My Graduation and Weekend in England

I finally had my graduation ceremony in Oxford! I flew back from Spain to get there and my parents travelled from opposite ends of England, but it was (despite being a bit stressful!) one of the best days of my life! I felt very proud to graduate with a FIRST CLASS HONORS DEGREE!! All the hard work paid off! It was also so good to see my family. (Photographs taken by the amazing Stuart Weston - www.stuartweston.com). We all went for a meal together after the ceremony in the Quod and could finally catch up properly, rather than over skype!

After my graduation, I spent a few days between Oxford and London, where I managed to catch up with my good friend Kathryn. We went to Broadway market together, along with her housemate Ellie, where I bought a vintage bottle of balsamic vinegar! I soon realized however that as this was more than 100ml, I would not be able to take it back to Spain, because I only had hand luggage with me. Kat however saved the day, by promising to bring it when she came and visited me in Salamanca the week after!

After Broadway market, we went to a lovely little Italian restaurant, where there was even a funny Italian playing the accordion!

A fun weekend in Inglaterra! xx

Mi Vida en Salamanca

My first few weeks in Spain have been really fun. It has been interesting getting to know all the different international students – although everyone in my house, which is called ‘Pinzones’ speaks English, which is not too ideal for practicing Spanish! However it is probably one of the most fun places to live in Salamanca, it reminds me of being back in halls at university!

My accommodation is split into 5 floors with 6 bedrooms on each floor. The university either organizes it, or people can choose to rent here by themselves. One of the first nights I was here, we all had a sushi night on the third floor!

 

Other days, after class, which for me is 9am - midday, we sometimes go to the park to sunbathe and have picnics (when the weather permits!) One of our Japanese friends Yasu has a fisheye camera – hope he doesn’t mind me borrowing some photos for my blog! xx

After working at parliament, completing my finals and working in an investment bank in Shanghai, in such a short period of space, this was a really good chance to finally wind down and relax a little!  University is also going quite well up to now, I feel like I am learning lots, although once I finally settle in properly, I will definitely step up the pace of self study, I think I must be having withdrawal symptoms!

España

So I am finally in Spain! My journey here however was horrendous! I was obviously really tired after arriving in Manchester, unpacking, repacking and visiting family. However, I did get to spend time with my amazing Madre on Mothers day, which was perfecto. My flight to Spain was peaceful, there were mainly Spanish people on the plane and everyone clapped when we landed, which I thought was nice. 

I arrived into Madrid airport in my floor length maxi dress, sunglasses and mini denim jacket to be greeted by torrential rain. I was pretty mortified to say the least. I had to ask in my very unpracticed Spanish where to find the autobus to Salamanca. I was directed to the coach-parking bay where I had to trek through puddles – in the rain with two suitcases and two large bags. Luckily there was a coach to Salamanca already there, relieved I started loading my cases into it, when the driver informed me it was a school bus and I was not on the list. I waited in the rain for about half an hour, soaked to the bone. Not ideal.

When no bus arrived, I decided to get a taxi to the train station, so that I could get the ‘tren rapido’ to Salamanca. I now know that the taxi driver ripped me off to quite a large degree as he charged me double what it should have cost. Nice. I even thought he was so lovely because he gave me 2 Spanish magazines to read on the train. They were called ‘QMD’ which looked to me like ‘OMG’ but actually means ‘Que me dices’. 

When I arrived at Madrid train station, I was told that I would have to take the metro to a different station called Chamartin in order to get to Salamanca. I was sold a ticket to Salamanca but was told I would have to use the automated ticket machine in order to buy a subway ticket. It took me around half an hour to find this machine. Luckily a Spanish gent helped me to use it, as I was getting rather tired and stressed by this point. He proceeded to ask me for my number though, which was not cool. 

After this, I fell down an escalator. Whilst struggling with my 2 cases, my laptop bag and my handbag, my wet maxi dress got caught and I literally toppled over. I nearly broke my neck. Some Spanish nuns helped me up. I was literally near to tears! I thought things could not get much worse.

I somehow managed to get myself on the train to Salamanca. Of course, it was no rapido tren, it was the slow one, which took 2 hours. My programme coordinator Rafa had his phone off and my battery was going on my phone. I also had forgot to write down my Spanish address with all my traveling and only had it on email. There was no wifi on the train and I was beginning to panic. Luckily, there were some plugs on the train so I charged my dying blackberry and could read my emails to get the address. 

