A New Chapter Begins // 开始吧

Shanghai is a city that is constantly buzzing, moving, transforming and growing. I’ve been living in China’s most developed and populated city for 10 months now and still can’t wrap my head around this crazy place.

As all of my student friends have finished their year abroad and are returning home, I am settling into a new chapter here. If fate had planned otherwise, I would also be returning to the States right now. But as it seems, there are more adventures waiting for me here in Asia. And quite frankly, I couldn’t imagine leaving right now.

I’ve moved into a new apartment in the city center near People’s Square. It’s right next to Suzhou creek and I enjoy this lovely view everyday. I have new flatmates from Russia and Moldavia. I finally have a kitchen to cook yummy veggie dishes and try out some Chinese food recipes. I’ve picked up yoga again since I finally have enough room to stretch. AND I’ve found amazing roasters that I buy my coffee beans from to make coffee every morning with my aeropress. I’ve even adopted a little baobab bonsai tree all of my own.

I am looking forward to the hardships, the friendships to be made, the learning opportunities, the personal growth and the travels that await me. Now more than ever, I feel like I am on my own and am excited to make this a personal journey of exploration and discovery, aka REAL LIFE AH.

There’s a saying in China, that if Beijing were a human, it would be a man; and if Shanghai were a human, it would be lady. Classy, dynamic, sexy, spontaneous, rough around the edges, out-spoken and safe…

With her by my side, I have a lot to learn. Now, I’m just one laowai writing her own story guided by the lovely lady that is Shanghai.

Speaking of ladies, it seems as if I’ve been surrounding myself with them lately. I’ve really enjoyed diving into the creations of some of the world’s coolest women. I mean, there’s a lot of cool women out there, but these guys are pretty freakin’ hilarious.

Since arriving here, I’ve read literary pieces by Lena Dunham, Tina Fey, Grace Helbig and Mindy Kaling. It’s actually kind of difficult to get Western books here because of the whole “no freedom of speech” thing and import laws, so I just want to take this moment to say GOD BLESS YOU, NOOK.

Bossypants was a little over my head in terms of “actual” grown-up life and professional dilemmas BUT made me see “30 Rock” in a whole different, amazing way. Personally, I really enjoyed The Art of Pretending to be a Grown Up because that’s pretty much 100% of how I feel right now, and I just love Grace’s sense of humor. Not That Kind Of Girl was cool but didn’t offer much real world, applicable advice… but still really funny and bold. Oh, Lena, you’re crazy. And well, Is Everyone Hanging Out With Me?  (And Other Concerns…) was kind of an wild card for me, but Mindy is an amazing writer and I wanted to read something that was… well… less “white-girl”. But really, it’s comforting and awesome to read books that were written by people who are going through pretty much the same life stressors and challenges as you, but they can give you relatable, humorous and helpful advice. It’s great! Boys should be jealous.

What? How did this go from being an inspirational and insightful piece to a personal book review? Well, I’m sure you can now see that my life basically consists of everyday trying to become more Shanghainese while also keeping up-to-date with the comedy world and girly trends. You can take the girl outta the America but you can’t take the America outta the girl… or something like that. I don’t know.