First, we all went to dinner for all-you-can-eat/drink Teppanyaki. This is the Japanese style of cooking where the Chef cooks in front of you. We ordered delicious sushi and sashimi as well melt-in-your-mouth steak, lamb, fish, and shrimp. We spent two hours eating, chatting and anxiously awaiting the new year. With a half hour left of 2012, we left the restaurant and headed towards direction Bund. The Bund is the famous promenade with 19th century European architecture that stands waterfront to the Huangpu River. On the other side is Pudong, Shanghai's financial center, a huge collection of skyscrapers, most only 20 years in the making. We eagerly rushed down East Nanjing Road, a pedestrian walkway which is closed to traffic, and wondered if there truly would be fireworks. We kept hearing different things...some said there would be no fireworks and years past had seen expats wait in vain...in the cold. We also heard that instead of fireworks there would be a lazer show (whoop-de-doo) but as we rushed down past all the people, we could feel the excitement and we somehow knew there definitely would be fireworks. As we hurried along, we looked at our watches and saw only 10 minutes left! We made it all the way down East Nanjing until we ran into a wall of Chinese Policemen. Apparently, they blocked all access to the Bund about an hour beforehand as a measure of crowd control. So in front of the illuminated iPhone store, we make-shifted our own front row firework show with sparklers (wunderkerzen)...while still having a half-way view of the real firework show in the background. It would have been amazing to see the impressive firework display without the blocked view, but we were all together and that is what mattered. After the fireworks, we made our way through the massive Chinese crowd, past police barricades, to a deserted Bund. Whatever the Chinese had assembled for the New Year, they were already disassembling and workers were already cleaning. As we walked along the clean-up process, we saw little dots of light illuminating the sky. What? Chinese UFOs!!!! No, actually, they were Chinese lanterns. We got to see some of them being lit and sent off. Walking along the Bund, with a view of Pudong on the other side and Chinese lanterns drifting by, I really had to think about how cool it was to celebrate the New Year in Shanghai...and how perhaps it will be the only New Year's of my life celebrating in China.
After our stroll, we made our way to a club and danced a while to live jazz and live circus performances. Afterwards, we went to a bar which all the other students from ECUST were celebrating. They also had live music at this bar....an older Filipino band playing American classic rock. Despite their age, they were bringing down the house....I mean, one even pulled a Jimi Hendrix and played the guitar with his teeth (wowzers!). Since I needed to get to leave for the airport for a 14+ hour flight back to Hamburg, I decided that at 3am it was time to go home.
It was really sad to say goodbye. And I also really hate goodbyes. But I'd really like to thank all my friends in Shanghai: Anne, Anna, Jitka, Lara, Alejandro, Mike, Kai, Jonas, and Pamela (and all the other ECUST exchange students) for some wonderful memories in China. I know that it's not really goodbye to them, because I'm sure I'll seem them again whether its in Germany, Mexico or some other part of the world! I always find it incredible: the people you can meet abroad and how these people can be a part of lasting friendships despite huge distances across the world.
This is the end of my study abroad experience in China. As I end this final post, I'd like to share one last reflection. It will aim to answer the question: how did I like it overall?
Well, as I was leaving the airport, I found myself musing over the fact "I can't believe I lived 4 months in China!" It was accompanied with a tone of "What was I thinking?!" But, I am so happy with that last minute decision I made last spring to come to Shanghai. I had some amazing experiences, and while maybe I didn't 100% love it all the time, it was a different experience. I had the opportunity to travel to new places, to see things I would have never seen before, and to experience a culture first-hand I could only wonder about before. I would do the experience a thousand times again. But of course, I am happy to be "home". I'm still trying to figure out what home is for me. Is it still California? Or is it Hamburg? Or will it be New York? Well for 2013, it's Hamburg and I'm looking forward to see what the year will offer.
Thank you all for reading this blog...I hope you were able to live the journey with me and that you enjoyed reading this blog as much as I enjoy writing it.
Until next time....
"For last year's words belong to last year's language And next year's words await another voice. To make an end is to make a beginning. -T.S Eliot
NI HAO!! See you soon! Hopefully in another crazy adventure like China.
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