TV Tower and Tumbling

Today is January 12, 2010. It is currently 9:45 P.M. and I am exhausted. Victoria, Emma and I woke up at 4:30 A.M. and could not fall back asleep. We shared life stories and had girl talk, while John Mayer played in the background. It was so nice to bond with my friends that early in the morning. We finally decided we weren’t going back to sleep and got up to start our day. I skyped with John! It was so nice to see him and hear about what all is going on at Wofford. On the way to the bus for the day, I was on the phone with the Verizon help guy and finally got my phone to work somewhat. Its kind of hit or miss here as far as when our phones work. We boarded the bus and headed to the financial district of Shanghai. We stopped to take a picture of the 3rd tallest building in the world, and also another building that is the “sister” tower of the Sears Tower in Chicago. It was so tall! We then went up to the Oriental Pearl TV Tower. The TV tower is the 3rd tallest TV tower in the world. It is twice the size of the Effiel Tower! First we went up to this level that was glassed in. We got to see the whole city of Shanghai from all directions. Jing told us yesterday that there were over 4,800 skyscrappers. I honestly didn’t believe her until today. There really is that many. The view along with how many buildings there were is indescribable. We then went down a level and walked around on an semi indoor / outdoor floor. The walls were made of glass, as well as the floor. Taking that first step was so nerve racking because it felt like you were stepping out onto a thin piece of glass. Oh wait – I forgot, I was! Once I got over the initial nerves, it was so much fun to look down below me and across the city at the same time. There was a “wax” museum in the basement of the TV Tower that we walked through as well. Emma and I ventured through together and towards the end of the museum, a Chinese man stopped to talk to us. He asked if we were Chinese, and we told him we weren’t that we were American. He then asked to take a picture with us. It happened throughout the day to several other girls in our group. We American girls just do not look like those Asian girls! We left the TV tower and went to lunch. Lunch today was alright. We ate at a restaurant similar to those we have eaten at the whole time we’ve been here. They served us French fries that was really cool! They were slightly different than American. They had more potato and were less fried. I also had fried lotus flower, which happened to be very good as well. We left lunch and headed to a train station. This train station is the only station in the world that has a magnetic train. The magnetic train travels at 430 km/h, which is over 230 mph! We got on the train and rode the 20-mile journey to the airport. It only took us 7 minutes to get there! It was ridiculous to see how fast we were passing the “countryside” of Shanghai. We passed a magnetic train going the opposite direction and it felt like we had hit it due to the force and speed both trains were moving. We rode it back from the airport. It was such a fun experience! After that we came back to the hotel for some down time. We had about 3.5 hours before we were supposed to meet to go to the acrobatic show. We were also supposed to grab dinner on our own during that time. Emma, Victoria and I decided to take a nap during our break. We were going to wake up at 5:30, an hour before we had to meet the group and go get a bite to eat. At 6:45 there was banging on our door. Our alarm had not gone off and we had overslept. The whole group was on the bus waiting for us! We rushed out of our room. I told Dr. Kinnison that we were on “Chinese time”, because the Chinese have a 30-minute window of when they show up for a specific time. She just laughed. We headed to the acrobatic show. At first I was skeptical, however the show ended up being great. The average age of the acrobats were 17 years old. They were all so flexible, graceful and coordinated. My favorite act was the “Circle of Death”. There were 5 motorcycles in an oval sphere rotating around. It reminded me of the circus when I was little. I was surprised at how different acrobatic acts really are. There is much more to them than walking on a rope or doing flips through hoops. After the acrobatic show, we headed back to the hotel. We have yet to go “out on a night on the town in Shanghai”. We have all been too exhausted. We may go exploring tomorrow night, however right now, our hard mattress, with soft pillows and comforter (with no top sheet), sounds just fine.