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Placement Test /Old Town

Today has been a rather long day for me. Got up at arround 7 to go and have the placement test over at Fudan. The test was really short, I just had to talk to a teacher for about 5 mins - then she said I was lvl B and that was that. Considered to change to lvl C instead (wich is one lvl higher, A is the lowest and J the highest), but decided against it because we will be racing thorough the textbook in only 2 weeks learning about 50 new words every day. While waiting for my turn I got to know two German girls; Vicki and Ruth. They were both really nice so we hanged out with them while waiting on the lists of who was to go to what classroom and such. We had about 3 hours to kill, so we went to the mall close to Fudan and did some shopping plus lunch. Ruth, Iman Irene and Vicki were all B-level just like me, but I didn't end up in the same class as any of them.. because it turned out there are 3 classes at B-level. When I got to the classroom it was just me and the teacher there for what felt like ages, she kept on talking to me in both english and chinese, asking tons of questions about me and Norway and my school, etc.. luckily some of the others showed up eventually though. In the end we were about 10 people that showed up, while we were maybe 20 on the list. After buying textbooks we all went on a campus tour. Fudan is definitely a big university - so big the people that work there normally send us a map of where to meet them etc.. hehe. I know the way to my summer course classroom at least, thats a start.
After shool I went to check out the Old Town with Cathrine, Katrine and Iman Irene. I liked this part of the city, closer to what you think China will look like sort of.. what is kind of sad is that they have modernized even the buildings in Old Town and it's full of shops and stuff inside several old buildings. They had even put starbucks and mcdonalds in there. I still liked it though, it was very different from the rest of Shanghai and it was a cool contrast seeing the skyscrapers in the background.

Quiet time

So today we had been told to stay inside all day because of the supertyfoon Muifa possibly landing on us, but as it turned out Muifa wasn't interested and it moved up to northern China instead. The wind was definitely stronger than normal, but not fatal - Miu could even take the plane back to Norway today. We still stayed inside most of the day, just in case.. but nothing really seemed to happen outside and after a while I could even see the sun going down - only a few clouds. The weather has been worse here several times already, this was nothing. Today was a really slow day for me, I mostly studied chinese characters, watched some shows I have on my computer, talked to people on msn and listened to music. In the evening we decided it was lame staying inside when there was hardly any wind so we went down to the store and got some more food - there was tons of hyperactive chinese people outside, walking their dogs, playing badmington and shopping at the mall, guess they were tired of staying inside as well. The three of us had dinner together, Cathrine makes awesome noodles, and then it was back to chinese characters and the internet for a few hours before going to sleep. Tomorrow we are going back to Fudan to have our placement test and be divided into classes for the summercourse, its so exciting! So yeah just wanted everyone to know Muifa didn't affect me whatsoever, but I guess you all probably know that from watching the news. Oh and by the way, the wiew from our balcony looks even cooler by night, especially when the picture is taken with Iman Irene's awesome camera:

Registration Day

We were kind of worried about how the weather would be today, but since we didn't hear from the university we decided to head to registration day anyhow. Unlike the others living here in Rainbow City we decided to take the subway and then walk rather than take a taxi. This wen't great and we found the way and everything, we did however calculate a bit too little time to walk from the station to Fudan. We got more and more stressed out while walking there in the heat, even ran for a few meters trying to make it on time. We were about 2 minutes late, but everyone were still at the main gate so we did sort of make it. Registration Day was mostly about filling out forms (in chinese, but we got help), getting our temporary student cards and our schedules for the summer course plus some maps and stuff. The Chinese told us that the placement test we were supposed to have tomorrow have been postponed to monday due to Muifa (the tyfoon) and that we should all stay inside tomorrow. The weather today was pretty warm, some wind and rain every now and then, but nothing I would call a storm yet, then again if the tyfoon does hit it will hit in the evening/night. Now they are saying on the news that the tyfoon might actually pass China and have its landing point in Korea instead though, but I guess we should wait and see inside just in case. Miu was supernice to us and made us dinner - it all tasted really awesome and it was great to all have dinner together in our new appartment. I guess tomorrow will be a really slow day, I guess I will try and study some chinese - seems I will be very safe though, not freaking out about Muifa anymore.

Wooooot?

