Day one of my internship

I'm sitting here in Jing'an Temple Park right before my first day at my internship. I'm extremely excited for this unexpected opportunity and am going to make the best of each and everyday. 

Last night we all went down to Yuyuan Gardens where we celebrated the last day of the Chinese New Year with SO MANY PEOPLE! I experienced the way that Chinese people push and cram in spaces that should not fit as many people as it does.  It was crazy to experience but a lot of fun. Supposedly, the fireworks should stop now, but I've heard and seen some go off today. The Fourth of July fireworks are nothing compared to these. We heard a song that my Chinese teacher in high school had played for us one time, but last night it was played over and over and over again! I was happy to hear it the first time because it brought back memories but ohhhh gosh that was for sure the song to celebrate the new year.

A lot of people have been catching "The Batt Plague" here, but not me! I refuse! Basically, The Batt Plague was started by Henry "Chase" Batt who is a student studying abroad with us. It starts with a sore throat and moves on to common cold symptoms; however, it knocks you out for a few days. It's gone around the dorm the last week, both with us Americans and some of the Chinese.

We have our first test in Chinese this Friday. Even though we go at a much faster pace, I feel comfortable with my skills thus far.  I don't think it will be that bad. My roommate went back to school today. She has class at 8 am but has an hour commute so she left at 7 am this morning! She was saying that they stopped school for two weeks for the new year so she has some big tests coming up soon. 

I've become really close with Shanny who is from Israel. We went to a party on Saturday to celebrate the Jewish Halloween. It was so much fun and we met people from all over the world, most which we're Jewish! I dressed up as an athlete, Sally was a country girl and Shanny had this awesome light blue wig and leopard print glasses!

We also went as a big group to the Shanghai Urban Planning Museum as well as the Shanghai Museum. The first one was so neat to see! Unfortunately, I left my iPad in my room for this trip but other people took pictures so ill share them on Facebook. I cannot believe how big this city is. I mean I've never been to New York, but they have used almost all of the square footage here in Shanghai. Also, they did it as efficiently as possible.

The city is now getting louder and louder as people are returning from visiting family during the new year. Honking is like a common occurrence here to let people know where you are as opposed to in the USA where it's used when you're annoyed with someone's driving style and such.

Well here I go. Talk to y'all later