Courtney in China, Letter 05

So we finally made it to Shanghai! I am so glad to be able to unpack my suitcase and do some laundry. The campus that we are at is really big, but there is a bus that runs through the campus every 15 mins. We are staying in the International Student dorms - it was an adventure trying to get settled yesterday. We had a graduate student come with us to help get us settled and be our interpreter, but spoke as much english as I speak Chinese. It was super difficult to understand what was happening - we were so confused. We finally figured out our room assignments and how to pay to take a shower (showers cost 2 yuan for like 10 mins) and do laundry, pay for electricity, etc.

The dorm layout is four bedrooms (two people in each room) with a shared bathroom that has 1 shower, 3 stalls, and 3 sinks. There is also a shared living room/kitchen- like area. There are no couches or any thing kitchen-like about it, but there is a big table with 8 chairs and a big shelf like pantry thing for each person. Each room, along with the living area, has a balcony and a/c. I am very happy with the dorms- they are a lot nicer than the hotels we have been staying in and bigger too. However, there is a law in China that says that a building with more than 6 stories has to have an elevator. Our building only has 6 stories so there is no elevator and we are on the 5th floor. The first day taking all of the stuff was pretty tiring, but it hasn't been a huge deal, just annoying. 

Around the campus there are many "canteens" or cafeterias. We have a card with money on it that we can buy food with. Some of the food is good, and a lot of the food is weird, and a lot of times I will try to order something and will end up with food I did not even know existed. Today we went to the big supermarket store thing in the mall that sells a lot of food and I got some ceral, milk, oreos, chips, and bread. 

The first day of class was today at 10am. The building is about a 15 min walk from our dorm. The class seems really hard, but she is willing to work with us to make sure we understand everything and get a good grade. 

Shanghai is good, we haven't seen the city yet, but so far so good!