再见中国！(Goodbye China) I miss you already!

So I know this is heartbreaking news, but this is the final post. :(

After birthday weekend craziness, we all had to buckle down and finish up the semester, which for me meant two presentations, 4 papers, and 2 final exams. Luckily I was able to take a break last Tuesday and went shopping (cuz of a last minute internship meeting cancellation). I bought some great marc by marc fakes, but realized later that marc by marc doesn't make these styles (I won't tell you what they are so you won't know me you see me, haha) Then more work...

My chinese teacher's birthday was on Wednesday so after class (which consisted of us running around Shanghai in traditional chinese wear and my friend diggory wearing a gauze beard all in the name of filming the greatest chinese final project video ever) we treated her to Thai food, which she had never had before. We also bought her a stuffed panda bear and a captain america cellphone charm. (the cellphone charm- dunno if that's what you call it- is a big thing in china. everyone has them. Mine is Haibao, the mascot of the expo) She was very excited. Appartently people don't really give gifts once you're not a kid anymore so this was a big deal. And most of her friends and family aren't in Shanghai so this was the biggest birthday celebration she had ever had. She also gave me some pink earmuffs for my birthday the previous week, very sweet. Thursday night we went to KTV (karaoke) with her and we all learned a special chinese song to sing. It was fun, but exhausting.

Friday night we went out to celebrate my friend Kamya's birthday and kinda of mine for those who weren't with me the previous weekend. Unforuntately, I got sick on friday (food poisoning I think) so I wasn't feeling to up to partying. But in true Julia Nethero style, I rallied and was still able to go dancing until 2am. :) Then Magnolia and I had a sleepover and pretended my apartment was the Vassar library (oh sweet vassar, how I miss you). more studying and sickness...Wednesday I finished my last exam (chinese). :) oh ya, and wednesday is snowed! I didn't expect anything to accumulate cuz it was still pretty hot outside (as in like 40 degrees), but it did so Shanghai was white for a few days!

Wednesday night I went out to dinner with Helena, Magnolia's host mom. She's soooo sweet. We went to hotpot (boiling soup/broth that you cook food in and then dip in delicious make-your-own sauce), where I had gone with my parents, but we definitely did not get the whole experience last time. This time when we arrived, I got a hand exfoliation/parafin wax massage. It was great. Then I got my boots polished. Magnolia and Helena got their glasses cleaned. Then we had dinner, which was delicious. Afterwards I got my nails done and chose a very chinese design- red with sparkles. :) Magnolia got strawberries.

Thursday I had a final internship lunch with my supervisor Bright. Then I spent the rest of the day writing subtitles for our movie. It was pretty fun translating because we had said lots of ridiculous things that don't translate very well- example: "He who strikes first gains the advantage." "You must suffer to enjoy the joys of life" "You must quietly immerse yourself in your studies", etc. These are all chinese chengyus (expressions) They all have stories or deep chinese cultural meanings. And everytime you say them, chinese people get excited and clap. It's great. and surprisingly, these situations come up a lot in daily life (so if I randomly say something like that to you, just smile and know that I'm not crazy, it's just china)

Thursday night was our graduation dinner. I was the MC with my friend Diggory. We all (well the cool people anyway) decided to wear qipaos (traditional chinese dresses) and silk robes for the guys to the dinner as a celebration of culture/advertising for our excellent movie. Because I had been working on the movie all day and we barely finished, I was very frazzled and left all of my gifts for people in my room. so stupid. anyways, Every class had to do a final presentation so those were really fun to watch. Most people did songs or short plays. We did a 20 min long movie. I didn't think it was going to be that funny to other people, but it was. and of course the chinese people loved it. And it got a lot of face for our chinese teacher (can you say that in english? boosted her reputation...) cuz of our great chengyus. It was also inception themed, complete with the main character spinning his totem in the last scene with inception music in the background. and the chinese people got it! yay! We also got our semester books, which are like yearbooks from the semester. Good times...

