Today we woke up early in order to start our long journey from the capital in Beijing to the financial capital of the country in Shanghai!  After our final breakfast at the Penta hotel in Beijing I packed up and boarded the bus to head over to the train station. Upon arrival, we went through some minor security and entered the one giant waiting room which was above the boarding station below. Almost every seat in the entire station was taken and it was just like almost every place we have been in Beijing: crowded and packed with people. During the time we had waiting to board our train we got to explore some of the surrounding stores which was quite interesting given the fact that once again everything in the convenience stores was in Chinese and most of the snacks were unlike anything we have in the United States. The only thing I could really recognize was the “Classic American Flavored Chips” which were basically just plain Lays chips so I had to settle for that since Liliana was not with me to help translate. Once the station announced boarding for our train people rushed to the gates in a very unorganized fashion and ran down to their seats which sort of shocked me given the fact that we already had assigned seats on the train. It was my first time taking a train that I remember let along a high-speed bullet train so I was really excited for the ride despite the long 6 hours that stood in front of us. The seats on the train were much nicer than that of an Airplane as you were able to recline them very far back and the leg room was fairly abundant. This alone made the train ride much more enjoyable than the 14-hour plane ride from D.C. to Beijing. Not too long after boarding the train we started to speed out of the station and on our way to Shanghai. The views of cities alongside the countryside kept me mesmerized and amazed for the whole 6-hour trip. It was amazing to see all different parts of the country from the never-ending country fields to the cities that would sprawl up and fade into the distance. After about 6 stops along the way we finally arrived in the amazing Shanghai. We got off the train and then made our way through one of the busiest transportation centers I had ever been in in my entire life to meet our new program coordinator whose American name is Young. Young would be with us throughout Shanghai because Liliana has to leave in a few days to go back to her university just outside of Shanghai in order to take her finals.

As we rode into Shanghai you could immediately see the difference between the more historic Beijing and the new and modern Shanghai. The skyscrapers stretched forever in Shanghai and the city resembled much more of a what we are accustomed to in America. We soon arrived in our new hotel in Shanghai: The Regal East Asia Hotel. The hotel is absolutely beautiful with a gorgeous hotel lobby, gym, tennis court, pool, ping pong table, and even bowling alley. After checking in Nate, Kevin, Ruben, Steve, Colin, Ryan, Gabi, Liliana, and I went to a local noodle place right around the corner and got some amazing noodles. After returning back to the hotel I am going to bed early as I have a long day in store tomorrow.