The First Real Day in Shanghai

Today was the first day of orientation, so going over some information, contact information, and whatnot. I only got like 3.5 hours of sleep so was kind of tired at some point randomly, but it wasn't because of jetlag. I stayed up cleaning up the room and unpacking even though I was ready to go to bed. 

After the orientation was a lunch at Fuxuan Hotel with everyone else, which the school provided for us. Then when that was over, I went to the phone store to get a data plan. A prepaid one is relatively expensive though (10RMB per 100MB) so I opted for the 50RMB/month for 1GB, which is a better deal for sure. But I asked around and apparently even with frequent usage, they use only 150-200MB a month, so I'm not even sure if I need so much data, but in the States I definitely do.

Went to Walmart at 五角场 afterwards to get some basic supplies and everything was pretty cheap. At first I only saw the first level so I was very unimpressed and weirded out that Walmart only had groceries but turned out they had a couple more floors.

Bought everything for 118RMB (~$20) but forgot toilet paper!! So apparently when you go out you need to bring little packs of tissues because public bathrooms do not have toilet paper. 

Got dinner with 7 others at a local restaurant so it was like a family styled thing. Total for dinner was 16RMB (~$2.50) not bad, not bad. 

Dunno if I'll end up spamming the blog if I do a day to day sort of thing, so let me know which you prefer? 

Anyways, tired now so going to sleep. Until next time!

Shanghai: The Flight There

I woke up around 4:30AM to get ready and finish up with last minute packing and headed out by 5:30AM. I got through security and everything before 7:00AM and my flight as at 9:15AM D: So I had so much time to spare. Going through security didn't take long or anything, just as if it was a domestic flight. So I had to switch at Detroit and before the plane even took off, I knocked out and didn't really wake up until after the plane had landed danggg. 

Then the second leg of the trip, I didn't spend too much of it sleeping. I ended up watching About Time, Taken 2, Despicable Me 2, and Meet the Millers. The plane has personal screens for everyone and had a good selection of movies, too. About two hours before it landed, I got a bit nauseous, so I tried sleeping it off, which helped a little. I think I might've just had to burp it off and also there was a bit of turbulence. 

They fed us well (1 light snack, 1 medium snack, 2 meals) plus came around a lot for water. At least once or twice between each meal + during the meals. 

Got off the plane around 2:30PM the next day and going through immigration was a breeze. I just had to fill out a slip of paper with basic information (name, address, signature, etc.) and I was done in like 2 minutes. There was a bit of a wait though since there were a lot of people at that time. My checked bag got really dirty though..like someone wiped yellow chalk all over it or something. 

Then I waited for the rest of the students to come in on the group flight, but they weren't getting in until 7ish...so it was a 5 hour wait. I ended up watching a few episodes of Glee and got really sleepy at some point so I just slept. But then there was like a 1.5 hour delay on their flight so more waiting D: and then had to wait for them to get off the plane, go through immigration, and get their baggage. 

So did not get to the apartment until 11:00PM...so not sure if it was even worth the wait. I decided to wait because I figured there wasn't much to do in the apartment anyways, aside maybe sleep. I assumed there was no internet there, too. So this way I could meet up with everyone + save money on the cab (and maybe getting scammed) since they provided a bus that took us there. 

Did a midnight run to the local convenience store. I think depending on what you buy the stuff is cheaper? I bought a celebratory drink, bottled milk tea, and 2 rolls of paper towels for 26¥ (~$4-5). 

Anyways, kinda excited to at least walk outside or something tomorrow so until next time!

Summer 2014 New York Trip

Was just about to type up this post when I realized that I didn't go on an annual New York trip at the end of July with friends as I normally did in the past 3 years(?). 

I went to New York on Sunday night (8/10), even though I was originally planning on going on Monday morning, but my mom wanted me to do earlier >_> Super stressed that day because I had no time to do anything and ended up flaking on one of my friends and luckily my aunt came over to drive me to the station and help me pack. Even as I was rushing out of the house, I ended up dropping a container of this herbal tea and it broke D: So I only had time to pick it up and throw it into the sink without cleaning up the mess. 

Primary reasons for this trip was helping my aunt get her visa and visiting friends from college. I got up in the morning to go to the consulate and within 5 minutes I was out the door because apparently you HAVE to have your flight and hotel booked before you can apply for your visa and my aunt had not done that, sooo it was such a waste of time going there! It was super sunny and far too. 

Not only that, but I wasn't supposed to meet up with my friend until 2:00-3:00PM but it wasn't even noon yet! I didn't have the keys to go home and by the time I did get back it'd be almost time to head out again, also waste of train fare.

So I ended up going to a Starbucks for like an hour or less. Apparently they charge for refills now too :O Whaat. Then decided to go to these bead stores on 6th Ave. I actually ended up walking in a huge circle because of that detour I took to go to Starbucks D: 

So spent maybe one hour in total in those stores as I waited for my friend to come. Ended up spending like $30 on a few things >< And I still feel like I don't have enough to make anything either.. didn't realize it was such an expensive hobby. I was kinda into crystal beads at some point and kind of got interested into more of the jewelry aspect of it, but nothing ever actually came out of that. 

After meeting up with my friend I went to Kambi and got their basic spicy ramen. It wasn't actually that spicy though, and I was super full halfway through, probs because I've cut down on the amount of food I've been eating lately, even though normally I'd probs have like two servings or something. 

