first post.

So we've been in China for about a week now.

Shanghai's an awesome city. I was immediately struck by how huge it is. It goes on forever in every direction, it seems. Twenty-six million people live here. That's 3+ NYC's. High-rises everywhere.

We actually live in a high rise, but we're only on the 9th floor. This building is super goofy. It seems to be empty for the most part. I haven't really seen any Chinese in here, either. Other than the staff. On my floor is 12 people from my program, and the rest of the residents I've seen around are meat heads and frat boys from various colleges.

The appartments they set us up with are super swanky though. They're really large and look like an ultra hip and modern chinese restaraunt on the inside. We've got a balcony and an extra room for a studio - so there's really no complaints.

It's funny though, there'll be buildings as nice as this - and you won't have to walk far to find yourself in a shanty town. I've been to a few slummy areas since I've been here, but my favorite was one I found when walking home from a party at the campus apartments (we live off campus). The houses were seriously made of pieces of plywood leaned against eachother. I'm going to go back soon to snap some photos. But you'll be in a place like that, and all you'll have to do is look up and BAM! The Future! - loads of funny shaped buildings with lights flashing in intricate patterns. I swear to god, it feels like every single piece of signage I see is either made of neon or LED lights. It's no wonder all the LED factories are out here - Shanghai is definitely the place to sell that shit. And I'm sure they make easy export to Tokyo.

As I was saying though, the zoning is really funny - it doesn't make much sense what is next to what here. It's probably because of the rapid devolopment and expansion that's been going on the past 30 years. Everythings either brand new or shit poor and waiting to be knocked down for something brand new to come in. But as a result, there isn't much history behind what's placed where and you get these funny juxtopositions. I actually hear that a lot of Chinese contemporary art is about this topic. Whatever.

I'm gonna stop here for now, in favor of not writing a novel for the first post and uh.. also in favor of playing some Nintendo.

Borna