After waiting in a queue outside Salamanca train station for around 20 minutes, I finally got a taxi to my new apartment and got through to my landlady who called my programme coordinator. Although I had to wait 15 minutes to get into the building, I finally did! The apartment is lovely, although when I first arrived there was no bedding at all and it was so cold. There was a big party on the floor below me also and I was exhausted. 

Thankfully, my new lovely housemates came home at around 3am and gave me some quilts and bedding, so I finally got to sleep, enough time for my brain to readjust to Spanish, in order to take my Spanish proficiency test at 9am the next morning!

Here are some photos of my new apartamento!

  

Shanghai -> Moscow -> London -> Manchester -> Liverpool -> Madrid -> Salamanca – in one weekend!

Thursday was spent packing and preparing for my departure from Shanghai. Friday started with a 5am early rise in order to make sure I had done everything and wouldn’t leave something behind. One of my programme coordinators arrived at 8am to help me out of my apartment with all my bags, and into the taxi to Pudong International Airport. My flight to Moscow (where I had to change) was delayed by an hour due to congestion in the airport. I did not mind this as it just reduced the time I would have to wait in Moscow airport from 12 hours to 11! GLAD. My flight from Pudong took 9.5 hours and seemed to last forever. I was sat next to a very friendly Italian named Federico, who had worked in Shanghai for 5 years. He said he thought that Europe might seem bland and dull to me after the fast paced frantic lifestyle in Shanghai. He said that whilst Italy is his city and he loves it, he tires of it very quickly there nowadays, which we both thought was a bit sad. When we finally arrived in Russia, we exchanged business cards and I promised that I would get in touch next time I am in Shanghai.

In Moscow airport, security took around an hour, I noticed that 2 Chinese men had attained a Russian transit visa and were escorted by Russian security to the hotel in small bus, with no other passengers, it all seemed a bit underhand to me and I was glad that I didn’t bother booking my 12 hour stay at the airport hotel!

My glamorous alternative however, was to read my book on the seats outside a Chanel kiosk, where I eventually fell asleep for a few hours, only to be woken by a barking dog in a little hoodie, a screaming baby who was scared by the dog and then even worse than this, I was awoken by two drunk Russian couples ‘discretely’ pouring what smelt like battery acid into small bottles of Coca Cola. The potent smell lingered for so long that I had to just get up and find somewhere else to rest my weary head!

It was lucky I did move, however, because it turned out that I was in the wrong terminal! It was so difficult to realize this information though, as nobody speaks English here and if I protest that I am English, they muster, ‘You look Russian’ and carry on speaking to me in Russian. Awesome.

So now, I am sat in a very chilly café, that is playing Russian trance music and I had to make the decision between borsch, a few other Russian delicacies or pancakes with ‘borscht looking jam’. I am also feeling majorly envious, because it’s so cold, and the stereotype Russian men, sat in this café are actually wearing big fur coats!

Later…

I managed some sleep in the trance café amazingly. My flight to London was so much better than my flight to Russia, much shorter for a start but also I had a fun row to myself again, which was just what I needed, I was exhausted. Thankfully my luggage and I arrived into London in one piece and I managed to spend Saturday afternnon and the first half of Mothers day with my amazing family!

(pics)

Tuesday Tourist

On Tuesday, I decided to start my day with a trip to snack street. I found it much quicker than I did on Monday, its literally outside my new apartment! I managed to buy some local bread that has spring onions inside - a bit like Indian naan bread, which cost 2RMB (20p) then I got 3 skewered octopus tentacles for 5RMB and then I found myself a sponge cake with almonds and cherries in the top for @RMB. What an amazing big breakfast for less than £1! Street food is the best!

After my feast, I made my way to people square and visited Shanghai museum. Before I got to the museum, I met two young girls from North China, they were visiting friends in Shanghai and told me that I sounded like the BBC English that they listened to in their classes and that I looked like a film star! This made me laugh and also think that they would then probably try to sell me something, but they just asked for my number and a photograph with them! They were really nice!

Outside Shanghai Museum, there are large white statues of mythical animals. The museum itself is divided into eleven galleries and three exhibition halls. The eleven Galleries cover most of the major categories of Chinese art: Ancient Bronze, Ancient Ceramics, Paintings, Calligraphy, Ancient Sculpture, Ancient Jade, Coins, Ming and Qing Furniture, Seals, and Minority Nationalities. Inside the museum lobby, if you look to the ceiling, there is a large round domed window, letting an abundance of light into the museum, this is designed to give the impression of heaven.

