Ryann IS in Shanghai

It is so official. I am currently sitting in a dorm room in the center of Shanghai in the center of China in the center of the universe.

Things are very good. Now.

Things were not necessarily always very good until this moment. The plane landed and its passengers began their final cathartic conversations about overhead luggage and the like and all of a sudden I realized. We should not be here. I started to laugh nervously while looking out the window. Listen guys, I think we oughta turn this thing around. What in god's name are we doing? This is no place for us. I wanted to rally these people and show them the error of their ways- confirm with them that we had collectively made a huge mistake. As soon as we left the plane we would be surrounded by a big smog haze of shortish people speaking in tongues and smoking cigarettes.

The guy sitting on my left observed my discomfort and turned to me. "Just don't look lost" he said. And with that, he exited the plane. I felt like Dustin Hoffman in the graduate. "Just don't look lost- and one word- plastics".

When I got off the plane I was greeted by two lovely Chinese students from the academy who speak exceptional (if sometimes lost in translation-esque) English. The girls greeted me with a sign that said my name and informed me of their American names- Vera and Isic. I shook their hands. I have never met any American people in my life with either the name Vera or Isic. But nevertheless, they were incredibly kind and hospitable. They took me out to an authentic Chinese meal and made certain that I had everything I needed before dropping me off at my dorm. Which is gorgeous. I will try to post pictures of the view- which is stupidly spectacular- when I figure out my camera.

Until then, I'm crunked off of jet lag and plan to remedy that immediately. Huitou Jian (See ya)!