I made it!
I'm in Shanghai!!! Everything went pretty smoothly. The two worst things of the whole trip were a) the in-flight internet I paid for didn't end up working, and b) I couldn't easily call or email my parents or Rudy right away after arriving.
That second part was actually pretty stressful, because when I arrived in SH there were a couple of guys holding a sign with my name on it, from the hotel where I'm staying, but they were also waiting for another girl who was arriving today to teach for EF, and her flight arrived later. As it was, I was arriving at close to midnight California time. It took over an hour to wait for this other person, and in the meantime I was getting frustrated with trying to get the phone card I had to work (found out it was only for within Shanghai), then buying an international phone card and not having that work at first... but finally on our way to the hotel, one of the guys who picked us up (the guy sitting in the passenger seat of the van) let me borrow his phone (with my sim card in it, because it wasn't working in my phone) to call my mom and to call Rudy.
Now I'm relieved. It's very humid here, though, and it's going to take getting used to. My hotel room was even hot and humid when I got here, and I had to turn on the A/C and I'm still sweating... or just accumulating water droplets on my skin from the air.
Tomorrow is my orientation, and then I'm hopefully going to go over to the apartment I want and claim it!
That second part was actually pretty stressful, because when I arrived in SH there were a couple of guys holding a sign with my name on it, from the hotel where I'm staying, but they were also waiting for another girl who was arriving today to teach for EF, and her flight arrived later. As it was, I was arriving at close to midnight California time. It took over an hour to wait for this other person, and in the meantime I was getting frustrated with trying to get the phone card I had to work (found out it was only for within Shanghai), then buying an international phone card and not having that work at first... but finally on our way to the hotel, one of the guys who picked us up (the guy sitting in the passenger seat of the van) let me borrow his phone (with my sim card in it, because it wasn't working in my phone) to call my mom and to call Rudy.
Now I'm relieved. It's very humid here, though, and it's going to take getting used to. My hotel room was even hot and humid when I got here, and I had to turn on the A/C and I'm still sweating... or just accumulating water droplets on my skin from the air.
Tomorrow is my orientation, and then I'm hopefully going to go over to the apartment I want and claim it!