berlin flag

Up until my last moments in Berlin there were things to do and visitors to entertain.  As I sit now however, on a plane from Berlin to New York, I suddenly find myself with a lot of time to think about the last four months.  Overall, it was an overwhelmingly positive experience.  Now that it’s over, some people are voicing their issues with the program and classes etc, and I have my frustrations too, but right now I’m more interested in focusing on the good.  At times our living situation was frustratingly claustrophobic, but now that I’m looking back, it’s a blip on the radar when I think about my entire experience in Berlin.  Part of me also believes that it was a positive thing that we all lived in the same apartment, because I think I was able to become a lot closer with the people in my program than I would have if we had been scattered around the city.  I met the most amazing people and I can hardly be upset about leaving when I can look forward to continuing the friendships at school in New York. 

I regret not being able to stay longer.

izzy

growth is amazing

Oof. How to make a “reflection” post about the entire semester that I spent in Berlin. Obviously going for comprehensiveness is just going to be pointless, but even so the things I do put down can be worth saying even if they don’t cover everything.

The first thing I’ll say is that my trip abroad wasn’t just a happy-go-lucky tail of adventure, youth and discovery. In all honesty though, there were moments when it felt like that. Sitting on top of a hill in morocco looking over Fes and hearing the prayer call coming from mosques in all directions. Being in a techno club in Berlin, feeling my individuality melt into the crowd, bobbing up and down without a care about what I looked like dancing was another. And the walk back at 8am, with the sun fully up for the day, somehow thoroughly energized by the feeling of being physically tired but mentally so alive and aware was another.

But just as there were moment of feeling alive, feeling like I understood, feeling like there was meaning and clarity to the way that I was living and thinking, there were moments of feeling hopeless, like I understood nothing(other than the simple fact that I understood nothing), like I was stuck in old patterns, like meaning had somehow left my every action. There were times when I felt motivated to do nothing other than sit in front of the computer and just search, for something anything of interest that I could hold onto as an anchor in the sea of information and interpretations and realities and emotions and memories.

TORA TORA TORA

I finished all the assignments but my semester has another 3-4 weeks so I can’t stop traveling in style, and blogging about it. I travel in artistic style, and I like learing about a place through artworks rather than travel books. Unfortunately the internet here is to slow for me to add links and as many pictures as I would wish to. This weekend I went to Tokyo and on the flight to Japan I watched Tora Tora Tora. This was an interesting way to experience landing in Japan. Because they were our enemies not so long ago, and I have visited Pearl Harbor in my life and was extremely affected by the story. I also went to see the main Japanese Soldier memorials which are very controversial because it acknowledges those who were found guilty for committing war crimes as well as all the other soldiers who fought and “honorably” died in Japanese wars. The museum connected with the memorial has many false facts and controversial information to the Japanese’s involvement in World War II. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Before I left to china so many people asked me “Are you excited to eat a lot of sushi?” I would laugh and nod my head. I didn’t believe that they were saying this, and I didn’t feel that it was my responsibility to educate them that sushi is Japanese and not Chinese. In America we assume that Assia is all the same. But China and Japan are not only different because of their cuisine but their culture at large. They are also historically enemies, and rivals. They look different speak differently and act differently. They are both so significantly different its amazing that American restaurants can get away with selling both of their foods together. In Tokyo I went to a baseball game and the world’s most famous fish market, and had the time of my life. It was very expensive and supper developed. Chinese Style ToiletAs china is emerging as a developed city, it still has a long time to go till its Japan. The best comparison is the toilets that I showed in an earlier post about China are the most opposite as the toilets in Japan. In public restrooms in Japan you will see a toilet that has a computer built in with a water bidet that cleans you as you sit. In china not only the public restrooms, but even the fanciest restaurants in Shanghai can be guilty of having a whole in the ground with no seat as a toilet.>>

the Self is an emergent system, like this flower

While I firmly believe that there is not much point in letting regrets get to you, and that it is a waste of time to brood over things you should have done or said in the past, there are a few things that I would have done with my time here, had I had the information about this place(and myself) that I do now.

