Shanghai Trip 2009(Autumn)~~ The true story behind How I got lost in Shanghai

Shanghai Exchange , 10 students from my school travelled to China to experience the East. Here is my diary entry from the begninning of this adventure.Enjoy!

[Diary Entry from my Shanghai Loggbook ]

Day 1

Dear Diary,

"The journey began traditionally in Gothenburg’s airport. we flew from Landvetter to Helsinki and it was calm. Then we walked through to gate 30 to catch the flight to Shanghai. We watched movies and it was very uncomfortable. The air was thin and it was impossible to sleep. The food was disgusting but you had to eat.. Now we are landing in the morning and I feel the immediate Chinese air. It was very humid and I could really feel the difference in the humidity and polluted air. We went with the maglev and speed up to 300 km/h . Everything is very modern here and to the top. Västtraffik should really feel Threatened .haha.

Arriving to the Underground (Subway?) that will takes us to "People Square".. The importance of staying close really appears. I get the order to quickly get on the train unfortunately they have a system so you only have a few seconds before the doors close.. I see Marlow’s and the others’ faces through the window and they energetically articulate the destination : "Ren Men/ People Square !".
When we decide to take the metro in to shanghai the door closes on me and I am alone in the train with my big suitcase standing holding onto the pole so that I don’t fall over and it feels like all the chinese people stare at me! It must have been funny seeing me tryna read of the signs full of chinese, desperate to find English and "normal letters"... I count the stops to People Square finally arriving I decide to try to sit and wait for the others on a big stone outside, there I observe the buzz and people stressing ,running errands.. I now have time for contemplating since I naively thought I could sit and wait for the others.. Time went past and I got restless, Finally realizing that it would be pointless for me to just feel sorry thinking that Id find them outside the gate I decide to do something..

SO I made up my mind telling myself that I had to find my way to the hostel no matter being on my own.. But it seemed like an eternity.. so I looked to my right and there stood an American with a Chinese lady so I thought " why not ask him where to go?". I headed towards him and he had a map. The lady beside him wrote the address in Chinese so I followed her directions until I met someone else who could guide me(a Chinese man that spoke no English.. he just used his body language and CHINESE but he was kind and smiled). It was exiting in a way because I really wanted to find my way no matter being alone- the adrenaline flowed through my veins and I didn’t have time to think how heavy my 17 kg suitcase was or the lack of sleep...

I met an Australian family (Parents with a grown up son. The mother had a map and they were very nice) later on two French ladies walked passed some minutes later and directed me further telling me to go in this direction ..I find the sign saying ”Yunnan S and N”. I walk and walk, and I have butterflies in my stomach thinking for myself how this all could happen with a smile: knowing that I am closer to the target.( For myself I think of how Daddy always needs a GPS, and here I am alone doing perfectly fine.) Not much time past after landing and something so thrilling is already happening to me! Finally I see the group and I shine, pleased to have located myself back to the collective, everyone is revealed and I receive hugs from Tania and Marlow; exited I try to tell everyone how I got here as fast as I could and the questions hit me from the others. It was a nice feeling to have been able to locate myself on my own, another experience filed in my memory .

We now checked in in the Phoenix Hostel which is very centrally located. I share room with Matilda Green and we liked our room, with a nice hard bed each, pillow and a medium sized bathroom. Everything becomes sticky in this town, the clothes and other belongings becomes smelly etc. A lot of stores and tea shops are located in our districts and it is always something going on. The traffic is outrageous and here they only have "recommendations " if the man is green you still should look twice before walking. It is very fierce.
The jetlag we had was terrible.. we had been awake for more than 24 hours so the first night felt like someone had knocked you over and then when you eventually woke up you were so rested. In the beginning I truly felt like a zombie, no joke!"


--So now Yall Know the real story behind gettin lost.. So many questions I had to answer.hheehe. Oh and I forgot to write about all the other days.. But That is not so important... for now:D