Ok now Im kind of freaking out a little bit. When Iman Irene got home from the store a few hours ago she was all "ok girls, crisis meeting!".. apparently there is a super tyfoon coming this weekend called Muifa or something, strongest that have ever hit Shanghai. We wen't down to E-mart again to get supplied for the weekend - 5 kilos of rice, vegetables, water.. and I got some cola as well, hehe :P I really hope it won't be as bad as Im affraid of right now, and that my building is strong enough to withstand it - I live on the 37th floor so if it falls over and Im inside I guess Im pretty dead. I have been reading quite a few articles about Muifa and how strong it might be, seems like there will be tons and tons of rain at least and stormy weather, hopefully that's all it will be.. guess we will be evacuated if there's any risk of buildings falling down. I sure hope so! We're supposed to go to school tomorrow as well, to registrer for the summer course, but if it's full storm outside Im not sure how that will work. The predictions are now that it will hit in the evening though, so unless we hear anything else I guess we should go to school as planned.

At least I got to try hotpot before this pretty scary weekend - we decided to treat Miu to dinner because she has been so nice helping us out our first days here in China. Having her here have really made things easier as she knows the language and stuff! Hotpot is pretty amazing, you get a small cauldron to boil stuff in and well yeah - stuff to boil. We had tons of different things, vegetables, meat, fish, etc - was a great dinner, really.

Looking outside now everything seems so normal, was a lot of people down at e-mart getting tons and tons of food though - so I guess they are all worried about Muifa. Ah well all I can do is wait and see what happens I guess.

Big Change

So today we all dedcided to go to the hairdresser - it is way cheaper in China than Norway, and I really needed to do something about my hair.
I got to admit it was sort of scary for me going to color and cut my hair at a place where I could hardly even explain what I wanted, etc.. but it did turn out pretty cool, so it's allright. I told the people working there I wanted some light golden brown color (pointed at it and everything), and they got to work. Two of the hairdressers spendt ages on my hair - maybe because it's kind of long, who knows.. As the color started to take hold I realised it was a little lighter than I thought it would be and I got kind of ancious. The Chinese just smiled and threw me a "hen hao - very good!!". For a second I thought it was all bright yellow, but luckily it's not - it's not golden brown either, or well the bottom is, but the top is blonde, hehe. It's such a huge change I don't even know what I think myself yet, but here it is - my new hair:
The color and cut cost me 978 yuan, so that's about 800 something NOK I think - I had to pay more because my hair is long apparently, hehe ^^ Anyways, thats my new hair, laters :)

The financial district

After we had checked out the neighbourhood and then relaxed for a few hours, Cathrine and I decided to go check out the financial district. I really loved it there, it's so modern with tall buildings everywhere, the pearl tower, etc. It was even greater when it got a little dark and we took tons of great pictures. We found a few cool shopping centres in the area as well, and I found a huuuge Uniqlo - wich is one of my favorite stores in the world, so Im pretty happy ^^ Now Im going to sleep in the new appartment for the first time, after making some sandwiches (yaaay I can find real bread in China) and surfing the net for a few hours :)

Our Place

Today I moved my last stuff into the new appartment, so I oficially moved to Rainbow City - wuhu! :) Our appartment is pretty big with a livingroom, a kitchen, 2 bathrooms, 3 bedrooms and 2 balconys. The bedrooms aren't 100% the same size so we are going to switch rooms every 3 months to make it fair. As I said earlier it's on the 37th floor so the wiew is pretty awesome - we can see the TVtower and everything. I promised to post some pictures, so here's the 3 bedrooms and the livingroom:Today I have mostly been unpacking and just fixing stuff. The internet took a while to fix, and before our appartment agent got here we had to try and speak with my awfull chinese + gestures to the guy setting it up. Li You speaks english AND chinese though luckily, and he got here kind of quick. We also handed in some papers to a guy from the police for our temporary residence permit. Afterwards Irene and her mother went seightseeing or something like that while Cathrine and I just hanged out at the appartment and the area surrounding it, I got to say I love the shoppingcentre directly next to our appartment complex. We also went to a vegetable store that was run by this really sweet couple, they gave us free fruit and stuff :)

