Midterms over. Time for some Shanghai.

My midterms are finally all behind me. This semester's midterms consisted of one 21st century exam, one Ancient Chinese Philosophy exam, one Ancient Chinese Philosophy paper (comparing Mozi and Emerson....ugh), one Chinese written exam, and finally one oral exam this morning. Needless to say, it was a long stressful week, but it's over and my trip to Shanghai begins in about three hours with a bus ride to the train station. Our train leaves at 7:35 pm and is supposed to last for roughly 12 hours. Unfortunately, Muh and I will be sitting rather than lying for the entire night. The Z line, which is the quickest train to Shanghai from Beijing, had no more hard sleeper cabins available, and all of the soft sleepers were a bit pricey. Either way, I think it will be a fun night. Once in Shanghai, Muh's uncle, who lives in Shanghai, will pick us up at the train station and bring us back to his home. On either Saturday or Sunday, Muh's parents, who are visiting China for some sort of college reunion, will also arrive in Shanghai. So, it should be a fun week with the Muh family. It will definitely be nice to have free rooms and Muh's family's knowledge of Shanghai (and Chinese). I'm positive that it will end up being a really great experience. At this point I really have no clue what we will be doing in Shanghai, but its a big city surrounded by beautiful landscape, so it shouldn't be too difficult to find something to do. I may or may not have reliable internet at Muh's uncle's home. Either way, I will try to post on here at least once and send out some emails while in Shanghai (maybe a postcard too, if you're lucky). I should be back by Sunday the 28th just in time to start classes again on Monday. So check my picture site then for some pictures.
Sorry I haven’t had a chance to update for a while, but its been a boring/difficult week in Beijing. I hope everyone is having a great fall.