East China Normal University

There was not a great deal of fitness equipment available and the rooms were relatively small. It was a University in China, though...what can one expect? If you value your space, privacy, and cleanliness, China (Hua Shi Da, anyway) is not the place for you.

Moon festival, the Long Bar, movie night with the US Marines.

The beauty of the backstreets did not unveil itself to any of the other students that I was with. I personally did not affiliate with them at all...in doing so, a whole new world invited me in. I acquired language sponsors; backstreet restaurant owners who would pull me in off the streets, sit me down, put food in front of me, and make me listen to/speak with anywhere from 2-30 native Chinese speakers speaking nothing but Chinese and Shanghai-hua. It was a truly wonderous and unequivocal experience.

Everything is negotiable.

You're only as alone as you want to be in China...travel alone (if you have self-confidence). Not only will you not be tied to anyone, but if you truly make attempts to learn the language, the Chinese will approach you and take care of you in ways that you cannot begin to fathom. It is unlike anything I have ever experienced anywhere else in the world.