Update from Shanghai

Here we are, back at the Starbucks next to our hotel. Been a few sort of busy days, saying goodbbye to my friends Guri and Luna and moving some stuff to the appartment etc. Guri is going back to Oslo and Luna are going to study in Japan - happy that I got to meet them before they left though :) Saturday we had dinner with some of Guris friends at a danish restaurant called Kommune - pretty nice place actually and it's cool that you can find a danish restaurant in Shanghai, hehe. Sunday Cathrine, Irene, Miu and I wen't shopping before I went to Guris to get some of the stuff she couldn't take with her back home to Norway. Ended up with a huge backpack, a laundry basket and two bags - all filled with stuff! She gave me everything from beers, old food and candles to shoes, an umbrella and body lotion. Kind of like christmas :P
We got the keys to our appartment yesterday and started to wash a little bit, etc. Going to be great living there I think. Nice that we still have some days at the hotel as well so we don't have to stress too much with the cleaning and stuff- We went shopping for linens and stuff as well, the store close to the appartment complex is huuuge! They have everything, really - see for yourself:thats right, they have frogs for sale - just 15 yuan :) I got some more pictures of the appartment as well, but I think I wan't to make an entry just about the appartment a little later - plus it takes ages to upload pictures at Starbucks and we're going to IKEA soon to buy some more stuff that we need. Anyways just wanted to give you an update really, take care everyone :D

Things falling into place

So I found the best internet arround - at starbucks! :) We get to use it for free if we buy something and it's right across the street from our hotel. The connection is about a million times faster than in my room as well. Anyways a lot of things have happened since my last update, even it's only been a few days. Yesterday we wen't to look at appartments in Linping/Rainbow city - seemed like a pretty cool appartment complex and we looked at about 10 different flats. Eventually all 3 of us fell in love with an appartment on the 37th floor - we liked the interior, the rooms were about the same size, not to mention the amazing wiew!The rent is 8000 yuan in total per month, wich is kind of allright for a 3 room flat in Rainbow city really :DIm going to take more pictures and post them later on, as we actually decided to take it. Running short on time now thought as we need to go sign the contract in a few minutes. I heard finding a place would be quick, but not this quick - and such a cool place too! In the evening I went out with Guri and Luna (my friends from University of Oslo). The nightlife here seems awesome actually, a lot of nice places to go. We wen't to a place called The Place and one called Shelter. Shelter was pretty special, had to enter thorough a tunnel etc, at The Place it was Ladys Night so we got free drinks. Awesome day and awesome evening.

A new beginning

So this is crazy - I am now sitting at the hotel in central Shanghai - the biggest city in China! Even crazier.. not going home for a while. The wiew is like a huge christmas tree - sooo many lights! Anyways, I would like to tell you about the trip down here and the first day! :)

The morning of the 26th of july started out with some last minute cleaning - packing the last load of laundry and stuff. Victoria came over to help out and also to say goodbye. My parents and Ludvig came to pick me up and in the end we decided Victoria should come to the airport with us as well. Ludvig was really upset - as he lost one of his friends at Utøya in the terrorism attack and I felt really bad for leaving him, but at least talking about playing RISK put a smile on his face for a little while. Hope he will be allright. We went to Gardemoen and met Irene and Cathrine (my future room matets) with their friends and family as well - was a lot of really hard goodbyes for all 3 of us - Irene didn't leave everyone at home though, her mother is here with us now to help us out finding a place to stay and all that. After a short stop in Helsinki we moved on to the longer part of our trip down to Shanghai. On the way we met up with another guy from our class here in China that stays at our hotel as well - Alf. The plane was pretty fancy and we had our own tiny screens that we controlled and everything, food wasn't too bad either - the kids in front of Cathrine and me kind of annoyed us though, put their seats all the way to the back even if they weren't even sleeping all the time, etc. With so little space it was impossible for me to get any sleep at all - hard enough for me on planes as it is. Watched 3-4 movies, failed at falling asleep, listened to music and played on my DS most of the flight that lasted for about 8 and a half hours. It wasn't too bad really :)
We landed about 7.30 AM local time and arrived at a not too crowded airport. The security checks wen't smooth and quick - no lines or anything, probably because we landed so early. As you can see in this picture I was tired, but very happy when I arrived:

