I like elevators

I can't even begin to explain how much has happened.

In short, life has begun. I've made it to Shanghai, I don't believe my blog has made it even this far. My actual program is at the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, and this new life of mine is in full swing.

So what exactly am I doing here?

Classes started and they are awful and wonderful in equal proportion. I have three hours of intensive Chinese every morning, and then two seperate three hour seminars one on International Finance and the other on "China: Economic Giant". Both are pretty chockful of mild propaganda. Its the most interesting phenomenon all of our teachers have PhDs from Chinese universities. They are considered extremely liberal and cutting edge if not revolutionary in how much they stray from the "textbook Chinese academian". Despite this, it is massively evident that China is still the center of the universe in their minds. It seems that the extent of their liberalism makes it so that they can recognize the failures of Mao ZeDong but insist on the immaculate perfection of Deng XiaoPing, Hu Jintao, and Wen JiaBao. They believe the statistics that the government releases quoting 6.8 percent quarterly growth for 2008Q4 and believe that while the free-market has merits, that the current transition of government-managed state-owned enterprise is a beautiful blend of power and autonomy.

It is so odd to come from Brandeis University and being inundated in "Less is More" government ideology and then come to find such a stark difference and have it heralded as daring. The actual class material is FASCINATING mixed in with the "propaganda" are critiques of government publications that come from the World Bank, Harvard Business Review and Nobel winning economists. The combination of Eastern Perspective lectures and Western Perspective course packets are giving me tremendous insight into the various lenses, differences, and understandings of International Economics from both ends of the world.

The caliber of my classmates is rather sorry. There have been questions about what the most basic of economic terms mean (and these classes are taught in English). Petty cries for extra credit, breaks from class, leiniency in assignments, and every other comfort to lessen the work load steal time from the professor and brain cells from my head. Fortunately, the system is set up to encourage those who care to be able to accomplish a lot. We are expected to complete a Capstone Project with a 5,000 minimum summary - a research report that uses primary references collected from our experiences in China as well as secondary (academic) papers. The chance to interview and survey the officials and business of China should be really neat.

I've also managed to land an internship here. I'll be working at the Chi Heng Foundation. They're a UN funded NGO that works on a village-by-village basis to directly fund the education of impovershed AIDS victims in rural Central China. I'm working at the Shanghai Office helping with Business Development, fundraising, editing and translation. I start that next week, but I'm eager for the opportunity.

Internship Applications are starting to get responses, and I have an interview with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) ((in America)) for the summer within the next week or so. These sorts of "job" related things can make it feel like everything is going your way, but its just an interview and I need to not get my hopes up. (Note: Please don't tell me I'll do well and get it -- that won't let me not get my hopes up)

The campus I live on is a pretty decently famous/high quality/well known university. I'm living in a dorm with a Chinese roomate. He's pretty cool and we always talk in Chinese - he has these two friends that he always hangs out with and the three of them are like the three stooges but in Chinese ~ its a blast to hang out with them and be a part of the HIGH_POWER_FAST_PACE_GO_GO_GO_ chinese that they speak. Much of it goes over my head, but I'm glad to be included, and I get more than most would here in my program. I tested into the highest level of Chinese, there are only 4 people in my class, and of these my level is probably the lowest. One is born to Chinese parents and speaks chinese at home (and has studied Chinese for 3 years at Harvard) and the other two have been in China for the past year. Its good to be in a higher level course, because the best way to learn is by drowning.

Communication has been really troublesome, I may finally be getting somewhere on the road to fixing my computer, at which point I hope to me much more in touch with you all.

Entirely stream of consciously I want to talk about the back street behind my university. Its this mile long strip of holes-in-the wall. Everyone is a mini entrepreneur, sells their noodles or their market goods or their trinkets or has a little grill and cooks everything from bread to squid and sells them on sticks. Knowing which places are cheapest and best can make the world of difference - being intimidated by locals that speak to fast and have no mercy on your limited language skills is easy to do but can half the wonderfulness of the experience. I like the area I live in, and more than anything like feeling a little comfortable here rather than being under this massive weight of uncertainty as i was my last time in China.

My mood swings a pretty wide span over the course of a day or a week. I wish I had the opportunity to have already recorded it all in my blog, its been an important beginning to my trip. Things are going pretty well, I miss my families in Florida and Boston, and a few of the things we all take for granted. I miss them a lot, but I feel like things are going about as well as I could possibly have asked for them too here, and I'm extremely grateful for it.

I wrote a bijillion things I wanted to talk about in this post, but of course left that paper lying around elsewhere. If the post seems factual and lifeless ~ my sincerest apologies, there's just so much I've missed out on writing about that the feelings are a thing of the past.

I want to write a funny sentence for me to make a title from. I like elevators.