Aaaaand she's back in town!

I have always used Virgin Atlantic to fly to Shanghai but I am finding it slowly getting worse and worse. I ended up moving 3 times on the flight to find a tv that worked as there was no way I was going to sit on an 11 hour flight without anything to do and I can never sleep on a plane. Luckily I got to sit in the escape exit row which gave me lots more space and since nobody was sitting beside me I could sit my chair back without feeling guilty.

Service wasn't so good as I recall before there would be night time snacks being served, constant drinks being offered, but instead there was nothing. You had to go to the kitchen area where there were some poured drinks and cookies. The food was quite awful and this was the first time I saw air hostesses "saving" food that hadn't been touched I presume to serve again on another flight.

Customs at Pudong was quite slow and painful and trying to get my heavy suitcases off the conveyor belt resulted in crushing my hand and a kind man helped me out. However, when I tried to get past quarantine I was pulled over and made to take the suitcases off my trolley on my own and place in the x-ray machine. Yep, not a single person to help and a lot of people behind getting frustrated I'm not moving fast enough...

 

Travel tip

A tip given to me was to go to the drop off at arrivals to get a taxi. The drivers there are keen to help and get back to Puxi and I find less likely to scam you than at the taxi rank. Driving along and it all felt so familiar seeing the same roads, same signs etc. I was a little rusty to respond to the driver but we got to my friend's house without a problem.

Seeing as I didn't sleep on the flight I was pretty tired but the humidity is so high here that I just wanted to shower at this point! We headed to the police station as it is stated that anyone arriving in Shanghai and not living in a hotel or school dorm needs to register for a temporary residents permit. From the last time I did this there wasn't too much of a problem apart from I needed the written permission from my landlord that I was living in their flat. But it seems the rules changed in Shanghai as of July 1st and it has become a lot stricter for foreigners. So the policeman was making so many excuses about documents I didn't have but I hadn't even enrolled yet. So I have no choice but to go tomorrow to discuss the case with my university to get some kind of form to say I was seeking accommodation outside of the university.

Later in the day my other friend joined us and we went to have dinner in a local place with really good bbq meat and huge urns outside which contains a steamed kind of soup. Tonight on the menu - fish head!

 

Chinese menu's are always amusing

I love these but have never seen them this long before!

Which university to study Mandarin in Shanghai?

I left Shanghai on the 16th of June and came back to England. It had been difficult to adjust being back but I also made the decision to go back to Shanghai to study another semester at Jiao Tong.

Before I left I went with a friend to visit other universities to see if they offered a better course. The first one we went to see was East China Normal University which sounded promising because it is known as the "teachers university", where students wishing to become teachers go to study. Also, our reading teacher graduated from there and she recommended it. The university is located quite a distance from the nearest metro stop, Jinshajiang Road.

The campus itself is beautiful with many trees, grass, even a bridge over a small river. The foreign student buildings are located in the far corner of the main campus and as you get closer to this area it becomes more run down. The classrooms are in places like shacks and with blackboards and no air conditioning - we came to realise how lucky we were in Jiao Tong.

The other university we visited was the Shanghai International Studies University located at Hongkou. Again the campus was very beautiful, quite modern and closer to the Metro than ECNU. I was interested in this university because they offered an intensive course which I thought could help me learn Mandarin faster, but I was to learn that it was only available for those who had no previous knowledge of Mandarin. Checking out the classrooms we found that the rooms were very dark with little sunlight, blackboards were again being used, and generally very run down.

I would highly recommend studying at Jiao Tong because the facilities are much better as well as the location. Each classroom uses whiteboards, has inbuilt computers and projectors, air conditioning and are all brightly lit. I have to admit though I'm not keen on the teaching hours because 90 minutes is a long time to concentrate without a break which was part of my reasons for looking at another course but I think I would rather do this than study in an environment that I didn't feel comfortable in.

I know many students choose Fudan University but I already found Hongkou to be quite far out and Fudan is even further. If you had the choice I would choose a university over a smaller school/company as last year I considered to study at one of these but they couldn't help with a visa and suggested I keep coming in and out on a tourist visa.

At Jiao Tong we study 3 hours a day (plus a 20 minute break), 5 days a week. We study reading, listening and speaking skills. There are elective courses in many areas from tai-chi, calligraphy, painting, business Chinese, and idioms, as well as many more. There are public holidays but you won't miss classes and be prepared (as is the norm in China), you may be required to attend classes on the weekend to make up for missing time due to pubic holidays!

 Campus at ECNU

 Surrounding area of ECNU

A family visit

I was very anxious in class to get out and meet Sami and Richie. I dropped my things off and headed to their hotel at the Bund. After meeting up we took a taxi to Yongfu Lu where there is an Elite club we were going to try to have tea there. I had walked past this place before and didn't know it was a bar/restaurant so it was interesting to walk in. They are very strict about no photos! However, we didn't find the tea menu and so we got a taxi and went to Xujiahui where I got to show them my favourite place which is in the basement of Metro City where there are many things to eat.

We went to the Udon restaurant which was nice and cheap for a big bowl of noodles. After lunch we took a taxi to People's Square to wait in Celina's hotel. We then went to Dapu Bridge station where there is a big hot pot restaurant. I had never seen something like this before where downstairs there are many small tables with games to play whilst waiting for a table and even places set up for manicures!

The service here was amazing and food was really good. You can mix your own sauces too.

The next day we had some small bao like xiaolongbao but made with bread it was really tasty. Then we took the sight-seeing bus and got off at Yu Gardens.

We made our way straight for the xiaolongbao restaurant and sat in the VIP section so we didn't need to wait. The minimum spend per person there is 150RMB. I had to quickly rush off to my class and then later met up with everyone at Xintiandi. I actually didn't know the Olympic torch was on display there so that was cool to see! We then walked through People's Square back to Celina's hotel and took a rest.

For dinner we went to Raffles City, upstairs is a big food court. I shared a roasted fish with Celina which was ok but not as nice as the fish I have more locally.  Then I had to say bye to Celina as she was heading back to Hong Kong the next day.