There was a sign at the beginning of the pottery section saying ‘Pottery belongs to everyone, but porcelain is China’s invention’. I love the patriotism here that seems to seep through everything and everyone! Inside the galleries, there were some beautiful Chinese calligraphies and paintings; I so wished that I could have read some of the Mandarin poems that were written on them!

After the museum, I read my book for a while in people’s park – because the weather was surprisingly sunny! Then I made my way to Dongtai Lu Antiques Market. This is a small open street market near Xintiandi, with vintage Mao items and posters, small “antique” wares and fares to some genuine old Chinese artifacts. The haggling at these markets is ferocious. You have to walk away at least twice in order to get a remotely acceptable price, and you know you are still being ripped off because you’re a tourist.  Even just the experience of walking through the road was lots of fun though!

After Dongtai Lu Antiques Market, I met my German friend Andi at the Bund, we went to a lovely piano lounge called the Compass bar, where there was classical music being played by a small Chinese man. This lounge is in the Peninsula, which is one of the Far East’s oldest hotel brands–the first Peninsula in Shanghai opened back in the ’30s. This shows in the art deco styling of the hotel, with its dark mood lighting, which blends into the Bund’s surviving historic background beautifully. Following this went up to the roof terraces overlooking Pudong and then met with some of the other interns at Windows bar, where we all got some well-appreciated Western food!

Tourist Monday

So Monday was my first day as a proper Shanghai tourist! I started the day off by retracing my steps from the day before and rediscovering snack street. I managed to find it – but definitely got lost first in the underbelly of the back of the market, where all the locals live. I felt a bit intrusive, as all the locals were just having breakfast, old people were playing mahjong (Chinese game) and cards around small tables, with babies running around in the special Chinese baby trousers that show their bottoms.

I finally found some brunch and went on my way to the first tourist attraction of my day, which was ‘The Propaganda Poster Art Museum’. Despite the slightly sinister location in the basement of an apartment block, the gallery itself was really good. It was divided into seven chronological sections and had English signs explaining everything like the slogans and seismic events such as ‘The Great Leap Forward’ and ‘Cultural Revolution’. I really enjoyed it. There was a gift shop at the end, where you could buy original items that had managed to survive the Cultural Revolution – where the government burned most propaganda, literature and art, closed schools and buried 460 scholars alive!

Following the museum, I headed over to the Jade Buddha Temple. This is a really pretty temple with a pair of jade Buddhas that were brought over from Burma more than a century ago. One of them is in the left teahouse of the temple, which seems a bit random, but the other is in its own private staffed room, where you cannot get closer than around 3 meters away from the Buddha, which is behind glass. It is a very enchanting room. You were really not allowed to take photos though, so there isn’t one of this.

However, the thing that charmed me the most, whilst I was at the temple, was whilst I was in the gardens. There was a lovely pond with multicolored lily pads and flowers, and there was a beautiful, elegant, young Chinese girl who was feeding the koi fish in the pond, however she wasn’t just feeding them, she was also stroking them, and the fish were letting her! I was so enthralled, I watched her feed the whole pouch of fish food to them, it was such a graceful thing to witness. I was also shocked to find out that koi fish generally live to be 200 years old and the oldest current living Chinese koi fish is 226!

 

After the temple, I made my way to an area called ‘M50’. It is a cultural zone that has been created from a former warehouse district into a really trendy art hub. M50 is on the banks of the murky Suzhou Creek and its exposed brickwork is deliciously raw and grimy. I was really surprised as I entered the place, that there was graffiti, as there isn’t any anywhere else in Shanghai! 

There is so much amazing modern Chinese art and sculptures. There were hand made porcelain items, artists working in dusty corners of workshops and also exhibitions. It was awesome! Some of it had quite political messages which I thought was interesting. I also saw a wish tree.

Whilst I was here, I decided to get some jasmine tea, which arrived inside a gorgeous porcelain teapot and ‘chabei’ 茶杯 (teacup) – the lady serving me told me how to say it in Chinese! She explained that ‘Cha’ is tea and ‘bei’ (pronounced like baby) is cup! She gave me her card and told me that if I was in Shanghai again, to give her a call and she would help me to learn Chinese! Everyone is so friendly here! Here I read my book and relaxed for a while!

After wandering around the gorgeous galleries, during my commute home, I walked around the market in people square metro, I just loved all the kitsch, girly, blingy items like the phone covers, there was even one which had a little “Louis Vuitton’ handbag complete with charms! So funny! I feel like I’m being such a Chinese adolescent with all these things!

So difficult to type my blog though!