Day 14: June 18, 2017

What a day. Today was full of ups and downs. We started off the morning at the urban planning museum, which was really cool. They had a section with old photographs that compared the city from before to now. There was also a section on the third floor that had a lit scaled structure of the entire city. The downside of it was that right after a couple of us went into the 360 degrees virtual tour, I got a massive headache, but thanks to Dr. K, I was able to get ibuprofen. Right after the museum, we visited a small propaganda museum in an apartment complex that had a magnitude of Chinese propaganda posters. But by then, my headache only got worse, and I was unfortunately not able to appreciate the posters and go through the exhibit as much as I could. The museum giftshop was pretty cool too. Later, Jungwoo, Georgia, Cai Lao Shi and I took a cab downtown to a cafe called Wagas in Kerry Center (Centre), where we met up with four new freshman who were coming in the fall. It was surprising to see that the majority of them played soccer and was interested in debate and science/math. Overall, it was a fun experience, and I was glad that I got to go. Wagas also had amazing smoothies. I had one called zen and it was made with avocado, apple, and lemon. After an hour and a half at the cafe, Georgia, Jungwoo, Allyson, David, Allyson’s brother, and I met up with Emily, Max, and Anna to go to the fake market, which was essentially a subway station filled with little shops. We went to a ton of stores that, to be honest, sold very similar things. But, I was absolutely amazed. The market had everything from bags to tech accessories. It was really different from market places in Korea because the stores in China sold high end name brand products. I even found a shop that sold fake Herve Leger dresses, which was insane. Overall, it was a really fun experience, especially finding the shop with fake BAPE and Supreme. Emily, Georgia, and I bought mini Fjallaraven bags, Emily, Georgia, and Anna got sneakers, and Jungwoo got an Acne Studios shirt, which was pretty awesome. I definitely thanked Allyson and David for taking us there in the first place. But, our day didn’t end just there. We had to ride the subway back, and try to find our way back to the hotel in order to get ready for dinner. We got off the subway at East Nanjing Road, but when we got out of the station, we were at People’s Square and was really confused. Oh by the way, we did stop in the middle at a vending machine at the subway station and got freshly squeezed orange juice with no pulp, which was a bummer. We asked a bunch of venders in order to find our way back, and luckily, we were able to. We quickly got changed for dinner and walked to Shanghai Slims, which was absolutely amazing. We at western food: burgers, waffle fries, and tirimasu. The food was amazing, but so was the conversation. We talked a lot about our changed perception of china and this idea of looking at china from multiple perspectives. Joe Tattlebum, the PA alum that hosted the dinner event, was an awesome mediator that guided us to have a deep and meaningful conversation. Three other PA alums were there, and the conversation started to get heated as Cai Lao Shi fired at Phill, who talked about what I would say a negative light on China and a very different view from many including mine. The dinner ended with each of us standing one by one at the dinner table saying what we learned the most out of this trip, and my answer was how much my own culture was based off of Chinese culture, and how this idea of censorship plays such a different, but major role in both cultures. I think it was interesting for me to visit China and try to understand the type of environment my parents lived in when they were young in Korea. And I definitely now have a better understanding, but I also have better knowledge of the difference between China and Korea, and how each of the cultures and environments affect the people that live in each areas. This trip, so far, has been a very eye opening experience for me, being able to understand not only my culture better, but also being able to understand a culture that has played a huge part in my life. 

High: dinner

Low: stomach pains 

Shoutout: 1. Dr. K for always being there 2. Georgia for withstanding the stomach pains with me 3. Dad for father’s day, but a little sad because burgers are our thing, and today I ate a burger without him for the first time in a long time.