We decided to take taxis to the hotel so we wouldn't have to stress with it and try to find our way with all of the luggage (the other two girls actually had two big suitcases each). The trip to our hotel was an adventure in itself, at least for Cathrine and me (we were sharing a taxi). The driver was listening to really loud chinese techno music, sometimes singing along. I didn't mind that too much as it reminded me of J-pop. What I did mind was how he all of a sudden didn't know the way anymore, demanded that we called someone and didn't listen when we tried to read the adress to him. Cathrine succeded on her third try of showing him the road though, but somehow we were now stuck in traffic. Mr taxidriver didn't mind that at all though, gave him time for a quick smoke :) We finally made it to our hotel in the end and met up with the rest, what a relief! I got to start remembering more of my chinese, really.. maybe it would have helped us a bit. It was still early, so we decided on sleeping for about 3 hours befor going out again to fix a few things. When we went out again a little later the heat was pretty insane, apparently at arround 33 or 34 degrees, but the air is so humid you notice a lot more here. We walked arround a bit, ate and got simcards for our phones, poweradaptors, subway keycards, etc. My first impression of Shanghai is that is a BIG BIG BIG city, and its also really cool :) Best wiew today was of the TVtower and the buildings arround it, but the city in general looks so modern and clean and just.. different from what Im used to :)

Anyways that's Shanghai so far – will blog more later, not sure if I will be able to use the internet everyday though as it costs money. Facebook appears blocked as well, so I won't be able to link this post there, but hey at least the ones of you that follow me can read it.

Love from Shanghai! :)

An unreal reality

Everybody know by now Im sure - that the guy behind both of the attacks on Norway july 22nd was in fact norwegian.
He said he would rather be hated than forgotten and I had a hard time remembering his name, so I won't look it up as I will in fact try to forget it, even if I can never forget the guy or what he did. While it's awfull that one man can do all of this damage, at least it isnt some big terrorism organisation that is out to get us and that's always something.
Oslo the last few days simply haven't looked like itself. I had to go downtown to pick up my friend Rob on the bus on the day of the actual attacks and it was a freaking ghosttown.. police everywhere blocking streets, all of the buses stopping outside of the city centre.. very few people all looking freaked out.. I just walked on as quick as I could as I didn't really want to be there for long. People are out in the streets again now, but there are still military everywhere, with machine guns.. to others this might not be such a big deal, but for Oslo to have armed military out in the open like this is completely unreal to us - haven't been needed since world war 2.
Yesterday was the day of my goodbye party, at first I felt like canceling it because of what happened - but then I realised it's better for us to stick together than grief on our own, and I still wanted to see everyone before leaving for Shanghai. We didn't go out and we didn't celebrate, but we did get together. Sticking together and taking care of eachother is the only thing we can do in times like these. Those of my friends that showed up were all kind of sad, but we all agreed it was nice to get together and talk to eachother about this - see some friendly faces, not just sadness. Some of us knew people that were at Utøya, people they still dont know wether or not are safe. Still we got together and tried to make the best of it.. what else could we do? I love all of my friends so much, Im really going to miss them. Even while they were so sad they wanted to show up and say goodbye, said they would always be there for me and that they would come to pick me up if I dared to try and stay longer than a year in China.. I feel as if Im leaving them behind at a bad time, and I don't really want to. At the same time I don't feel as if I can cancel my flight to China and simply stay behind either.I am in fact leaving the day after tomorrow and that's just weird for me right now.
Rob was leaving today, so we went downtown so he could have at least a short look on all the tourism thingies downtown.. it was hard for me to see the broken glass that's still outside of some stores there - made it more real for me I guess. Sad to see Rob leave as well, he didn't get to see Norway the way it's supposed to be, the way it has always been. It was still nice to see him again and it was good to not be alone the day of the attack. Just rambling on now I guess - not a very well structured or well written blogpost, but it was nice for me to write it at least - get some feelings out there. Now the appartment is empty again, but Im just staying her for two more nights anyways and seeing how people show their support by putting flowers outside of the church of Oslo keeps my spirits up. Seems sticking together and caring for eachother is what norwegians try to do now in general.

