Impressions of Shanghai

This will just be a quick post update on life so far in Shanghai and what I've noticed so far, either about Shanghai in general, or about the NYU Study Abroad group in Shanghai.

Shanghai:
It is a very modern city that is not as fast paced as NYC.  People will stop wherever they want on the street, sidewalk, shopping areas etc; they don't care.  Crossing the street is stressful; you have to constantly be checking left and right, because even on a one-way street, there could be bikes and motocycles coming from the other direction.  People said that you can get by with English here in Shanghai...I don't think so.  Granted that a lot of labels are in pinyin and some have English explanations, you still need to be able to understand what the people are saying to you.  Thankfully, even though I can't really read any Chinese, I speak Mandarin, so I'm able to ask what each thing is, rather than just staring blankly at a menu and pointing to something.  I also got to play translator for a day, which was kind of exciting.

Other observations, bargaining is a big part of life, it's fairly simple, but also requires knowing what to respond when the store clerks are speaking to you, and not just nod and smile.  Nightlife here is casual.  Pollution is not as bad as Beijing is what I hear, but it's still pretty bad by our standards of Los Angeles pollution.  In Shanghai it's everyone for themselves.  Pushing and shoving are just a way of life.

NYU Study Abroad Group:
Everyone says that your study abroad experience will be the best experience you ever have, and that you will meet so many new people outside of your normal NYU school/circle of friends.  Somehow when we arrived, it seemed that everyone had already come with their own group of friends and weren't interested in changing that.  Good thing I knew people before coming here, because I'm not too sure what I would do if I had to come here alone.  It's like high school all over again, we have a million cliques here.  Hopefully this experience really does turn into one that is just like the one everyone described.  I have high expectations for this semester, and with that...SCHOOL STARTS TOMORROW! (sadly)