week, I got lit, lit a circuit board, and looked at some lights that were to be lit
Friday
On Friday, I had my first Interactive Media Arts Lab (IMA). At first, I had zero idea what to do, and basically felt like a dumb girl stereotype (you know that one that isn’t considered smart in movies simply because she is a girl? That one *groans*). However, it turns out that, after a quick sweep of the room, everyone was feeling this way, and my feelings of despair were quickly wiped away. After a little bit of explanation from the in-room professors, my partner and I were able to create circuits, and light up an LED with a button, make a buzzer beep with a button, and use a dimmer on an LED. It was quite possibly the greatest experience of my existence, and low-key made me want to be an engineer (but not actually bleh).
Friday night consisted of trying to get to the club Fusion, and taking (and returning in) a number of fake cabs. There were literally no real cabs on the road and we got hella ripped off (but we knew it and also got to bargain and practice some chinese so that was some consolation). Once we got to Fusion, I learned that it’s actually pretty bad, because the dance floor was tiny, and so packed that it’s impossible to dance. Honestly, I was finished in hour 2 of 4 (TBH I wasn’t planning on coming at first but I hung out with my friends for 5 min before they left and somehow ended up at the club). However, as I came in a group, I was not about to abandon them. For a while, I actually ended up hanging out with some other NYU Study Abroad students I’d met earlier this semester, and ended up invited to a luxury table where I “borrowed” a bunch of bottled waters (invited simply because one of the girls was invited and invited us to come along--I actually ended up running into them at the lantern festival before I left). Anyhow, this club gets a 3/10 would not recommend from me.
Saturday
On Saturday, I went to Yuyuan Garden (translated to Yu Garden Garden apparently) for the third time in 2 weeks for the lantern festival. Having been here three times in less than two weeks, I was less than pleased to be here again, especially the decor was exactly the same as new years.
Needless to say, while i am glad to have gone to Yuyuan Garden, I never need to go there again. Ever.
Sunday
**sing to tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star**
Sunday, sunday, was very fun,
I did not get any homework done.
I woke up late and watched TV
Ate some noodles, my roommate and me.
Sunday, Sunday was very fun,
I did not get my homework done.
Monday & Tuesday
Went to school, did some homework, ate some noodles, slept.
Wednesday
Wednesday, I woke up at 5am so I could get a health test done at a medical center located roughly an hour away by metro so that I could get my resident visa in order to travel outside of China while I was here. Besides the annoying af experience getting there, the examination was actually really funny. We were sent from room to room (116 through 107) and each doctor did their thing, signed the paper and sent us forward. In roughly 30 minutes (or possibly less) I got a blood drawn, an ultra sound, an EEG, and an X-Ray. I have to go back to pick up my test...Yay.
This week I started school at NYU Shanghai and went to a famous nightclub in Shanghai.
Friday
Friday was the first of two days of orientation. I’ll spare you the details (truth be told I don’t really remember them myself), but at the end NYU gave us a free (well, not really free but free ATM) meal. This was the first official meal of me being a vegetarian (not that I really had a choice since almost everything was pork anyway). Overall, I’d say it was a success, as I was so hungry, I didn’t even feel it anymore (plus I’d eaten half a bowl of pasta and 4 croissants that day, so a little hunger was acceptable). Afterwards, all 120 of us returned to the buses and headed back to the dorms, where my Polish roommate and I, along with some of her friends from home, went to the supermarket. When we finished, I went home and ate the other half of my pasta, and watched some Teen Wolf.
Saturday
Following yesterday’s food disaster, as well as the lack of food I’d eaten in the last week, I had high hopes for Saturday--and I was not disappointed. After learning how to navigate the Metro to and from school, one of the local students (shoutout to Honey if you ever read this or even find it) directed me to a nearby Halal noodle place, Lanzhou Noodles. It was literally the best moment of my life, and I ate Noodle Soup w/ Bok Choy and A LOT of chilli oil. It also put me in a food coma, so after walking back and forth in the square across from the dorms and running into different people, I went home to take a nap.
