Step 1: Sit. And Wait.

It seems my 15 hour flight to Shanghai has become a 3 (well, really 2, but the time difference) day ordeal. After finishing up packing last night, taking a final exam this morning, followed by a 7 hour ride to the airport, I was not-so-quickly informed that my 15 hour flight was delayed from 1:45 am departure time to.. gasp... 6 am (aah!) due to "bad weather." This didn't seem so bad until the attendant in the check-in line informed me the airline uses "bad weather" as an excuse for..wait for the joke.. any and all problems! "Who knows what it could be!" Apparently I didn't find this as funny as he did, and in response I smiled politely and am now trying not to contemplate alternatives to Mother Nature simply having a good cry.

So I am currently in the airport, armed with my computer, Watch-It-Now netflix (Ira Glass is a new hero), and the great hope that 6 am is the final delay in this much anticipated journey.

While I continue to oscillate between nervousness (will anyone speak English? Will anyone understand my broken Mandarin?? Will I be able to even get to my new home and communicate with the cab driver?!) I am also plagued with the desire to sleep for a long, long time (last night, pre-exam I found myself sick because of the malaria vaccination I'm taking--the sickness we go through to stay healthy!)

With that said, I am really excited, and looking forward to "settling" in a place that exists to me as fragments of abstract representations and stereotypes, advice, and stories that have almost taken on mythological proportions.

So far my favorite has been the conflicting advice received from a variety of people about Shanghai. "Everyone will speak English, Beth! Don't worry." has been pretty common. But not when counterbalanced by an equal number of people warning me, "No one will speak English, Beth!!! You will be doing a lot of pointing!" or another gem, "Good luck." and the strangest, "Why would you want to go there?" (I felt this was by far the lamest and most unimaginative response...)

To be fair, everyone has been incredibly encouraging and enthusiastic about my trip. Infact, my Mandarin tutor cooked me dumplings as a going away gesture (in Chinese culture it is common to cook dumplings before someone departs on a journey-one of many new lessons..) While in retrospect it may have seemed strange to spend my final Chinese lesson eating dumplings in silence as my Professor smiled at me from ear-to-ear, it seemed fitting in regards to the warm and supportive relationship we have established over these few short weeks of me sounding ridiculous and her being extremely supportive of my ridiculous accent (or lack thereof).

Since I have time, perhaps I should indulge in some pre-flight hopes and goals for the trip.

1) To explore/travel as much as possible.

2) To leave with a greater understanding of Shanghai's range/display of attitudes towards architecture, construction, and urban planning-- specifically within my thesis site, Pudong New Area.

3) To learn as much as possible about the local culture and traditions (although Shanghai is a global city, I plan on taking many weekend trips to the countryside...Suzhou is supposed to be amazing!)

4) To just enjoy.. whatever that might mean.

Hopefully these goals seem manageable. I like to think so.

Well, only 7 more hours until flight departure time! I am debating whether I should do some plyometrics around the airport or indulge in another episode of "This American Life." Stay tuned, and hopefully next time I write it will be from Shanghai...