in Shanghai!

Shanghai has been very interesting so far. We landed two days ago and have been touring every day with our HCF program leaders. We've visited the CCTV Tower (and stood on the glass protruding floor over the city!), Yu Garden, Harvard Shanghai Center, and many other very cool places. Everything is very big -- a bit excessive, actually.

Today we heard lectures at the Harvard Shanghai Center from two professors. One talked about China's economic growth ("It'll keep growing...Many people disagree with me, but I'm right") and the other about Chinese history and culture. It was really interesting, though kind of funny how confident the first professor was in China's growth despite throwing constant statistics at us and very little reason for why he was correct.

Other things I have learned: the only way to get around by vehicle is to beep constantly when crossing lanes or rushing toward pedestrians (the lines don't seem to matter very much).

Also, I love the contrasting buildings -- there are the really tall skyscrapers (sometimes in weird shapes like a saucer or rocket) and then there are the really homely places (like Soviet era housing). So far we've mostly been around Pudong which has the grand buildings resulting from China's recent growth, but what I really want to do is go inside the old buildings with the gates in front or one of those flats in the high rises.

Tomorrow, we're off to Hangzhou; I'm super excited because it's supposed to be the most beautiful place in China!