The plan for Saturday night was to get dinner, go bowling, listen to music at the CJW Jazz Bar, then go to a nightclub before club hopping the rest of the night--but, like all plans, it did not go accordingly. Dinner ended later than foreseen, which lead to us skipping bowling and going to CJW. However, getting to the jazz bar ended up taking longer than anticipated, and by the time we got there, it was closed (or so we thought--it was actually in the alley behind the building we were in, but by this point we were about to be late to the club). After that, we headed to the first club, MYST (see my instagram for a video), and got in for free because one of the study abroad students had a connection (we all got in for free as long as we showed up before 11, otherwise it was a 200 CNY fee).
We, along with most of the other study abroad students, and a few of the Shanghai portal students we’d met along the way, partied until 1:45am, when we began migrating to the next club, M2, as our connection had another two clubs lined up for us. However, because of the long coat check line, a missing kid, and some people already migrating from M2 to a third club, 1:45am ended up being 3:30am, which then turned into us going in search of food near campus. Unfortunately, this was also unsuccessful, as everything in Shanghai is closed way before 4am (10/10:30pm), and does not re-open until 6am. So, while everyone headed off to bed, me and another kid headed back to his room until 5am... to play Super Smash Bros. Here, we found the missing Polish kid only to find out his roommate was missing, another Polish kid ironically, and that everyone thought that he had left with the other group.
Sunday
I woke up Sunday afternoon with aching feet and ready for a treat (I’m really tired). After a long night of not eating, I was ready to go back to my noodle shop and eat some Noodle Soup w/ Bok Choy, so I recruited my roommate and we headed out for lunch (or brunch since breakfast had yet to be eaten???). Post our delicious Lunfest, we hopped onto the metro towards the Pearl Tower to ride the VR Rollercoaster inside. We also learned that the kid was still missing, and all his roommates were frantically trying to find him as the peanut gallery of weChat was convinced he’d just run off with another human last night and got laid.
Upon arriving at the Pearl Tower, we learned that there was a 3 hour wait for the rollercoaster, and decided to do the Jinmao Skywalk instead (see left picture, middle building). It was a pretty hazy day, and the view of the city was poor compared to other days (or even the night), but since my roommate and I had pretty much done all the touristy things to do in Shanghai, we figured we really had nothing else to do.
The view from Jinmao was amazing (and much clearer than this picture displays despite the poor visibility warning we received upon buying tickets) and the walk was equally as fun--at least for me. At 1115 feet (or 340 meters) off the ground, my roommate was panicking, but more in a way where I made fun of her rather than helped her (or maybe I’m just a mean person idk). At first I tried to make her feel better but then I just started laughing. By the time we got to the end, she was ready to get off, but was kind enough to take a picture close-ish to the edge despite her fear.
We bought our pictures then, and she commented that the above view of the hotel below us no longer made her scared after walking on the roof outside. It was at this point that the Polish kid had been found (turns out the peanut gallery was right and he’d been getting laid****Correction, a week later we found out that he had been abandoned at MYST and ran into some random Polish people in China who had housed him overnight as he did not have his phone or wallet or have any idea where he was or where we were).
The rest of the day, we walked around the area, before heading home, eating a dinner of Lanzhou Noodles, and heading to bed because my feet were hurting like nobody’s business, and even though I didn’t have class until 8:30am, the bus leaves at 7:00am and 8:30am, so I had to get up bright and early before the break of dawn--literally.
Monday
On Monday morning, a rooster woke me up (JK that just happens in Dubai every damn morning--I hate roosters). I woke up at 6:15am for a 8:30 class (fml) because of the 7am bus, and sat through a neuroscience class that slowly corroded my brain (and frantically began searching for a new class to take). Afterwards, I had my first chinese class, which happened to be with the folks I went clubbing with. I ate lunch afterwards (NOODLES OF COURSE HEHEHE) and then went to my Religions in China class, which is by far the most interesting class I’ve taken to date (well, maybe tied with Anthropology). We’re going on field trips, the professor has a weirdly awesome accent (a mix of american, british, and chinese it sounds like), and the class was interesting the entire two and a half hours (I was impressed at that).
Tuesday
Tuesday consisted of coughing, being hella cold (for the 7th day in a row-- mostly my fault, but I will not buy another winter coat I have enough), and me finding my calling through the subject of Interactive Media Arts (a hands on combination of tech and media). After I discovered my calling I went home, did my homework, read a book, ate slept noodles (YES NOODLES but actually I can’t eat anymore noodles I need a few days) and when the time (finally!!!) hit 9pm I was knocked out.
