Shanghai and My First College Fair!

6/20

So another eventful day here in China, as I feel every day is going to be. I had the option to sleep in until 9 this morning, but of course I woke up early yet again (this time only at 8 tho instead of 6), and

Shanghai

the social networked a bit with everyone in the midst of orientation session #4. After my fill of Instagram and WeChat I dragged my butt out of bed and attempted to make my ever so broken straightener work. It's was a task in and of itself because even though the hotels do have American plug outlet options, because one prong is slightly bigger than the other it didn't fit, so I had to try to fandangle it into my converter which just failed miserably. I attempted to take some of the tape that was lodging my straightener off to tape it to the wall but that just resulted in my straighter falling apart completely. So RIP strainer, it's been real, thanks for all the hard work and fabulous hair days, I owe ya.

After I mourned the death of my beloved straightener for a moment I went to plan B, a little poof and

Soup

ponytail; it's always a reliable back up plan. Luckily I had my outfit mentally picked out the night before so that was a stress free affair. Cilla was awake at home so we WeChatted a bit which was nice, and then I put on some Beyonce radio and went to work on my makeup. After my morning routine I went to meet Kevin so we could go over the presentation I was doing at the college fair later that afternoon. It was pretty basic, a lot like the stuff I blab about while on tour every day back at home. I sent him a few photos to include at the end of me in all my UMaine gear and around campus and whatnot and then we parted ways until we checked out at noon.

We (sadly) bid the Marriott adieu and heard cover to the hotel that was hosting the college fair. We sat down for a quick lunch of wonton and prawn (whole prawn with their legs and heads and everything) and then headed into the fair. Turns out that we were the only American universities which was ok, except no one wanted to come talk to us because we don't speak mandarin. Luckily though a couple showed interest so we weren't too too bored. At about three thirty it was my turn to go on stage and talk about UMaine. There were quite a few people there and luckily I am not a shy person so I hopped right up there and started blabbing away in English, stopping after every slide so Kevin could translate. Pretty sure he left out most of my pointless stories, but I think the audience was entertained by me at least.

My First College Fair!

Most were snapping photos of the weird white girl laughing and pointing at the slides up on stage. A least they weren't bored!! So after I returned to the other room where we were just waiting for people to come talk to us about our universities and we decided to leave. We headed out front and much to my surprise there was an Indian man as the bell hop!!! Of course I went right up to him and started chatting away. He went to school in Delhi and was a hospitality student, hence why he was working at a hotel. I had to get my picture taken with him, feeling a kinship, and then in turn he of course took one with me, which just felt so right because I basically spent an entire semester getting my picture taken with strange Indian men. Anyways, apparently Kevin was having trouble hailing a legit taxi because a rickshaw looking thing pulled up to take us to the train station. It was just too perfect for the situation and I couldn't help but be in a fantastic mood. The driver even acted Indian, being like a maniac and almost getting us killed in the opposite lane of traffic and everything!! I was loving life and the ride to the train station was way too short for my liking.

We were early for our train, we were supposed to take an even earlier one but the fair ran over, so we

"University of Maine" 

headed into McDonald's to try it out. I got a Big Mac, fries, and of course a milk tea with pearls, my absolute favorite thing. Per usual, it was a mistake to eat Micky D's, I feel like absolute crap now, but I had to at least try it. We headed into the actual train station to sit and eat, there was no seating in McDonalds, and finally found some after getting our bags checked and wandering around for a bit. Propping my feet up on my carry on I went to work on the Big Mac and it tasted just like it should. The fries were nasty and stale, but of course I ate almost half of them anyways, don't ask me why, I have no idea. I nursed the milk tea, well tried to, in reality I inhaled it because it was so good. We just killed time by sitting and talking and then finally got to head to our train. We had to all pile up an escalator and then back down a flight of stairs, which was quite a feat with all of our luggage, but we finally made it to our platform. After a few failed attempts to get jumping pictures we clambered into the train and after a slight argument with an old man

Located the Only Indian in Shanghai

about him stealing our seats (where we were actually in the wrong car and he was actually in his seat) here we sit in our too-comfy seats, on our way to Shanghai. 

So on a different note, apparently I don't have to work tomorrow at all, which is sweet because I get to go on a city tour with Kevin instead... can't complain about that! But yes, we should be getting to Shanghai at around 9:30 or 10, and I'm sure I am just going to crash when we get there, but who knows, we might head out to explore for all I know. I guess I will just have to wait and see!

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All settled in and showered at yet another incredible hotel. I gotta say, StudyGroup really is pulling out all the stops for its interns. Tomorrow I have a free day and Kevin and I are taking a city tour while Janet heads to a college fair, I'm assuming that on Monday we will be switching places and she will go out on tour while I go to work, but we will see if it pans out like that. Shanghai is beautiful, or at least in the dark it is. All of the buildings are lit up from the outside with colorful lights and designs, even under all the bridges and underpasses are lit up with blue lights. This certainly won't be a boring city, that's for sure. This hotel, called Renaissance, is really nice, although not as fancy as the Marriott in Ningbo. The lobby, which is on the fourth floor, is incredible, so obviously I was shameless in snapping photos of it while Kevin checked us in. We also have to pay for Internet which is a bummer, but it is what it is I guess. I have another rain shower so I put that to good use, checked in with WeChat, and although I am still not really tired I am going to attempt to hit the hay because I'm up pretty early tomorrow to catch a 9am train from all the way across town. Hopefully Shanghai lives up to my expectations! I'm sure it will :)

Today, my life is just Shelby.