The Secrets of Xiaolongbao

       The past two weeks have been a lot of fun!  I've done so much stuff!  I went to a modern art museum on a field trip with one of my classes. It was pretty interesting.  A lot of the stuff was kind of weird, but really cool.  My favorite was this huge print thing on the wall that had tonsss of different pictures in it so you could look at it for a really long time.  I also went to a propaganda museum that was one of my favorites! Thank goodness I went with a class or I never would have found it. It was in the basement of a building in this apartment complex or something. Veryyy tricky to find. All of the posters were really interesting though. A lot were really negative toward Americans and pictured us as gross old men with big, red noses.

       The past couple of Wednesday nights, M1NT has become the new place to be.  It's one of the nicer clubs and usually on the weekends you can only get in if you're on the list.  They have a shark tank! And  a really cool bar that you can (and I did) dance on!  Also, one of the bathrooms has a completely glass wall that looks out over the city.  That's pretty awesome.  Last weekend, we tried several new bars that were fun, my favorite was Abbey Road.  We also tried an all you can eat Indian restaurant called Punjabi!  It was super fun! It was also all you can drink beer, but since the beers here are liters and I can only drink max 2 in one night, I turned mine from a Qingdao to a QingWOW! All you do is add Smirnoff!  We also took our last trip to the fabric market to pick up our linen pants.  My pants don't really look that good because the legs are reallyyyyy wide, like an elephants. Not sure what I'm going to do about that. 

       This past week has been lots of fun! Tuesday night we went to I Love Shanghai for ladies night.  It was really fun, but then they refused to serve us anymore drinks because we were sharing them with the guys. Lameee. After that, we went to the bar in the Radisson Hotel.  It was really high up and the view was amazinggg.    It was set a little further back from the Bund so you could see the Bund and across to Pudong and the river going in between. Wednesday night, I was back at M1NT of course, which was pretty fun, but not as good as the Wednesday before. 

       Thursday was the best!  My Chinese class along with another Chinese class were doing Karaoke together.  We were going from 5-8 and also got food! It was one of the best parts of my weekend! I think I sang every single song.  I warned people beforehand that they would have to pry the microphone out my hands, but no one did. Guess I'm just that good!  We had a nice mix of Chinese songs, American pop music, and some classics, so it was pretty much perfect.  After that we just chilled at the dorms.

Singing "Beijing Huanying Ni" at Karaoke! Favorite!

"Can You Feel the Love Tonight" duet with Chocolate

      Friday we had a class learning how to make xiaolongbao! Soup dumplings! They are a Shanghai specialty and sooooo good!  We basically just rolled out the dough and put the filling in, but we got to wear really cool chefs hats and aprons! And of course, we got to eat the dumplings. Mine were really ugly, but they tasted delicious! We also got a goody bag with a xiaolongbao refrigerator magnet!!! One of the best things I have gotten in China and it was free!  When we got back, we went to the CIEE building because they had cake for everyone with a December birthday! The cake was hugeee and covered in fruit! I think it's the first time I've had cake since I've been in China and it was like heaven!  That night, we went out to Bar Rouge and Glamour Bar, where I ate lots and lots and lots of food! But I had an amazing prosciutto and Brie sandwich at Bar Rouge. 

       Saturday night I had to go to a concert for a class. I think his name was Asaka or something. He was kind of like an Asian Dave Matthews, really chill. The concert wasn't great, but Blair and I bought light up pink bows so that made everything better.  A Chinese man also gave us free Chinese flags! Afterwards, we went to Windows Too and I continued to indulge myself in my late night eating. I had Mozzarella sticks and a bacon cheeseburger.  We went back to campus and I got street food too. I have made friends with this man and woman that sell skewers. They love me. I went to Bulldog, another bar, for a little while, but came back pretty early. 

Excited about light up bows and free China flags!

       I spent all day Sunday working on a paper.  Unfortunately, it's finals week and I have lots and lots to do. I have one paper and one presentation out of the way, but I still have two more presentations, a paper, and my oral and written Chinese test.  I just can't wait for the weekend! I am really sad that I only have 5 days left and I am stressing over finals. Thank goodness they will be over Thursday and I can just enjoy spending the last weekend with my friends! I will miss Shanghai, but I am excited to come home and see everyone too!