Outlet

This entry probably wont make any sense to anyone, but I need some sort of outlet right now to just write about some feelings and stuff. There was an explosion today downtown - they don't know if its terrorism or not yet, but its likely.. nothing happens here ever, it's completely unreal to me to watch the news and know it's all 15 minutes from here. I am fine though, just in shock - I was far enough away. I actually heard the explosion though, was at my grandmother place with my grandparents, my brother, uncle and cousin.. we thought it was just thunder or something like that. To make things worse, some maniac with a machine gun went cray at the labour party's youth camp at Utøya. Who would want to hurt Norway? I have no idea.. it was in the government quarters and then at that youth camp - if their connected can it be political activists? who knows.. I really dont. And now their saying

"Norway on allert, Norway under attack"

on CNN.. this is just a complete nightmare.. really. I guess all I can do is light a candle for the victims of this tradgedy and hope there wont be another explosion. My friend from the Netherlands, Rob, is on his way to Norway now as well - Im not supposed tgo go outside and the traffic is affected as well so he will just have to get on the first bus on his own. Ludvig cant get home either or we dont want him to travel thorough the city centre right now.. its all so messed up never thought anything like this would happen to Norway ever.

Coffee and even more cleaning :P

Yesterday I grabbed some coffee with Kaja downtown and I realised that
when I thought it was just the people I would miss I was wrong. I will actually miss the city of Oslo itself as well, hehe. Sure its not the largest capitol in the world, or the cheapest, or the cleanest.. but it's still home and I will miss Karl Johans gate, having cofee at Egons close to the central station, Aker Brygge, the Oslo Fjord and Frognerparken. Oslo is a great city to live in! :)
So like I said I had cofee with Kaja, and breakfast and lunch.. we were downtown for almost 6 hours. And yes I still think it's the people I will miss the most, even if I will also miss Oslo. Kaja and I have been friends for a long time now and I will definitely miss her a lot. Our friendship did survive my trip to Japan though and she said she would come visit me in China if she can afford it.
After hanging out in Oslo I had to get some more cleaning done, and Victoria came over to help me out. That's another person I will really miss a lot while Im gone. We have been friends since I was 2 and she was well.. born, and she is my mothers cousin so we sort of grew up together. She also says she will try to come visit me though :)
I know they will both be here when I get back to Norway, but I will really miss them a lot while Im gone. Not being able to simply call and ask if they want to hang out, grab cofee, play xbox risk, ask them for help when I mess up at whatever, invite eachother over for dinner.. They are always there for me and I will really miss having them arround. That goes for all of my other friends as well of course!
This beeing said, I am still really psyched about moving to China! Im so excited about living in Shanghai it almost hurts. It is such a huge city and the culture is so different from what Im used to, going to be a great adventure and it starts in less than a week! Thanks to Victoria helping out and us beeing pretty effective I am hoping we will be done with cleaning up the appartment this evening, so the last days I can focus on saying goodbye to everyone like I wanted :)

Packing

Today has been a really boring day - have to pack all of the stuff I wont bring with me to Shanghai into boxes - and damn I have a lot of stuff!
I have been packing/cleaning all day and Im still not done.. Want to finish with all the things I am not bringing by tomorrow afternoon as I am going to my parents place then and they got room for it in their basement/attic. Think I can make it by then, but Im not sure. Got 5 boxes here so far, and my dad already took 2 boxes to their place - so can't be that much left can it? Also saved files from my old computer - actually found some songs that I made back in highschool so that was kind of cool.
Gave even more clothes away to charity today as well - dont even remember ever wearing some of the stuff in my closet, what a waste. Anyways the final week before leaving looks pretty stressfull so far, everyone want to meet up and say goodbye, but I have to move out proper and clean everything as well.. I will just have to manage balancing it all somehow I guess.

A rainy day

So today was my last day working at Tusenfryd, possibly ever.. kind of sad somehow. It was a pretty slow day as it was raining more or less all of the time. Everyone was really nice to me, saying goodbye and stuff.. really weird to leave in the middle of the season like this, doesn't feel as if it was my last day at all, hehe. It is now 9 days untill I leave for China - I don't feel ready at all, actually I am kind of scared at the moment :P Everything will work out though, I got people to take the plane with/live with, my visa, my insurance, my student loan etc.. just have to clean out all my stuff of the appartment now and Im all set I guess - Shanghai for the win! :)

