Shanghai Part 2

This entry got really long, I had a good time. It’s really the first time I travelled alone, and I just wanted to write so much. So I broke it up into two halfs, right in the middle of my second full day in Shanghai. Like, whatever.

I got to the MOCA. The exhibit was about Gaudi, called The Cosmos of Gaudi. It was sort of an odd exhibit. The bottom floor was models and tools he used to practice designs for his architecture. It had very technical descriptions of things. He called himself a “geometrist” and so it was strong on geometry and math and physics and all that stuff that holds up cool looking buildings. I actually wrote down some direct quotes from the exhibit, I kept thinking about Tanner.

Convex vaults are formed by hyperbolic parabaloid. A hyperbolic parabaloid is a surface generated by straight lines (always parallel) that rest on two straight directrices that intersect a space.


I think they made up some of those words.

The exhibit also had some of the furniture and decorative pieces he designed. I really enjoyed it actually. It was not an exhibit I would have run out to see on my own, had it come to Seattle. It very much made me want to go to Spain to see his work as it was intended.















I also went to M50. Oh man! It’s an industrial complex that was turned into an art community not that long ago. It is chalk full of galleries and studios. Many were closed because of the holiday. I was really excited about going here. My friend from Emerson, Caitlin Diana Doyle, had given me a book about design in Shanghai for Christmas. I’m so glad I went. I really love contemporary art. I saw some things I loved. Shanghai is the modern art capital of China, and this complex is world famous. I really wish I could grow up and have money and buy modern art for my home…






OH man. Sitting outside in the middle of this complex, in my polka dot shirt, I felt so grown up and so happy. I can’t believe I actually made it. I was journaling about the art I had spent hours looking at, what I liked and didn’t like, what I was inspired by. I wrote about the kinds of hopes I had for my own future. I can’t believe I was actually in Shanghai, travelling alone, getting to see everything I wanted to, and not having to worry about a thing. I don’t often feel like an adult yet, I take care of myself and am very adult, but I don’t really think of myself as an “independent woman.” That’s been a goal of mine for a little while now, and being in Shanghai that afternoon, I really did feel like it. I was so proud of myself. I’m so happy I came all this way to spend a year in China.







I went back to the hostel that evening. I had a run and coke and pizza for dinner. I just want to say. Wow. I don’t drink hard alcohol very often, but after a long day in the heat and not having it for a while, that rum and coke tasted great. (Hum, maybe I won’t sweat in that sentence, but I want to, but I shouldn’t, hum…). Also, the bar on top of my hostel, where I had dinner, has a direct view of Pudong, it was fabulous. I will definitely go back there if I’m in Shanghai again (when I am in Shanghai again!). Oh yeah, it was Captain Hostel, the whole thing was completely done up in a nautical theme. It was sweet.

The next day I took the subway and caught a ride to the factory. Darren and I interviewed Mr. Chuang, the factory owner. It went fine. He was very open with us. We didn’t find out anything new though. I missed Boston often, the subway made me miss Boston. I thought of Caitlin often, I hope she reads this and knows the book she gave me really inspired me to enjoy Shanghai in a really classy way.

I spent that evening in Shanghai. I was pretty worn out. I bought a paperback. Ah! It was so great! I bought a G.M. Ford novel, No Man’s Land. I couldn’t resist, as soon as I saw his name. It’s with his new character Frank Corso, and it didn’t take place in Seattle. I didn’t like it as much as his funnier works. But I thought about my mom and my Grandpa Jim the whole time and enjoyed myself. I read it in a really wonderful coffee shop, I just relaxed and enjoyed the air conditioning.

Then I took the train home.

Except this little boy! On the train ride home there was a little boy who was just so cute. I wanted to keep him! He was chubby all over and the cutest dimples! He was sweet too, and almost well behaved (most city kids are spoiled! And act horribly on the train! Ugh).

I got home and it was cool and raining in Chengdu. I am surprised at how strongly I felt on arriving back in the city. After only a month it doesn’t seem like Chengdu would feel like home, but it really almost did. I felt relieved and more optimistic as soon as we got here. I settled right back into life here. I need to catch up on my sleep and study harder.

So that was trip to Shanghai! It might have been more productive, both in research and sights seen, but I think it was just right, it was certainly the best I could do. I do feel inspired. It made me want to travel more. It made me really happy that I have so many interests and that I’m so open and interested in life. I want to see every city and just enjoy wandering and eating and watching!