We left Rice at 9pm on Thursday night and arrived in Shanghai after a about 17 hours of plane travel and a layover in Beijing on Saturday, March 1st. But even though we were tired, the first day in Shanghai did not disappoint.
We started the day by heading to our hotel at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University. We settled into our rooms before having lunch at the hotel restaurant. The meal was great- lots of delicious vegetarian options. After lunch, we headed to the bank to exchange some money and then made our way to Starbucks. After connecting to some wifi and grabbing a coffee, we headed back to the hotel to have our first lecture of the trip.
Our first lecture was with two local area educators and covered the education system in Shanghai. We learned about the various school types in the city and how competitive it is for students to get through school here. Students have to place into competitive middle schools in order to get to the best high schools so that they can apply to the top schools in China and abroad. It was interesting to hear that much like the U.S., family income and background plays a significant role in determining a students chances of making it into the top schools.
After our lecture on education we headed to Nanjing Lu, Shanghai’s famous shopping street, for some dumplings and to check our Shanghai’s famous skyline. This was my favorite part of the day. The skyline is breathtaking and all of the shopping off of Nanjing Lu easily confirmed that I will be returning to this part of town during our free day this week. I can’t wait to see what’s in store these upcoming days because the first day was incredible!
Tags: China, Education, Shanghai, The Nanjing Road