Liseberg

Yesterday a bunch of us from work rented a bus and went to our friendship park in Gothenborg - Liseberg. It's always awesome to go there, get in for free and then get a VIP bracelet so I can take all the rides for free, just because I work at Tusenfryd :)
I woke up 5.50 in the morning, realising I had overslept. Had to get ready in 10 minutes and then run to the bus to make it to Tusenfryd on time. It was a 4 hours drive to Gothenborg so we had to get an early start in order to have any time there at all. Liseberg's new ride this season is a freaking tall tower (109 meters or something) - they take you all the way to the top, then drop you for about 90 meters or so, apparently the tallest freefall in all of Europe. When we got to the park we decided to go straight for the tower, Atmosfear, to avoid a long line. The plan worked and we only had to wait for about 10 mins. I really loved Atmosfear, if it had been up to me I would have stayed there all day and taken it over and over again, but we took it twice in a row at least. When they drop you you actually hover in your seat, amazing feeling. The other rides were of course nice as well tho, especially the ghost house. Liseberg has really gone all out with it and there are actors inside scaring you and everything - Im always scared to death of going there, but I always have fun when I do.
On our way home we got delayed pretty bad due to terrible traffic as a result of what looked like a pretty nasty accident. We lost the last bus to Oslo from Tusenfryd, but Leif was nice enough to drive us to Mastemyr so we could catch another bus to Oslo there - so we all got home safely. It was a very long but pretty cool day :)

Update

Sorry for not blogging, had a few days off and decided to make the most of them so didn't have a lot of time. The 6th I actually went to Tusenfryd even if it was my day off, because I had won some stuff I had to spend before moving to China. I gave the free entrance pass and the gift certificate for sky coaster to Victoria and Ludvig tagged along as well. The three of us had a great time in the park, and Im so proud of Victoria for taking Sky Coaster, she is terrified of heights. The diving show this season is pretty cool as well, they are doing a pirate theme and it has more of a storyline than it had earlier. After Tusenfryd I had dinner with Victoria and Chris and we watched TV for quite some time before I went home kind of late. Yesterday we decided on a trip to buy cheap stuff in Sweden. I don't really need a whole lot of food in my freezer and stuff as I will be moving in about two weeks, but I figured candy is always nice, and some food at least if not tons. Besides, whats more norwegian than driving across the border to Sweden to buy cheap stuff? I even found some new clothes even if I know I probably shouldnt have.. but honestly I am sick of my whole "I wont buy anything before China" thing and I really needed some new tops. Found a kind of cool dress for my goodbye party as well :D
When I got home from Sweden I had about 30 mins at home to put everything in the fridge before heading downtown to meet up with Kaja. The two of us had cofee,bought shoes and hanged out at Oslo City. I found a new suitcase for China as well- my old one broke when the plane landed in Bergen some weeks ago. The new suitcase was a bit more expensive, but I want one that will last for a while so I decided it was worth it. Its also green (not black as everyone elses) so I will recognize it at the baggage claim! :D Oh and one last thing (yeah realise all this talk about my suitcase might be boring, but I love it :P): it has a really cool code lock that the customs have a universal key for, so if they have to open my suitcase they dont have to wreck it, and my stuff is still safe inside.
Today it was work again, and I had to go to the Chinese embassy before I started to pick up my visa. I was pretty stressed out and managed to step on some broken glass that was somehow on my floor - always vacum when I break something, but I guess not good enough. I thought I got the glass out, but I was really stressed so didnt use enough time on it I guess. I got my visa anyways, so thats good :) Work wasn't too stressfull and Kim Tomas was nice enough to remove the rest of the glass from my heel, so now it should be allright in a few days time or so. Tomorrow the plan is to go over all my clothes and decide on what to give away, what to bring to China and what to ask my parents to send to China.

Back to reality for now

So yeah back in Norway again and back to work for a few weeks before moving. Today after work we had a BBQ party in the pool area, was actually really nice - people went into the pool as well, but I forgot to bring my bikini so I just slacked and ate my food mostly. Crazy people were grilling candy, or well at least I thought they were crazy untill I tried it and it actually tasted real nice :P I thought I would be really sick of Tusenfryd this season to be perfectly honest - but right now Im actually sad that I just have 6 more shifts left.. I will miss everyone else working there and the whole working with people every day thing as well. But hey Im going to China in 20 days, wich is supercool so I shouldnt be sad! :)

Admission notice

Just wanted to show you my admission notice from Fudan - 100% sure I am accepted now, YESS! ^^