One of the things I would have done is explored Friedrichshain more. James and I biked through there recently, and we realized quickly that that part of Berlin actually is really interesting. More so than Mitte(which has been totally renewed, commercialized, and made into the center of Berlin) or even Prenzlauer Berg(basically where the punks-turned-yuppies live today), Friedrichshain really feels post-socialist(the picture on my last post was from Friedrichshain), and has it’s own personality, or so it seems. The quick glance I got was of massive amounts of space, a real neighborhoodish feel, and intense communist-style block housing. I’ve also heard that there are a lot of squats doing cool things all the time, and I was constantly seeing flyers and reading stuff on the internet about stuff going on there. Really, I would have liked to explore all of the regions I didn't explore in Berlin.

travelingThe physical art of traveling almost takes away individual identity. Robbing it from the person and putting it down on paper, in a passport picture and a visa. Traveling can be a very invasive process, going through metal detectors, removing shoes, claiming belongings, opening suitcases to be searches, possessions to be rummaged carelessly through by some random attendant. Individuality is diminished to a passport number, to one of millions passing through the system each day. My bags are all packed; tomorrow morning I go through the system, from Berlin Tegel to JFK.

While the physical process of traveling can be so draining, it is accompanied by a whole host of other experiences and emotions that makes it more then worth it. Traveling can be very emotional. For me, the physical act takes away individual identity, but my travel this semester has given me four months to re-strengthen who I actually am, and I think I have really changed during this process. Being so far away from home, for the first time in my life, has been really good for me. It has forced me to step outside of my comfort zone, away from my old friends and old routines into a completely new way of life in a foreign country with a foreign language. It was a big adjustment at first but now I really love Berlin and am sad to leave.

Overall, I really liked this course. I liked the freedom it gave me to write about whatever I felt like, to read whatever I wanted, to reflect on my experiences abroad. I think it was a really positive experience and I am really glad I participated in it.

The Art of Travel was a really good book that I did not expect to like as much as I did. Reading it as I came to Berlin not only shaped this course but my whole experience here. It made me reflect much more and think about what I was experiencing. I enjoyed blogging so much because it allowed me to really think out everything that was going on around me.

I think I fell off blogging a bit towards the end of the semester, in the spring when everything got busy, during spring break and after especially, and I definitely fell off on posting comments on other people’s blogs. Still, being invested in a class like this, even if it is hard to make it the number one priority, was really important to my study abroad experience. Reading other blogs and learning about other experiences in other cities gave me a better perspective on my own.

socialism worship site in east berlin

One of the most interesting things that I’ve thought about since I showed up in Berlin is the kind of sensibility that the Germans seem to have about industrial relations and economic planning, and how the way that Germany approaches the economy manifests itself in the everyday lives of Germans and me.

Upon getting our visas, Germany gave everyone in our program 110 euros of “Wilkommen Geld.” While I don’t know if this happens in the States really, still, it seems pretty amazing to me that in this places they actually give you money when I get the opportunity to come here. They even will offer welfare to immigrants who come into the country and register with the government on an agreement that they are trying to find a job. In the US welfare is skimpy even for American citizens, nevertheless immigrants.

When you do a little research into how Germans deal with poverty, you find out soon that the idea of homelessness kind of isn’t the main issue being discussed. While this might not seem to make sense, the reality is that there really just aren’t that many people that are homeless here. German welfare is concerned with giving people quality of life, not the bare minimum. And you can see it walking around Berlin. There’s no one sleeping on cardboard, and it seems that everyone really does have a place to stay. Even those who refuse to pay can live in a squat and still enjoy some degree of quality of life. In New York the story is different. Squatting is more illegal and way less common, and there are homeless people everywhere.

Today I was watching a documentary on Walmart. It was really interesting because a chunk of the way through they have a little section on Germany, and they interview a bunch of workers who were organized through Ver.di, one of the big trade unions that is a part of the larger DGB union coordinator here, and they say they’re amazed that in America there’s no unions for the walmart workers. Straight up, my political economy teacher told me Walmart tried to make it in Berlin and had to leave: Germans don’t like cheap low quality products, and they don’t let companies exploit their workers (as much).