Wednesday
Awakened. Educated. Hibernated. #nufsaid
Thursday
Thursday was my friends 21st birthday. For this event, we went to the Shanghai Eye located at the Shanghai World Financial Center (affectionately called the bottle cap due to its shape).
The observatory, known as Sky Walk 100, is located on the 100th floor, and is 474 meters in the air. The ground is partially glass, and the view is spectacular (sorry about the grainy--iPhone 6 is not good in the dark). It is a complete 360 view of Shanghai from the building, and at night, when everything is lit up and the boats and sailing through the water, its especially beautiful. 10/10 would recommend if you ever go to Shanghai. After the view, we all headed to a German Restaurant inside the SWFC and then headed home (luckily we made it to the subway, which closes at 11).
And that was my week.
***Correction made on March 25th: The Polish kid had not been getting laid, but had been left behind and had run into some random Polish people in China who had housed him overnight as he did not have his phone or wallet or have any idea where he was or where we were***
This week, I headed over to Shanghai, China, with my mom for a little vacation before I start school.
Saturday
Our flight landed at 4pm on Saturday the 28th, which also happened to be the first day of what locals were calling the Spring Festival ( also known as Chinese New Year). This year is the Year of the Rooster, and because it was Chinese New Year, we were told that all local shops and stores would be closed for the next three to four days until celebrations were over. However, as we were staying on Nanjing road, a popular road and tourist attraction in Shanghai, we were at least able to window shop at a few designer shops. Afterwards, despite our best efforts to find an open noodle place nearby, we ate salads and mashed potatoes (not a recommended combo) at the hotel’s steak house.
Post dinner, we watched the Chinese New Year version of a popular acrobat show. It was one and a half hours long, and they put a few twists on what would normally have been a fairly common show as far as acrobats go. They had in interesting twist (LOL PUNS) on one act, where the two contortionist pretended to be Mario and Wario with the cover for Super Mario Galaxy projected behind them.
After the show, we went back to the hotel and watch the news, as Trump had just announced his Muslim Ban (I have to stop here or I’ll get to riled up and this post is going to get longer than it’s already going to be), until 3am.
Sunday
On Sunday, we woke up at 2pm and walked to breakfast at a nearby cafe, Baker and Spice, before hailing a cab over to Yuyuan Garden and the Old City. As most of China was still celebrating the Spring Festival, this was one of the few places still open because of its tourist attraction.
Old town was PACKED (apparently not everyone returns home for Chinese New Year). We wandered around for a few hours, as my mom was avidly looking for Oolong tea.
Eventually, we found a place that sold tea, and got to participate in our first tea ceremony. It wasn’t an official one (again, those places were closed), mostly just us trying different teas to see if we wanted to buy them. It’s considered a tea ceremony because of how Chinese people traditionally make tea. Instead of just boiling water and adding it to a tea filter or a glass with a tea bag and then leaving it at that, there’s a process involved. First, they boil the water separately from the leaves. Then, they pour the hot water into the cups and dump the cups out on the tray (which has holes in it and a tray underneath to catch water), after which they pour a portion of the hot water into a bowl with a lid with the leaves in it (see above picture). They then dump that water onto the tray, effectively cleaning the leaves, and pour a bit more water into the bowl, which makes the tea. This tea is then poured into the cups. If the individual wants more tea, more water is placed in the bowl then poured into the tea cups, makes the tea weaker and weaker as the leaves continue to be used.
When we had bought our tea, we went through the square to buy a tea set, as we too, wanted to have our own tea ceremonies at home (I know it’s never going to happen but the thought is nice). I bought a travel tea set, and my mom bought a bunch for herself and some relatives.
Hungry from our day, it was nearly 8:30pm by this point, we headed back to the hotel to find somewhere to eat some noodles. Again, we failed, which resulted in us eating Italian food. In China.
Monday
When Monday rolled around, we too rolled out of bed, unsurprisingly, by 3pm. Once more, we’d stayed up late watching the news (I think it was the night that the acting Attorney General was fired but don’t quote me on that) as well as Pitch Perfect (awesome movie we watched it twice this week). Once more, our morning started with a cup of hot chocolate and a bagel with cream cheese and honey from Baker and Spice. Then, we started our day by going to Xin Tian Di (aka the French Concessions area). Unlike Yuyuan Garden and Old Town, I had not been here before (whereas my mother had).
