Seoul Day 1

Help! I am falling in love with the world, and I don't know what to do!
 Seoul is absolutely amazing! It has been a long day of traveling, but we arrived around 8:00 Korea time. And let me tell you--the city is buzzing! The first thing I noticed when I got off the plane was, first, how clean it was, and second, how easily I could breathe!

After we put our stuff down and contacted our friends and family to alert them that we had, indeed, made it to Korea, we went walking around the city. We decided it would be perfect to Eat Korean BBQ. Let me tell you--it was an experience.

We sat down and ordered for the table. It was literally prepared right in front of us, and we were expected to be the chefs for the meal. We had absolutely no idea what we were doing and none of us even knows the word for "hello" in Korean. Thankfully, a really nice Korean man sitting next to us prepared the meal for us, as he and his friends just laughed at our ineptitude. (I have to admit it was pretty funny).

First impressions of Korean culture: Everyone seems happy, everyone is extremely fashionable and super friendly.
Ironically, I find myself so helpless not knowing the language that I am literally trying to speak Chinese to EVERYONE. It's a little awkward because everyone knows English here, and not a word of Chinese. Anyway--I cannot wait for tomorrow's adventures!

Love from Seoul!
Maddie

1 Week Until KOREA

Hello Everyone!
I am getting so excited for my trip to Korea! I have planned my days down to the last second to get all the cultural experience I can before I head back to school on Monday. I will be leaving for Seoul on Wednesday (its about a two hour flight). I have rented a small apartment near the center of the city which makes subways and buses easily accessible. It's pretty cold in Korea right now (so I will be sure to pack my layers and coat, mom) but the pollution is very low there, so I am hoping I might get to run outside for once! While I am there, I will be doing a range of touring, from hiking a mountain to Sukjeongmun gate, to visiting Gyeongbok palace, to shopping at the famous Namdaemun Market. Let me know if you want any Korean Souvenirs. I plan on documenting my entire trip with photos and videos as well as a written journal. Since I have been slacking on my blogging duties this month, I will be posting everything from the trip here!
I hope everyone is getting excited for Thanksgiving! To my friends at Country day- 加油！The trimester is almost over!
See you all in exactly ONE month! Crazy how the time is flying!

Love from Shanghai,
Maddie

How is it already November?

Although it doesn't feel like winter here, mostly because I can still wear shorts most days, I can't believe it is already November!
Recently, I have been trying to find more ways to improve my Chinese, besides the usual conversations I have to have to survive here on a daily basis. The other day I mentioned to MeiChen that I wanted to start reading Chinese children books. The next day, I found a stack on my desk that she had picked up. Now she is forced into listening to me practice out loud every night as she patiently corrects every missed pronunciation and informs me of every unknown character. In case you couldn't tell, I have been blessed with the most amazing roommate in the world. She even knows Sound of Music, which we all know is a must in the Stover house. I couldn't believe it when she joined in as I was randomly singing it while doing my homework. She said that her mom bought her the CD so she could practice her English and then they saw the movie together. She then said that she couldn't believe that I knew it.  Haha I had to laugh at that one.
In other news, Korea is quickly approaching and I have my hotel booked and I am ready for an adventure! I can't wait to share all the photos and to try a new culture out for a while. In addition to this, in December, NYU Shanghai is being given a private concert from LangLang, who is an extremely famous pianist in China. MeiChen and I are so excited to attend, it should be an amazing time.
I can't believe I will be back home in a little more than a month. I am already thinking of all the American food I have been deprived of these past few months...

Love from Shanghai,
Maddie

Language Breakthrough

I just wanted to make a quick post about my recent improvements with the Chinese language. The other day I was taking the elevator from our dining commons (B1)to the library (4th floor).As I was getting in the elevator serveral of the Chinese students got in and pressed floor 1. I thought it was strange that they were using the elevator for just one floor when the stairs seemed more convenient, but it's China, so I didn't judge. As I was in the elevator, the Chinese students were talking to each other in Chinese. I wasn't really paying attention until one of the girls asked, in Chinese, why the students were riding the elevator only one floor. I turned around and said "I just understood what you said!" It was probably the highlight of my day yesterday. 

My friends and I have been talking about how we try to eavesdrop on Chinese conversations all the time just to see if we can understand. I think the Chinese students are really impressed with our willingness to try and learn. 

MeiChen is so proud of me. The other day she narrated everything she did that day in Chinese and I had to translate what she did into English so I could practice my listening comprehension. It's become such a fun challenge speaking and listening to the language now that I've been here a few months. Even MeiChen sees improvements with her English. I can here her accent changing and her vocabulary includes more slang. I love giving her new phrases to try like: "it is what it is". Then she gives me one to try in Chinese and we write them on sticky notes and cover our walls. 

I honestly don't know what I'm going to do without her when I return to the states. I feel like she could be the fifth Stover. I've already gotten her to sing Taylor Swift in the room with me, so she is well on her way! 

Love from Shanghai,

Maddie 

Life Update

Hello All!
Sorry I haven't been able to post in a while, but I have been busy finishing up my midterms.

Just a quick update on my life:
Thanksgiving break is approaching, and as some of you may know, knowing that I wouldn't be home for Thanksgiving this year was one of the only draw backs I saw when I decided to move to Shanghai. So as a consolation for not being able to eat pie and hangout with my family, me and a few of my friends are going to South Korea for a four day weekend! We will be traveling to Seoul where we will be seeing some of the tourist attractions around the area. One of my friends actually lives in Seoul and he was more than happy to be our guide. We will be going to the N. Seoul Tower, hopefully some cool markets, and some of the temples there. Our days should be pretty packed with activities, but we are all very excited for another adventure!

