We're officially halfway done with the program, which is kind of hard to believe (though the midterm we had on Friday was a solid reminder :/). We also took a trip to the Shanghai Museum on Tuesday, had a calligraphy lesson on Wednesday, and listened to a lecture on Chinese media on Thursday, along with 8:30 classes all week, so we've definitely been busy. Most of the language partners, including mine, are at home on summer vacation right now, so a small group of us went with a local student who lives in Shanghai to check out the Belt & Road Brand Expo, which features products and exports from countries all over the world. Then, we explored East Nanjing Street (a big tourist and shopping area) and passed by the Bund on the way back.
In general, this week was more studying and less exploring because of Friday's test, so I don't have as much to say as usual, but I think the main takeaway from this week is that calligraphy is very, very difficult, especially if you, like me, happen to be somewhat lacking in artistic ability. I also have fewer photos this week (which is saying something considering how bad I am at taking photos), but if nothing else, I did take the obligatory picture of the Bund skyline, so I figure that counts for something.
After our test on Friday, we also went to a Chinese movie theater to see the Incredibles 2, which was fortunately still in English with Chinese subtitles. I don't think American movies shown here are usually Chinese-dubbed, but it seems like children's movies typically have dubbed showings during the day and subbed showings later in the afternoon or at night for kids who aren't old enough to read the subtitles yet. At a 4:50 English showing in a mall movie theater, we basically had the movie to ourselves. As far as Chinese and American movie theaters go, they were pretty similar with the exception that the theater we went to didn't have popcorn (only kettle corn), and the only way to buy tickets is with Wechat Pay (which is unfortunate for people like me who naively thought that cash would be accepted everywhere). In any case, it was definitely a fun break after a midterm (and also the movie was great 10/10 would recommend).
As busy as this week was, it sounds like this next week might be busier--we have both morning and afternoon classes tomorrow to make up for the day we missed for the Dragon Boat Festival, several culture activities, and a day trip to Suzhou this Saturday, so hopefully next week's update will be a little more exciting than this one was. The halfway point of our trip also means we only have four weeks left in Shanghai and eight weeks until school starts, which gets weirder and weirder the more I think about it. Anyways, as always, thanks for reading and I'll post again next week!