We walked around for a while, a lot of chain restaurants were here, and my mom bought some more tea sets. There were a few local shops open, but the big thing we saw here (IMO) is the Kuma Cafe.
Based on a popular anime (which I’ve yet to watch which and therefore was a little annoyed), the Kuma Cafe was a relatively popular place, as there was a line to get into the building.
After my mom bought another tea set (by this point I was straight up making fun of her), we headed into the local mall, Xintiandi Stylee (not sure if they were trying to spell style or not). We didn’t know a lot of the stores inside, but I did notice that there was a large portion of shops (compared to most of the other places I’ve been) dedicated to an animal or maintaining and animal theme. There was a duck shop, a panda shop, some shop for an animal I didn’t even recognize, and one for a cat (At least I think it was a cat...this last one is blurry in my memory). We also wandered into another tea shop that sold Downton Abbey Tea (a show that my sister, mom, and I watch when we’re all in Dubai together, so this was particularly exciting). We also spend a lot of time in a shawl shop that apparently services famous Chinese stars as well as the First Lady of China.
This mall also had some creepy art in it I feel obligated to include.
And some cool art (looks like something familiar but I can’t put my finger on it).
As for dinner, we finally, after days of searching, found a hot pot place. We ordered the Spicy Numbing one, as well as some noodles and taro to go with it (the bowl on the left is soy sauce with some added ingredients). While we initially enjoyed it, the thought that the broth we were eating was probably pig broth pretty much turned us off to the meal and we left with most of the pot still full.
However, we did find a tea place to fill us up afterwards (and my mom had some Nips. Can I just say that after this vacation I love Nips. I love Nips so much. They’re little caramels from Walgreens).
Tuesday
On Tuesday, we taxied to another popular tourist attraction known as Tianzifang Road (after a hot chocolate and cinnamon scroll at Baker and Spice of course) This was pretty much like Old Town--touristy shops (of tea, little trinkets, etc) and PACKED with people. The first time we came out, my mom made us go back in because we’d missed a row of three shops. Again, a place we’d both been, but seeing it with fresh eyes was a nice experience especially since there were a few stores that were new, such as an electronics accessory store,and some that were gone, like the place I got juice in a blood bag.
Here, we also found a Tuzuki restaurant. I don’t know about you, but I totally thought that this dude was just a popular sticker on Facebook Messenger (you know, that dumb app Facebook made and forced people to download)
We’d woken up early today, around 12pm, there was still plenty of time before shops closed, so we meandered into another local mall. This time, the theme was Angry Birds #nufsaid, and then walked around Nanjing road again (this time to the East side where we found more shops, and more noodles. It was after this noodle experience that my mom told me she was not eating any noodles the rest of this trip, and made fun of me because she gets to go home and eat all halal food while I have to keep worrying about whether or not I’m eating Porky Pig.
Wednesday
With one day until I moved into the dorms, Wednesday was the day we pretty much ran errands. We returned to Old Town to find my mom some single cup trays that could fit a small bowl of cookies and a tea cup (we didn’t find trays but we did find wood cut in unique ways which we decided were way cooler than trays) and then we headed to IKEA before returning to the hotel to chill pack, and eat Italian food in China. Again.
Thursday
After leaving our bed at 2pm and learning that Trump had hung up on a call with the Prime Minister of Australia, Thursday morning started out with us listening to an Australian and Chinese business men talk about how the Australian government loves America (he clearly didn't watch the news this morning) at Baker and Spice as I drank some hot chocolate and ate a cinnamon scroll (I really like cinnamon and hot chocolate in case you didn’t notice). This experience has now become the inspiration for a future scene in a movie I will eventually make. Afterwards, we headed back to the room and got ready to head to NYU Shanghai
After a 20 plus minute taxi ride, which included us confusing and confused with our driver since none of knew where we were going, we finally made it to NYU Shanghai. After meeting my roommate (who is from Japan) my mom and I walked around the area, which included a square and a mall. Afterwards, we returned to my dorm to find another roommate there (who is from Poland) and discovered that there were only three of us living in the dorm, and three double bedrooms (I promptly claimed the third one and am hoping that no one is suddenly assigned to our room.