I also heard that recently the head of the Deutsche Bank got in trouble for making 15 million dollars in private gains recently. Supposedly people were freaking out, saying this should never happen in Germany. 15 millions seems like a lot, but compared with the US where CEOs with stock options can easily make hundreds of millions a year, and where I get the feeling people take this to be the norm, the gap between the rich and the poor in America seems much larger than in Germany, and Germans seems much more interested(and the statistics support it) in spreading the wealth out a little bit.

But alas things are changing, and I think for the worse. My German teacher who was 22 when the wall came down, and has lived in Berlin his whole life(in other words, someone in the know about the state of Germany) told me things are heading in the direction of less regulated markets, more privatization of everything(like health care, which he told me in 1970s and 1980s was good even though it was socialized), and a bigger gap between the rich and the poor. And all this can be backed by statistics, just look up studies done on equality in America versus Germany. Deregulated markets, privatization, and more liquid capital(basically the values of fundamentalist capitalism) lead to greater poverty levels and inequality: this is just material reality. And in Germany, things are headed this way for a number of reasons, but mostly because of the pressure that the global market puts on countries to get with the picture and be more price-competitive, not quality-competitive(which is how Germany has been for a while. Just think of all the quality stuff that comes out of Germany - BMW, Sennheiser)

So while in America, embarrassingly enough, we seem to unabashedly push forward with ridding all barriers to those with power and money to make more money and gain more power, in Germany they tried to not let that happen, but their economy hurt as a result(just check how the economy plummeted in the 1990s) and now they’re basically meshing into the globalised market like most of the other advanced capitalist countries.

But even so, Germany is still much more socialist than the United States, and honestly I’d say the quality of life is just plain better for most people. People work less(no more than 35 hours a week) they go on vacation more(you get on the average 10 more weeks off here than in the US) there’s less homeless people, more organic food is eaten than in most places in the world, and workplaces have the ideals of industrial democracy legislated into them. Really, the expression seems true that "Americans live to work, Europeans work to live."

lighterThe Art of Travel was a pretty cool thing to have done while I was traveling abroad. Blogging is great because it makes you write, but there also are less formal rules and you can get a little more creative, a little more personal than in most of the writings you have to do for more traditional class-room classes. In addition to being less formal there is the fact that what you read is necessarily tied to the internet, since you have the options of posting pictures and embedding links. All of these things are great and I think they contribute to an interesting experience writing and reading.

Personally the reason I liked the course so much was because I think that writing is a very good thing to do: it helps one’s thoughts move and change, and in the act of writing you simultaneously express yourself and reflect on what you’ve expressed. When you just let the words come out, you both create and see the thoughts that you are creating at once, and since it is right there in front of you, you can keep track of your lines of reasoning. So while sometimes contemplating things if your head might get confused, or you forget what you thought before that lead to your thoughts now, writing helps you to understand what and why you think what you think. Writing isn’t just writing, it’s also reading, kind of like playing a game with yourself. Also on a personal level I find this very therapeutic, since when I’m in my worst moods, I feel like my thoughts are static and unmoving, just stuck on the same old hooks: writing helps me to see things in a new light, when I remember to do it.

KONG: Last Night in Paris

Talking to an old friend last week, one who proved painful to truly keep in touch with while I was so many thousands of miles away, I mentioned that I knew Paris has changed me for the better, although I admitted that I knew not how to articulate the changes.  When discussing the same subject with my French professor, I stated, “C’est difficile d’expliquer parce que je me change dans ma tête.” Basically, it is hard to explain because I have changed in my mind.  I do not know how different my life will actually be when I’m settled into my old locals, but I feel like I have learned so much about who I am as a person.  I hope that I can bring my newly “polished” mindsets to my life in Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco, integrating who I have become, however slight the actual outer differences may be, into every aspect of my life – especially in relationships.  It certainly is strange being in a place where English is the main spoken language. I will miss the small victories of navigating métro transfers without reading a single sign.  At least I am now able to joke and pun in and with French  (e.g. this post’s title ).  I can see, more or less, how my life would have been without Paris this semester.  Not bad, not necessarily stuck.  I left behind a lot of people and places I love, but I know that if I did not actually fill a void while here, perhaps I have at the very least strengthened the tools I need to really figure out who I am and who I can and will be.

