Shanghai is one place i never thought i would ever visit in the whole of my life *thanks to Kenji for pissing me off one fine day in 2004* I took up the offer after a cold war with this Japanese friend of mine. Never did like the idea of living in China, I braved myself to go for this program that was specially offered (to...um, students like me) by the university Study Tours Department.
It was winter when i got there. I felt nervous because i didn't know the language, and didn't know what to expect out of anything/everything because all info that i had with me at that time were opinions and experiences from others who had been to China. Info in anyways is biased, as i have always known that, so i set myself prepared to believe in my instincts.
Many things weren't what i had expected Shanghai to be. Shanghai turned out to be another Singapore in so many ways - flooded with Chinese people; streets lined up with designer shops, commercial cafes, fast food outlets; busy roads; people conversing to one another in Mandarin; shopping malls at every train station; construction going on everywhere; people shouting to one another and stuff...i kept telling my friend, Josh, "it's just like Singapore" everytime he told me things he found new and exciting as he came across in his visit in Shanghai.
Although a city of the Third World, i realized that Shanghai promised me security as early as the day i began my stay. I fit in comfortably in the society really quickly and as i lived day by day, i lost the paranoia and worry i have always had about living in China. By about a week or so, i was on the subway with Josh discovering some other parts of Shanghai.
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