Friday, We took our teacher to one last lunch (we really loved her obviously. seriously, the greatest chinese teacher EVER!!!!! she was so good at helping us understand things, explained everything well, was reasonable with the work and stuff that she assigned, and was a great person overall. also was understanding with our ridiculous jokes and americanness) at din tai feng, great dumpling restaurant. I "Iced" Magnolia there. It was great. Then in true foreigner style, we went to haagen dazs, which I hadn't done in china yet. That's where you take someone when your relationship is getting serious. It's more like a lounge, complete with couches and wine. very expensive too (relatively). We ordered there holiday special, chocolate fondue with ice, fruit, and cookies. yum yum yum! Then I went shopping one last time (which I regretted yesterday when I was packing).

Went out wednesday night to helens, and again on thursday, to helens. after the graduation dinner, we all went to helens with our chinese teachers and our language partners (my chinese gets much better with a few drinks, or at least I think so). We taught them how to take tequila shots and talked about american history. haha. Friday night we also went out for a last hooray to windows. It was pretty sad cuz some people were leaving early so that was the last time we'd see them. Luckily we were there for happy hour (1-2am) so that cheered everyone up a bit.

Yesterday (saturday) we went to a final lunch (minus Jay, already gone, sadness) at hunan (our fav restaurant, maybe in all of shanghai). It was pretty sad. Then I had to start saying more goodbyes. finished packing, which was pretty rough. By the end, I had already broken and fixed one zipper and was sweating. They wanted me to repack one of my bags at the airport yesterday and seriously almost cried cuz they didnt understand that it probably wouldn't zip again. I don't quite know how I did it...Got a final cocos bubble tea and sushi roll, closed up my room, and left my home of 4 months. :(

waited at the airport for awhile to check in, then watched sex and the city (I had all 7 seasons now, hehe) at the lounge, shed a few tears for china on the way onto the plane (but quickly realized I looked like a crazy person crying by myself so I sucked it up) and flew to seoul. When I arrived at 12:30am last night everything was closed. Luckily this is greatest airport ever and they have a rest area with giant reclining chairs where I slept for about 5 hours.

I am currently sitting in lounge enjoying my free breakfast and looking out onto the tarmac (great view...not). Think I'm going to get a massage in a little bit. It isn't light outside yet, which is weird considering its almost 7:45am. My flight is at 10am, so I'm almost done with this epic layover. then 13 hours to america!!!

so that's it.

5 semesters of college, done. study abroad done. china gone. but I know I'll be back. After you go once (and you're one of those china freaks, which I am), you always come back. Probably after graduation I guess- fulbright please?! Even though some things were annoying and drove me crazy, I am used to it now. The idea of leaving china is pretty sad. As my friend Ben so eloquently put it, you can't say whatever you want in America in public because people speak english. "Like Fart" seriously, if you're ever in a foreign country where they mostly don't speak english, just yell "Fart" on the subway. It's absolutely hilarious. I will probably be a bit racist upon my return since everyone in china is (mostly because they just haven't seen people who look different from them, not necessarily hating them). I don't know if I'll remember how to drive. If I make awkward grunting noises around you, don't get freaked out, it's just what you do here. And most of all, I'm going to miss my new amazing friends from the program! We all go to different schools so it's a kinda hard to see each other again, but we're going to do it. We all shared such crazy experiences, both good and bad, together so we have a really special bond. I love you guys!!!!

But I am looking forward to having toilet paper and hand soap provided for you in the bathrooms. And not to have people staring at me all the time (although I'm def going to miss people telling me how beautiful I am all the time). And not to see babies peeing on the street and people spitting everywhere. And the food, I'm pretty much done with chinese food for awhile, especially since I got sick last week. First stops in America: Chick-fil-a, Waffle House, My own kitchen, Mexican food, a liquor store (just so I can use my 21 yr old ID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hate GA's blue laws, I arrive on sunday), the mall (where clothes will actually be merchandised and I don't have to buy XXLs).

So I think that's really it this time. Thanks to those of you who cared enough to read this whole thing all semester. And for those people who didn't, don't ask me how china was cuz I already wrote it here (just read it please). haha.

I love you China. See you again soon!

Julia, signing off....