Leo, Lanvins, and Pont Neuf

This tutorial was my third experience with blogging on Placeandliterature.com, and my fourth time working with Professor Hutkins.  I definitely got a lot out of Art of Travel.  It was a great way to force much-needed self-reflection through writing.  I also enjoyed hearing about other Gallatin students’ abroad experiences and discovering their writing styles and approaches to each topic.  I enjoyed the assigned readings as well as those I chose for the tutorial. 

One personal issue I had was blogging on time.  NYU in Paris is one of those rare, difficult abroad programs you hear about, and when I wasn’t doing my regular homework, I was trying to get out and enjoy Paris.  My time flâneuring about got in the way of my time I could have spent more efficiently dedicated to the tutorial.  However, I should note that I often used my blog to sort out that which I was learning in my other classes.  This may have come with greater facility to me than others, considering that my concentration is Urban Culture through Film and Literature, and I was studying French language, European society & cinema, and Parisian literature.  Clearly, my interests directly pertain to the tutorial, making the blogs an effective tool for me to analyze both my surroundings and studies. 

Venezia

When planning my spring break, I was eager to “compensate” for the lack of traveling I had done due to my (successful) attempts to feel grounded in Paris.  My mom was coming to tour Europe with me, and there were so many places we wanted to visit.  Too many places.  After much deliberation, we were booked to meet in London and continue on to Amsterdam, Berlin, Florence, and Venice before returning to Paris together.  We had three nights in London, five in Florence, and only two in the other three cities.  The amount of traveling was rather overwhelming for us both, and we definitely limited ourselves in regard to actually grasping most of the cities.  In London we were busy with old friends, we did not have time to ride bikes in Amsterdam, Berlin was entirely touristic, and Venice left us wanting.  However, I do not regret the whirlwind nature of the trip, for it enabled me to experience even just a taste of all of these new places.  And for the most part, the tastes were good. 

Dylan and The Band

When I Paint My Masterpiece, by Bob Dylan has always been my travel song. I usually play this song on my disc man or ipod when I start touring a location. This song has always been one of my favorite songs; and as I am currently sharing such valuable insight from my European buddies while being abroad, I remember why I chose to come to China and not go to Europe. First of all I’ve been to almost every city that NYU has their headquarters in Europe. I love Europe and the truth is if I had the chance to be in Europe right now, chilling in a piazza sipping good coffee I would definitely be happier and less depressed. China has caused me a serious amount of stress. It’s very hectic and overwhelming over here. The best way to understand china is through a famous saying. In china the easy is impossible; and the impossible is easy. Not knowing how to speak the language is so frustrating. And its not that they are like Europeans and work slower because they like to vacation, In China they just operate differently all together. It has been very tough for me to adjust to china.

this was me my compt

I loved this course. It was by far my favorite course I took abroad. While the language requirement we study is obviously the most important, this class taught me more about life, and I wont forget what I learned. Despite the fact that this course was only 2 credits, I ended up spending more time on this course than any of my other 4 credit courses. Its not that this course was to demanding, I think the assignments were fare and just enough to be considered adequate. its that I felt myself infected, and i was thinking differently than I ever thought before. I was analyzing everything around me, in a deeper degree than its surface value.

Barbara Aliaga's: Road to Relaxation

My Regrets about my trip abroad, hmm. My regrets are not where I could’ve gone, but rather the mindset that I could’ve possessed. To often I was stressed out and as a result I didn’t allow myself to enjoy where I was. In our spring break me and my best friend went to Thailand, and I had so much anxiety every step of the way. I wanted to be more organized, but I couldn’t pretend that I was some annoying tight-ass, I know that going with the flow is the proper way in life. So ultimately my only regret is not going somewhere differently but acting differently. Similar to when de Botton speaks about the fight in the argument with his girlfriend/wife in Barbados. I don’t remember it exactly, but the point was we tend to forget the pain we experienced after our journeys commence when we reflect about our vacations. Its is very true when I look at the pictures from Thailand, I think to myself wow!! That is so beautiful, that was the best moment ever. But in truth despite the fact that the scenery was gorgeous, my mind was a mess. I was completely unorganized and I was stricken with serious stress. It was not as pleasant as it seems. I know how to be cool, and act as if I’m some laid-back chiller, but ultimately I have been very affected by my experience in the army. I am very paranoid and tense, I demand order to often. My family always called me the “hippie”, nothing would bother me. But these days my friends call me the “German”, because my grandparents were German, and I am strict and organized like the stereotypical German. It’s bizarre. We tend to become the things we mock. I am like my parents and grandparents and I never thought I would be so uptight.

