Day 51: February 23, 2013 That's a Rap!

     None of us had any trouble sleeping in although the strange noises of everything from cats to some sort of ritual were a little distracting. Once we were all up and showered, without any towels, we gladly checked out of the strange hostel but not before a long conversation with the owner. My thoughts that he was strange were only affirmed as he used really weird abbreviations like TIC (This Is China) and uni (university) and told us he was from Snoop Doggy Dog’s hometown, which none of us even knew. 

     After escaping the weird conversation we got out of our alley, which actually turns into a market in the daylight, and walked down the street to find some lunch. We found some decent looking soup and rice that were really good even though we ate at a restaurant with a grade C hygiene rating for the 2^nd or 3^rd time in Xiamen. After lunch, we headed back down to the pedestrian street, got some ice cream, and sat by the water to enjoy the beautiful day. 

     One thing I don’t understand about China is how people can still be wearing their winter coats when its 75 degrees out! We were all stripping down and people must have thought we were crazy. After sitting by the water for a while all of the sudden someone came up from behind us and just grabbed Adam and acted like they were going to throw him in the water. It turned out to be the group of guys we met the night before, including Robert who named us all. After a brief talk with them they had to catch the ferry over to Gulangyu and we soaked up the sun for about another 30 minutes before we had to make our way to the airport. Sadly enough I think we all got a little burnt since we aren’t really used to actually seeing the sun in China. 

     Sad to leave on such a beautiful day, we got in a cab and told him to take us to the airport but then he kept asking us questions and pointing different directions. We were really confused because we were pretty sure there was only airport so we didn’t know where the confusion was coming from. Eventually we just pointed one way and then realized he was asking whether we wanted to take the scenic route around the island or cut through the city. Luckily we took the scenic route because it was a great view of the island and we even got to see Taiwan from across the water. We passed all sorts of beaches with tandem bikes that we wished we could stay one more day and take advantage of. 

     After not too long we got to the airport and got through security and realized we were all ready for a snack before the flight. We all stopped at Starbucks to use their wifi and ended up getting these really good Panini sandwiches for pretty cheap. I got a chicken, apple, and swiss sandwich with an apple tea late which really hit the spot. 

     After bumming some wifi for a little we headed towards the gate to find out that our flight was going to board 30 minutes late so we all took a bathroom break, which turned out to be pretty interesting for me. I was in a stall with the door locked and a women just played with the door until it came open and then fully opened the door while standing behind it so I was just standing there in my underwear with like 3 people just looking at me until I could grab the door and close it. So that was pretty awkward, but then again people use squatting toilets with the door open all the time so I guess I’m really the one who should be embarrassed. 

     Anyway, after that we waited for a little while until the shuttle to our flight boarded and then I rushed my way onto the plane and got to sit down and get situated before the crowd all got on. As we were sitting on the plane we realized we were not actually flying into Pudong Airport where we normally go but Hongqiao, which we had never been to before. After talking to some people on the plane we figured out that Hongqiao is actually way closer to Minhang, which is where our new campus is.

That's a rap! What a trip!

     Once we landed we got on the subway to start our adventure to find our new home. We decided to stop back by Xujiahui so that Adam could try to get his package from the hotel, which didn’t end up working, and grabbed some street noodles for dinner since we didn’t know the next time we would be able to get some. After that we got back on the subway, which was pretty crowded but not very confusing.  

     We made it to the right stop without much of an issue other than this one girl that kept kicking me for some unknown reason. Once we got to the stop we really had no idea where we were going but tried to stop in the Supermarket to get some towels and stuff for our dorm room but unfortunately they were just closing. We grabbed some street bread as a snack for the road and just started walking until we realized we weren’t even on the right road. We decided to not even mess with getting lost again and got a cab that took us right onto campus and then some nice students helped us find our building. We had to get let in to the building since our ID’s didn’t work yet and after getting our keys from the front desk headed up to our rooms. I was very pleasantly surprised at how big and nice our rooms were and couldn’t have been happier. We all threw down our stuff and caught up with the other groups and then decided to do a giant picture exchange to get it over with. We did that while doing some unpacking and then were all pretty excited just to keep to ourselves for the night. I got to briefly Skype my parents to tell them about my trip and then couldn’t have been happier to get a good night’s sleep in my new bed.