An hour later, my mom left, and I was left to my own devices as I prepared for my first day of orientation in China.
Just to catch you up on my life in New York, here’s a list of things I did this semester
Watched the Broadway show Something Rotten
Attended a screening at the Metropolitan Opera (and learned I really don’t like Opera)
Saw the Broadway show Fun Home
Watched the US Open again (Special thanks for this experience)
Stood in line for four hours in the sun for 29Rooms by Refinery 29 (super cool experience, and definitely worth doing at least once)
Turned 20 at Bosie Tea Parlor (again, great place, v yummy experience)
Volunteered at the Meadows Festival where I got to try WOWFULLS (OMG SO GOOD) and watch Kanye for 20 minutes before he went to save Kim from getting robbed (best 20min of the weekend IMO). Also, made eye contact with Børns while I was volunteering at the lunch tent. He didn’t look very happy about me staring at him as he ate his food.
Got the lowdown on some of my favorite shows at New York Comic Con
Watched the Broadway show Holiday Inn
Took an excessive number of videos and pictures of this squirrel in Washington Square Park
Walked through the amazing and inspiring Pipilotti Rist exhibit at the New Museum (this is an entirely electrically wired house with an outdoor movie playing on the left corner. There’s even some chairs to watch the movie..you know, if you were an ant)
aka I’m going to Shanghai, China for a semester and I should probably try to post my life in chronological order
I am back with an update with the last few months of my life. As far as I can tell, the last time I posted was February, so I guess we’ll go from March forward with the most exciting stuff (this is mostly to catch you up on my life so I will be brief as a lot of it is a blur at this point)
March 2016: Barcelona
Spring Break of March, I hopped on a plane with my older sister and we met my mom in Barcelona, Spain. The three of us had already been there before, (twice together after this trip) so we mostly focused on hanging out and shopping for the ten days the five of us were there.
We looked at the many works of Gaudí at Parc Güell.
Took some walks on La Rambla de Canaletes where we explored a marketplace.
And took a trip to the Picasso Museum.
However, my favorite part was definitely the cooking class we took together in Plaça Reial (my mom finally believed we could cook)
July 2016: Kenya
From April to July 2016, I stayed in New York taking classes, and trying to avoid the hot weather in Dubai at all costs. While this meant spending Ramadan alone, it was worth it when July finally hit, and I got to go on a four day safari in Masai Mara, Kenya, Africa.
Everyday, we’d get up at 6:30 am, go on a safari until 9:00am, hang out at the hotel, then head out again at 6:00pm until 8:00pm.
In addition to the car safaris, we took two walking safaris, a night safari (which happens after 9pm).
We also took an off road bike ride in the middle of the sahara which resulted in me scarring my face from hitting my head on a pile of rocks (not my fault! The bikes were made for men and on top of that, they were bigger because of the mountain bikes. At 4 feet 11 inches, I couldn’t reach the ground)
But, the coolest part of this vacation was definitely when we watched the most amazing migration ever ( this is not nearly the number we saw, but apparently none of those pictures were artsy enough for me when I downloaded my photos from my camera so they’re sitting in NYC right now instead of on my computer).
I’m telling you, you’ll never see more animals migrating than during the annual Wildebeest Migration. It was insane. I don’t think I’ll ever forget about the sheer number of animals there. For as far as you could see there was nothing but wildebeests.
It was honestly one of the best vacations I’ve ever taken, and if you ever have the chance to go, grab it. I got awesome pictures and seeing the animals outside of their habitat was a surreal experience that I am so, so fortunate to have experienced.
Anyway, after I came back from Kenya I hung out in Dubai for a few days and then went back to America (I love America btw. Like way too much after living in Dubai for weeks at a time with no friends and no drivers license or the ability to go anywhere on foot).
December 2016: Oman
Finally, this past Christmas, my family went to Oman for a few days. There was really nothing to see there (except mountains), so I didn’t get a lot of photos. We did go to a pomegranate farm though, so that was cool (well, they were all dead, but it’s the thought that counts).
I’ve pretty much caught you up on all my vacations to this point (unless you want to include Dubai, where for winter break again, I am currently located). In two days, I’m headed to Shanghai for the spring semester, where a new adventure awaits.