In other news, I recently received confirmation that I will be able to run in the Great Wall Marathon in the spring! Since I am a resident of China, I do not have to participate in the seven day tourist trip. They told me that I can just pop into Beijing for the weekend, run the marathon and then come right back. My roommate said that although she refuses to run with me, she will be there to support me and make sure that I get around Beijing. A lot of other students have expressed interest in running it with me, so we will see who is up for the challenge. I am so excited to begin my training. When I get back to the states in December I am already planning to run another half marathon.

I hope all is well in the states, our student government is putting on a halloween festival for us here, so we don't feel so far away from home. My friends and I are going as the Spice Girls. (I'm Posh Spice).

Love you all,

Maddie

2 months in

Hello All!
Tomorrow will be the two month mark of my departure from America. As sort of an Ode to America I have compiled two lists. One is all the things I can't get in China. The other is a list of classic things that occur in China.

1. Food where I can name the contents
2. American sized clothing
3. English speakers
4. Trees
5. Houses
6. Forks
7. Clean Water; cold water for that matter
8. Fresh Air
9. 81/2 X 11 paper
10.Blue pens

Classic China
1. The side walks aren't so much a safe place to walk as they are an extra highway lane
2. If a Chinese person isn't yelling 外国人! (Foreigner) as you walk down the street, you're not listening close enough
3. The country has a distinct smell that can only be described as "China"
4. It's 3:00am but the sun is probably already up
5. In the same instant you will see a person pulling a cart full of garbage and a Lamborghini racing down the street.
6. Don't blink, or an entire restaurant will be constructed and serving costumers by the time your eye lids reopen. (Wish I was kidding)
7. It's not a real day here unless some small child is using the street as a bathroom
8. The struggle to hail a cab ranges from .5 seconds to 3 hours
9. You can point to the food item of your choice all you want, but what you actually get will always be a mystery.
10. If the Chinese maintenance workers say they will be there to fix it tomorrow, they take midnight very seriously.

Despite all of these things, I can think of 100 reasons why I love this place. Part of the reason is the shear challenge of not knowing what tomorrow will bring. Where else would I have to wonder what I actually ordered for lunch or if the taxi driver is actually going to take me to my destination? Part of my life here is getting the wrong order and finding that its the best food I've ever had or getting lost in the middle of Shanghai and finding my way back. These are experiences I would have never gotten if I stayed in America. My mom and I were just talking today and I was listing all the things I have to look forward to when I get back to the states. She asked if I was going to make it another 60 days. My reply was that I could make it another 60 years. Although America holds a special place in my heart and there will be things and people that I will always miss when I am here, my life in China is filled with adventure and mystery and beauty. I wouldn't give it up for anything. I see it as a beautiful opportunity to see a culture that is in almost all ways opposite of mine. I don't want to change it, I just want to embrace it and learn from it.

Love always,
Maddie

黄山

This past week I was fortunate enough to take a trip to Huangshan mountain. I can honestly say it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. For those of you who don't know what Huangshan is, it was the mountain that was shot for the movie Avatar. The view was absolutely amazing.
There were 12 of us on the trip. Among us were 4 continent representations, 6 different languages and a range of Chinese speaking abilities. We had one native Chinese speaker with us. I arrived Thursday, as a friend and I came a day late so that we could get some homework done before we arrived. To get to Huangshan we had to wake up at 4:00am and get a taxi to go to the bus station. From the bus station it was a six hour drive to Huangshan. Luckily traffic was light that day. The bus system was a little more complicated than we had anticipated and it stopped several times along the way. My friend and I kept trying to figure out what stop was ours but we ended up asking people around us if they were going to the same place, luckily they could understand my chinese. A lot of our traveling that day was based on blind faith. When we finally got to the base of the mountain we had to take another bus to get to the gondola that would finally take us up to the top of the mountain. From the gondola we had to find our friends who were waiting at one of the canyons. My friend and I walked up two miles worth of stairs until we finally found our group. It was one of the most exhausting days of my life, but the view was completely worth it and it was part of the adventure.
Once we were up the mountain, my friends and I decided we were going to climb up a little further and camp on the peak of Huangshan and then see the sunrise. We climbed up 90 degree angled hills until we reached a point flat enough to pitch our tents. We rented two tents for the 12 of us and got settled in (it was so college). We stayed up most of the night because we were freezing and our tent was pitched on a bit of slant so we were basically sliding down the mountain. I have never had so much fun in my life. We watched the stars and the moon and the backdrop of the mountain, something I find impossible to do when I'm in the city. I've never witnessed such beauty in my whole life. Finally, around 5:15am, we got out of the tent to see the sun rise, we sat on the edge of a cliff eating our rationed snacks and laughing about how none of really slept the whole night. By 6:00am we packed up our tents and made our way down the mountain.
We then decided that it would be fun to climb down the whole mountain instead of taking the gondola. We climbed down over 10 miles worth of stairs until we finally made it back to the base 4 hours later. You can imagine how badly my calves hurt right now. But to be able to see the vastness of the mountain was experience I will never forget.
I am back home safe and sound now, and this week I am going to a Kesha concert. I swear my life is never dull here!
Love from Shanghai
Maddie