Connor in Shanghai - SJTU - Week 2: living like a local
During my first week in Shanghai, you may remember that it all went super fast. Each day was full of many activities and too many new experiences to count. However, that's usually the experience for many tourists in China. The experience that I get to have that is different than the average tourist is that I get to experience life in China more similarly to a local. I get to have the downtime, the daily experience where I get to actually get used to living in a new country.
Something that I've picked up while I've been here is the difference in the quality of the bikes. We are able to use this awesome system called "hello bike" which is essentially the Chinese equivalent of lime or spin bikes, except much cheaper. Something that I've noticed is that there is a wide variation of quality between the bikes. Some don't break very well, some don't have a phone stand, etc. The best bikes are the ones with the phone holder and orange rims. They seem to be the newest ones and are always very smooth.
I then met up with my friend from high school, who attends NYU Shanghai. He showed me around the city and his favorite spots, which included a delicious pecking duck restaurant, which I enjoyed with his Chinese friend and him.
Going on a bike ride around new bund, I explored a lot of the areas that foreigners don't typically visit. The everyday streets of Shanghai.
In the mall, we found a beautiful art shop. However, it also had a lot of AI art, which we found very interesting. It was also being listed for tens of thousands of dollars, which we were confused about why someone would pay 20k for AI art. Also, I somehow ended up paying $20 for a Starbucks cheesecake that was mid at best. Note to other people planning to visit china: make sure that you know how much you are paying, and don't be afraid to say no or 太贵了, which means too expensive.
We learned that the school next to us is a very rich international high school, and some of the kids have Ferraris that they park out front.
To get a small taste of home, we went to an Italian restaurant to get some pasta. It was very expensive compared to other Chinese food, but similar prices to a restaurant in America. It ended up being a pretty small portion, but was very delicious.
The bund is always and continues to be absolutely beautiful at night.
Overall, my second week has been an absolute blast, despite being less active than the first week. I've learned so many new things, including starting to be able to speak a little bit of Mandarin. I know some basic phrases, such as how to say hello, thank you, and ask where the bathroom is.
Unfortunately my posts were delayed for a while for a reason, but you'll have to wait until the next post to hear about that! Fortunately China has an amazing system to retrieve lost items that is unlike anything in the US.
Anyways, bye bye!









