Shanghai: Day 1

I am lying in bed in Shanghai, and still wheezing from the smog. This city is amazing, but damn is it harsh. I spent the day recovering from the jet lag of flying to the US from Italy, and then flying to China in less than 24 hours. Let my give the backstory. I won a paper competition, which you probably know from previous posts. The prize was an all expenses trip to Italy to check out the packaging machinery companies and culture there. Let me just tell you, Italy is one of the coolest places on this planet. Everything about the country is amazing. If you have even an inkling of desire to visit Italy, just go, now. It wouldn’t have been that hard to fend for myself with my horrible Italian, and the sights are just about enough to make you cry. While writing, I realized all you really need to do is listen to Viva Hate, Morrissey’s first solo album, and the world is in harmony. Now, back to the matter at hand (Ill get back to Italy with some pictures when I can, right now Shanghai is in my lungs).

Shanghai is really an intriguing city. It is very strange here. Almost cold, although the climate is anything but. The language barrier is awful, but most know tidbits of English, and I feel like a stupid American not knowing Mandarin, even though its really not necessary. I felt worse in Italy. Here people mostly speak English to you if you are white. In Italy I was routinely mistaken, and had to humbly replay that I was “Americano” and then get the ugly language from the Italians. Their language really is beautiful. English, especially American English is ugly, no if’s and’s or but’s. Yeah, and other common words are horrible compared to Si, Grazie, and Prego. Oh well, that’s just a rant. Shanghai is amazing. It is really a unique place, and such a multicultural space (almost feels like an experiment). I just finished watching the Brazil vs. Ghana world cup match at a local restaurant, and it was pretty awesome. It may sound silly, but watching a soccer match in Mandarin sounds a lot like German (the games were played in Italian and German in Italy). Back to music, I missed a friggin free concert with Depeche Mode and Morrissey by a day in Milan when in Italy. We were on a tight schedule of tours and city tours, so it really was impossible to stray, but damn that would have been cool.

Alright, thats it for tonight, I'll let you know a bit more tomorrow. (Ill also let you know the secret about Italy and the internet) Ciao.