How do you say SMIZE in chinese?

I am a terrible blogger. Mostly due to the terrible internet but also might have something to do with my computer being a bit rubbish and me just being a bit rubbish... but here we go! So i've been here for nearly a month now and everything is still pretty mental. This is what i've learnt so far:

• China is awesome, and the people are lovely and very eager and impressed when you speak chinese.
• There is no such thing as healthy food in China.
• They LOVE setting bars on fire- basically there is a little channel going around the entire bar and they pour lighter fluid into it and then set it on fire. It's pretty mental.
• Whiskey and Ice Tea is a very very popular drink.
• You pick up much more of a language when you are taught in that language- manchester take note!
• The people of harbin make excellent bread. And street food is better and cheaper than anything you will ever eat- the affectionately named pitta pitta being the best example- thick pitta bread with tasty tasty beef and hot salad inside.
• America's Next Top Model is the best program in the world
• The moths here are disgusting and need to all be killed.

It's all been very very hectic! Classes are going well, the teachers are very nice and everyone says nihao to you when you walk into class, which is lovely! Getting up at 6:30 every morning is a bit of a drag but finishing at 12 means endless hours of sleeping and socialising and eating and exploring(which so far we've been a bit crap at... i blame the weather). Here's a little look see at what we've been doing/mainly the food we've been eating:

This is where i live! The campus is so beautiful, full of tree lined streets and lakes and a lovely big statue of Mao...

We actually did go sightseeing a bit. An impromptu "I AM UNCULTURED" trip to Jing'an temple was a massive letdown- The buddhist temple itself outdates the entire city and is a beautiful ancient wonder... which has been built around with wonders including a massive shopping centre and a burger king, and also renovated to a less than authentic standard. Basically it's pretty big and garish and out of place and the queues to get into it are STILL massive, so we just sat outside it, smoked a cigarette, said it was really weird and then went to get noodles...

The second "I AM UNCULTURED" trip was prompted by a lovely visit from our friend Kate from Nanjing(this also prompted a crazy crazy night out which will be documented later). It was the mid autumn festival this week meaning everywhere was busy busy busy but we found a glorious bit of inner city tranquility in people's park. Fountains and grass galore, it's pretty crazy that shanghai is so loud and busy but as soon as you put a bit of nature down it is so lovely and peaceful. We sat in the park for a while, ate some oranges, had our pictures taken by lots of chinese people and looked at the magnificent structure that is the Shanghai museum- it's based on an ancient bronze cooking vessel and is pretty cool. Again, the masses of people everywhere stopped us from going in but a visit is definitely in order soon. Our trip concluded (after a nice expensive frappecino and a trip to an international bookshop) at the Bund, which is a street of colonial style building on the banks of the Huangpu River. Better appreciated during the day, we actually went for the AMAZING view of the Pudong skyline across the river which is lit up at night. It was so incredible, true big city life, and everyone had a bit of a "oh my god i can't believe this is where i live ahhhhhh amazing!" moment.

This will soon be edited and pictured but now i must sleeps. Gonatt. xx