Infrequent Tourism: The only day I posed at Trocadéro

I really connected with Dean MacCannell’s article, "Staged Authenticity: Arrangements of Social Space in Tourist Settings".  I can’t say that I found any one part of the piece to be shockingly profound, but MacCannell certainly articulated numerous facts and concepts that spoke loudly to me.  He laid everything out, putting words to the ideas floating around my mind, and elaborating on them in an explanatory manner that gave sense my various wonderings. 

Before I left for Paris, I had the intention of traveling a lot while abroad.  Although things did not exactly play out as I had imagined, I feel that I got to experience many new places while really getting to live in Paris, not just in France, or Europe.  Anyone who knows me even casually knows that I take TONS of pictures.  However, when I’m in Los Angeles, Manhattan, or Paris, I find myself mostly taking pictures of friends or more personal places, far fewer touristy pictures than when I am in places I don’t consider home.  I wanted to feel like I spent four months really living in Paris, not just visiting.  I tried to speak the language in my daily life, even when my accent was not well received.  I wanted to get to know the city through walking and taking public transportation.  Immersing myself in Parisian life, I was still able to take myself out of this localness on occasion.  As MacCannell notes, “Some individuals are always on the lookout for a touristic opening.  They are said to have an ‘adventurous attitude” (595).  Although I made certain efforts to avoid lengthy underground transfers at station Châtelet, I always relished rides on métro ligne 1, with the arguably cleanest and roomiest trains, with automatic doors and station names announced audibly in perfect French.  It also stops at various key tourist sites, from the Champs-Elysées to the Bastille, and beyond.  I suppose MacCannell would view my pleasure in riding the 1 as enjoyment in discovering touristic openings.   Still, I somehow found myself observing the small touring groups as different from myself.  I wanted, perhaps needed, to believe that I was more localized than they were, that my existence in Paris was more authentic than those just passing through. 

from Pont Neuf

The next twenty-four hours speed past me, a whirlwind of phone calls, planes, taxi rides, and too many euros exchanged for and spent.  I find myself in Paris.  After an anxious attempt to book a flight to Oklahoma, I knew I needed one last adventure before heading home.  As I settle into my immaculate, albeit tiny room in Hotel Lenox on Rue de l’Université, I am feeling the opposite—unsettled in every sense.  I need to roam.  I throw on my burgundy peasant dress and gold thong sandals.  I take the rickety elevator down to the lobby and stop into the jazz bar on the left for an Amaretto on the rocks.  I sip slowly, letting the cool, thick liquid glide over each taste bud.  Feeling the heat of the mid-afternoon sun penetrating the bar’s dark curtains, I place the last ice cube in my mouth, one for the road, and head out.  Something about the heat is comforting.  It feels like home.  Perhaps I really am ready for Oklahoma, but it never hurt anyone to settle for a few lazy days in the City of Lights. 

SichuanIn Shanghai you feel like you are in the most intense city in the world. Crossing the street here is like a game of frogger. and makes New York City crossings feel like you’re in the suburbs. Today at 2:28pm all the madness stopped for a short while. For 3 minutes the whole country shared in a moment of silence memorializing the victims of the Sichuan earthquake. For the next three days the whole country will mourn those who were affected in the tragedy.