Then went to Mango Mango for drinks and it was actually pretty good, though the crystal jelly was kind of weird. Then went home. My feet are so tired from walking all day :(

The next day considered of going to Joe's Shanghai and Cha Chan Tang for food. Then as nerdy as it sounds, we went to a PC cafe afterwards because we didn't know what to do. It was a lot cheaper than I expected ($2/hr) though the place was pretty hot.

It started pouring an hour before my bus though and I had to help my mom and aunt get pastries so that wasn't very fun. But yeah, that concludes the trip, so until next time!

Three More Weeks Until Shanghai!

A little less actually! I booked my flight a few weeks ago and I'm scheduled to fly off on the 24th. I'm still  waiting to get my visa back though, now that I think about it. I'm more or less set in terms of course selection as well. Hoping that the classes have enough people registered or I can't take it D: I was debating between taking a third year leveled Chinese language course or one that combines third and the subsequent semester, but opted for the former because the pace is a lot better. Even though it's twice the material, we have to learn it 4x faster o_O

The next two weeks are going to go by really quickly. I have my finals for my summer course in a few hours and I'm procrastinating with this entry instead lol.

Other things I have for the rest of the summer are seeing One Direction and Jesse McCartney =D And a wedding and some appointments. Sooo maybe it doesn't sound like too much but pretty sure it'll be over really quickly.

The excitement for Shanghai sort of died down after a while, but I'm sure in a week or so I'll be pretty excited or maybe even start missing home already lol. I started packing more the other day... and just putting in contact solution already took up so much space...wondering how I'm going to be able to pack everything. Ehhhh.

Anyways, until next time! Study time, maybe.

Tale of Two More Incidents

Written three weeks ago, but forgot to publish:

7/16/14

Just my luck lately, right?

I was driving and on a split to the freeway. I was on the wrong lane so I switched over to my left and the woman to my left (2 lanes from my original position) and behind me started honking like crazy. Then a minute afterwards she drove over into my lane right in front of me and decided to give me a brake test or something D: I'm so lucky that I was paying full attention at that time and stopped right in time or I would've hit her because she pulled up literally an inch in front of me. To make matters worse, right after she did that, she switched back into her lane on the left and sped off. Wtf who does that. If I had hit her and the person behind me wasn't paying attention, they would've hit me too. And worst of all, since I would've rear ended her, it would've been my fault, technically. -_- 

Other incident was kind of minor. So I slept sorta later than usual last night. I fell asleep at 11:45PM. My dad calls me at 11:50PM and 12:20AM, and I didn't pick up either because it was on silent and I was also asleep. 10 minutes later, he stands at my door, and starts calling out to me WTF. My room was dark, too. And of course I woke up and I couldn't sleep anymore because I was so mad he woke me up like that. So I went to scold him and he tells me, "I thought you were out and I wanted to see if you were home." Seriously? What kind of logic is yelling into a dark room? If I wasn't home then obviously I wouldn't answer and if I was, obviously I would be asleep. 

And on the topic, it does get annoying that he calls me often asking where I am. 90% of the time he's not even home, and I am, so it's just annoying. Like why are you checking up on me at 7PM? Maybe it's a parent thing, but I'm at the age where I find it annoying. 

Anyways, I'm so tired now :( been sleeping later than usual the past two days. I actually sleep like a normal person now lol.

Until next time!

Another one of those nights...

...Where I'm reminded of how much my mother irritates the hell out of me. I'm not going to go into the details of my life story, but I'm not a firm believer of being respectful to my parents no matter what happens. Yes, you should be respectful to people in general, but I'm not going to take it if I'm being completely trashed. If my personality is a bit fucked up, it's probably because of her or because I learned it from her. They say that children learn from the actions of their parents, don't they? If I don't have as much respect as I should, it's probably because I find it hard to show respect to someone who completely shits on me and blames me for everything and anything. Like, the world's problems are probably my fault. 

Oh yeah. While I'm on the topic (sorta), for the past 5+ years, I'm quite proud that I don't ask for any money and am a bit financially independent. I admit that I'm being housed and she cooks and whatever. I know I'm not the only one out there that depends on themselves, and there's people paying their own bills and whatnot, but for my extent, I'm proud. She doesn't buy me anything (not that I'm complaining), so I pay for my own things and I'm the one who pays for my tuition. When I go on trips, I spend my own money. Etc, etc. 

But last January, I stopped working and she started to give me an allowance every month. Even though I never spent any of it, it made me feel like I'm less independent and now that I think about it, why didn't I just refuse it if I'm not going to spend it?! Anyways, after getting into an argument with her last night, I gave it all back to her. Err, I wish I knew an exact amount, but I kind of just (over?) estimated. It's because I'm nitpicky with details, not because I feel like I'm at a loss. Even though I am a lot poorer, at the same time I feel relieved, as if independent again. I'm sure the thing will blow over soon and I only gave the money back because it was an in the moment thing, and I might regret it, but I shouldn't because it wasn't even mine to begin with. 

Hopefully, the next post won't be as dramatic. Until next time!

First a middle-aged woman, now a little girl?

Just earlier before I got home, I was walking behind a group of three girls for like, 5 seconds before I turned to my front door. Just as I turned, one of the girls gave me an attitude and told me, "can you wait, little girl?" D: First of all, I'm way older than she is because she looked 10. It's so ironic seeing her do that. Secondly, I walked behind them the entire time and turned only because I was at my door, so it's not like I walked past them and in front of them or anything, so.. what's the problem? I don't have a problem with walking past people either, unless you walk in front of them only to go at a slow pace. 

Even though I'm supposed to be the older one, I admit I did respond (badly) to her because I didn't do anything wrong so wtf. But now they know where I live T_T