My last weekend in Shanghai coincided with the 1st May festivity, so it was in fact a long weekend since we also had the Monday off.
On Saturday, in the early afternoon, the girl who is interning in the same company as me and I decided to take a stroll in the French Concession, a famous part of Shanghai which, believe it or not, we hadn’t visited yet… During the day, that is. The weather was lovely, spring-like again and, combined with the fact that most roads in the district are tree-lined, it really seemed to us that we were in a European capital rather than in chaotic Shanghai. But that’s the beauty of this city, as I’ve already mentioned in a previous blog entry: it’s like having a fair number of different cities packed in one, you just choose which area you like best, and at which time.
We sipped our coffee and our tea and shared a slice of tasty chocolate cake in a cafe built in the patio of what used to be a small church, looked at lovely boutiques and finished our stroll before parting ways: having to buy the last souvenirs, I headed towards East Nanjing Road.
Oh, Nanjing Road on the 30th April… I don’t think I had ever experienced such an enormous crowd, and the best part of it was that I was completely alone: no friends or parents to shield me from people pushing their way and looking at me curiously. I could tell from the looks on their faces that the other very few Western tourists that I encountered felt the same way as me: bewildered and thrilled. And yet, not once did I feel uncomfortable or exposed to danger: soldiers could be seen every two meters, making sure that the crowd proceeded tidily and smoothly on the sidewalk.
That evening was again the turn on the French Concession, more specifically we went for the second time to Yongkang Lu, a short road packed with small pubs and visited mostly by expats. And no, as you can see I’m really not a club person (I tried them a couple of times in Shanghai, but the atmosphere is far too snobbish for my taste), so no tales about getting wasted at the Bar Rouge this time.
The next Sunday was Labour Day and I had been thinking about what to do on this festivity for a while but the choice wasn’t mine to make, apparently: the air conditioning in the metro had done its job and I spent the day in bed trying to sleep, swallowing pills and complaining about my fever and my sore limbs.
Luckily enough, the next day I was feeling better so I could put to good use the train ticket I had already booked to Hangzhou. The trip to this city was overall easier than the one to Suzhou for two main reasons: firstly, this time there was another friend of mine who can speak Chinese (and much more fluently than me). Secondly, visiting Hangzhou requires just two steps: get to the West Lake (easily reachable from the train station by subway); walk around the West Lake.
We were actually impressed by how well kept and modern Hangzhou looks, especially in the areas surrounding the lake. The parks and green areas are gigantic and look stunning. One thing that really didn’t help us was the weather though: I don’t think I have ever experienced a worse humidity in my life (and let it be known that I live in a very humid area myself, so I should be sort of used to it). At a certain point the humidity was so intense that it even stopped being annoying: it simply felt like directly diving into the water. I’ve never felt much of a mermaid but it in Hangzhou it was completely different story.
The rain caught us shortly after and it got at its worse exactly when we were heading by boat to the main island at the centre of the lake (hence the lack of decent photos). We were actually prepared to it since we had checked the weather forecast and did our best not to let it ruin our mood, which wasn’t easy at all, but still the sight of ancient pagodas and pavilions in the fog had its own charm. Needless to say, the rain ceased obviously when we returned to the mainland.
Before taking off for China, I had expected to find a fair amount of foreign tourist, especially in more historical cities like Suzhou and Hangzhou, but that hasn’t been the case: that Monday we were basically the only Westerners in Hangzhou, and the number of people pointing at us and asking to take pictures with these three white girls exceeded every expectation. Don’t get me wrong, it can be pretty fun in the beginning and Chinese people are usually very friendly, but after a whole day (or month, even) of being stared at like a panda in a cage your nerves start to stir.
While the train station in Suzhou was new and modern, and quite pleasant to be in thanks to the shops and restaurants, the same cannot be said for the train station in Hangzhou, which was unexpectedly old-looking, with a scarce number of places to eat, crowded, and incredibly hot: in short, the crying and screaming children, the apparently absent aeration system and the restless crowd pushing its way to the platform for the Shanghai train made it all look more like a refugee camp, but somehow we managed to get to our hotel rooms without big issues.
Tuesday was my last day at work. The saddest part of my internship was arguably saying goodbye to my colleagues, with whom I bonded incredibly well. But as I’ve said to the them as well, it’s a small world nowadays, and I’m confident that goodbyes are not forever.
By the time this blog entry is published I’ll be at home, catching up with my friends and family and distributing souvenirs. I’m happy to go back to my small town where the sky is blue and the air clean and where people will understand everything that I say, and at that the same time I regret not having stayed at least a month longer in China: I would have certainly learned, discovered and experienced more. But my master thesis is still waiting to be written so…
Saying goodbye to China is bitter: despite the pollution, the traffic, the gigantic crowd, the communication difficulties, the huge gap between poverty and wealth, there is something that drawn everyone to this land. And I would be surprised of the contrary: being the most populated country in the world and the third one by extension, with the second strongest economy and such a long, rich history and culture, it would take a life-long commitment to completely discover everything that the Middle Kingdom has to offer. I am sure that I’ll go back to China, whether simply as a tourist or an intern/worker/employee remains to be seen.
My internship in China had its ups and downs and most of the time things weren’t exactly easy, but magic starts to happen outside of your comfort zone, as this experience has taught me. In only four weeks I became more experienced, stronger, and ready to face a wider variety of situations than before- not to mention than my CV looks a lot better now!
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