I didn’t know that they were doing this and experienced it in the middle. Sirens and cars honking flooded the streets.  It was appropriate and I felt as if I was a local mourning the losses of loved ones, and fellow country men. I received a lot of messages from worried family members and curious face book bloggers. I reassured everyone letting them know I was fine. Although the earthquake was no where near me, I am still affected as a humanitarian. And now that I’m in Asia the cyclone that happened in Myanmar is upsetting as well.

ranchBerlin is a completely different city now that the sun is shining. I have never experienced a spring fever like that in Berlin. Coming from California where spring fever doesn’t really exist, I thought there was a significant mood change in New York when tank top weather rolled around. The increase of people in Washington Square Park in May however, pales in comparison to the boom of outdoor activity in Berlin. The restaurants are spilling out into the straßes and platzes, and there are dance parties in multiple parks every weekend. There are suddenly children and dogs everywhere, and everything just seems a lot happier. Before I came here, many people warned me about the Berlin winter: “Yea Berlin is great, but the blanket of grey can start to get to you.” It seems to suck the life out of the city. I know now though, how Berlin manages to rejuvenate itself every year. For the last four weeks, all I’ve wanted is to be outside; it’s all I can think about. Needless to say, it’s been hard to do my schoolwork. Finals and springtime is definitely NOT a match made in heaven.

beach bonfireLiving in Berlin for the last four months, it has become apparent to me that it is impossible to escape the identity of an outsider while living amongst a foreign culture. As described in Dean MacCannell’s article Staged Authenticity: Arrangements of Social Space in Tourist Settings, we are all, tourists or not, in a constant search for authenticity. Whether it is attempting to access the back region as a tourist in a foreign space, or proclaiming legitimacy as a local, we all want to be “in the know.” In a society consumed by this constant search however, the line between authentic and inauthentic is getting blurrier by the minute: “Touristic consciousness is motivated by its desire for authentic experiences, and the tourist may believe that he is moving in this direction, but often it is very difficult to tell for sure if the experience is authentic in fact” (MacCannell, 597). At this point, the question of authenticity has turned into a “he said, she said” situation. In my opinion, the idea of authenticity is easily and often shaped by other people’s touristic consciousnesses. For example, because I am not a native Berliner, my opinions on what is “authentic Berlin” are shaped by what people tell me, and snippets from selected guidebooks. I have come to learn however, that many people have many different opinions on what aspects of the city represent the true Berlin. Thus, the concept of authenticity is not concrete; it has become malleable, and varies from individual to individual. So when a tourist is trying to access the back regions in a search for the authentic Berlin, or New York, or Danish kitchen, what are they really looking for?

(untitled)I have about two weeks left in my semester, and I find myself constantly thinking of things I still want to do with my time left in Berlin, fitting in restaurants bathhouses bars and trips to the pool in between finals. Planning a trip to the Baltic Sea, to the German Island Usedom before we leave, to get to the beach, something unfamiliar in Berlin (unless you count the Spree, which to be honest really isn’t that bad of a beach). Anyway, what I am trying to say is that I don’t exactly feel as if I have a lot of regrets leaving Berlin, but I do wish I had a little more time to enjoy it. In the summer, Berlin is so lively and so much fun. I want to spend all of my time at cafes eating ice cream.

That being said, I wish I didn’t get so caught up in worrying about things. I get too deep into my own head. I wish I could get out of this mindset, I think recognizing it has helped a lot though which is something I wasn’t able to do while living in New York. Writing also helps. Still I sometimes get introverted and nervous and it can be limiting, in making friends, in interacting with people on the street, in class or wherever. I can accept this though as a part of my personality, a phase I go through sometimes as long as it doesn’t take over too much.

still scannerless, at my most Parisienne

Although I have read other books about my abroad site, Paris, which I could have analyzed for this entry, I feel more inclined and drawn to look at a couple novels I read for one of my abroad courses, The Myth of Paris.  Perhaps this bends the tutorial rules un peu, but seeing as the class deals with some of the great Parisian writers as they experienced and defined what was and still is rightfully their city, I hope that my choice will be excused. 

