I have been in Shanghai for a little over a week, and I have already been positively surprised in many ways. The city is bigger, cleaner, and more organized than I ever imagined.

Shanghai is the most populated city in the world with a population of more than 25 million. The city is located on the East Coast of China, and is today a global financial center and transportation hub. Even though Shanghai is an extremely big city, it has the largest underground system in the world, which makes it easy to get to different places. I will admit that coming to China without knowing the language has at times been challenging, but it has improved my acting skills and quickly made me learn some important words and phrases.

The food here is incredible and very different from Chinese food in the United States. Shanghai is known for having sweet food, but there are several restaurants that serve food from all over the country. The ingredients are usually very fresh and natural, and cooked with many different types of oil. Another thing that is fresh, is the juice. I love all the different types of fresh juice you can get, orange, watermelon, pineapple, and mango juice are just some of them. Two of my favorite types of foods are Hot Pot and Dim Sum. Hot Pot is a very social form of eating. The table shares different types of boiling broth, where you cook many types of meat, vegetables, and noddle’s. Dim Sum on the other hand are different bite-size portions served in small steamer baskets. Dumplings are probably the most known type of Dim Sum internationally. I did not know how to eat a dumpling properly until my Shanghainese friends told me that you are first supposed to bite a small hole and drink the soup before eating the whole dumpling. Attached are some pictures from my first days in Shanghai.

Katrine