As Honoré de Balzac begins his novel Old Goriot, he sets his Parisian scene, warning readers that they most likely will not fully understand the work if they are not from Paris, asking: “Will it be understood outside Paris?  One may doubt it.  Only between the heights of Montmartre and Montrouge are there people who can appreciate how exactly, with what close observation, it is drawn from life.”  Balzac’s challenge is made personal for any reader who chooses to embrace it.  Living in Paris while reading Old Goriot, I found the work to be, at the very least, a jumping off point for understanding the Paris of the first half of the 19th century.  Being in such a culturally rich location certainly does aid the understanding of its literature.  Although Balzac’s doubts seem slightly condescending upon first reading them, I have since come to believe that they are well founded.  Paris has become such a mythical location largely due to the literature by those who knew it best.  I have found that those, like myself, who come here briefly with the desire to understand Paris even slightly better than they did before, quickly see that there is much more than meets the eye.  Maybe the fact that I read Old Goriot after only living here for a few weeks, and almost 200 years after its publication, highlights my limitations in fully comprehending it.  However, I have taken on Balzac’s challenge, tried to be “of Paris” opposed to just temporarily in it, as I read Old Goriot and any other work about this city. 

Windward Circle - Venice, CA

During my French final exam, all oral, my professor and I discussed many things.  We had to present an image or document to her and the rest of the 15 (or so) minutes was more or less a free for all.  I prepared a flashcard in French to accompany this Polaroid photo of me standing in Venice Beach and aid my explanation of its personal significance.  After discussing my presence at the first relighting of the Venice sign last June (can you spot me?), and my work experience and friendships made though working for my company, Venice the Menace, we moved on to various other topics ranging from how I became interested in film (sort of a condensed version of my IAPC, en français), to why I made the decision to study abroad in Paris.  Although I had been slightly nervous about the open-ended “interrogation” section of the final, the conversation flowed with relative ease.  One of the reasons I came to Paris was because “le français m’a manqué” (I missed French).  Although I often get nervous and tongue-tied, Professor Reychman has made me increasingly comfortable to articulate myself pretty well all semester.  Today was no exception.

Steak.. Yum!

Leaving New York City: I spent my last night in New York City with my favorite people and engaging in my favorite activity: Eating. My girlfriend, my brothers and I ate a lavish dinner at my favorite French Steakhouse called Le Marais. I remember starting with an order of short ribs and an order of mergeuz (spicy sausages). I moved on to my next course where I ordered double prime reserved rib steak which was at least one full pound of meat. I said goodbye and left on an early morning flight to Shanghai’s Pudong international airport.

DoggieArriving in Shanghai: It took a few days to get acclimated to what everyday life here in Shanghai would be like. After staying one week in a temporary on campus hotel we were finally able to move into our “permanent” living space for our time abroad. It came time to fill our apartment with the essentials so my roommates and I adventured to the local supermarket. At first glance the only noticeable difference among this supermarket and my local market in New York City was the amount of people that were there. But as I got to the back of the store I had seen something I never had before in the past. Chicken and meat were not packaged the way it was in New York. The supermarket was filled with live fish, chickens, frogs, ducks, crabs, frogs, snakes and other animals. The consumers waited patiently online for their opportunity to hand pick their dinner and right before our eyes the employee took a knife and chopped it up.

The Rainbowroom NYC

Right before I left to China I had a lot of free time and very few tasks to complete. One thing I had to do was get English maps of China from the Chinese tourist office in the Empire State Building. Another task was to show my cousin around the City. And a third task was to spend quality time with my girl. I always feel like I’m a tourist in New York because there are always great cultural events to witness, but those few weeks before I left I found myself doing the same things as all the foreign tourists and not the local tourists. As I went to both the Empire State Building and the Rockefeller Center Rainbow Room observatory decks, I found myself in an elevator with Russian, French, And Italian tongues. The only English I heard had a funny British accent. It is factual that there is a back room and a front room to every tourist spot. And as I had the workers trying to convince me to buy souvenirs I was able to insert my native status with a few wise cracks. It was fun and awkward going undercover in my own city as a foreign tourist. In Shanghai I feel like I’m in New York City when I go out since we usually go to all the western hangouts. But, every now and then I get a moment when I experience the other side and usually it’s a more genuine cultural experience. This weekend I went to a city that is completely run down and I was the only white westerner for miles it was a great feeling having everyone stare at me. I felt like I was crocodile Dundy.From The Pearl TowerJess @ YuYuan garden