One Year in Shanghai

Today marks one year since I moved to Shanghai. It seems like a lifetime ago that I stepped off the plane, looking around nervously for the representative from my school who was there to pick me up. Everything before that is a blur of memories - real or imagined, I'm not sure.

When I first arrived I was excited to be in this huge urban environment with so much to offer - the lights, the traffic, the people, the the whole city a bursting metropolis. Even now, a year later, I'm still in awe - I still gaze in wonder all around.

Shanghai is a great place to live. It has everything you could possibly want - bars that stay open all night, restaurants serving every type of cuisine, shopping malls a-plenty, decent public transportation, the most beautiful skyline I've ever seen. Lots of people speak English & those that don't will try anyway. There are thousands of foreigners here, all with fascinating life stories, & the locals are so welcoming & friendly. Sometimes I feel like Mary Richards - we're gonna make it after all!

Even though Shanghai is so comfortable, I don't feel an incredible urge to settle here. Instead, I find myself still dreaming of traveling around, still trying to find a way to work remotely so that I'm not tied to one place, so that I can see the rest of the world, so that I can go home for Christmas.

Perhaps my current job will lead me in that direction, or maybe I'll go in a different direction all together. I'll just have to wait & see how it turns out. That's the joy of being a vagabond - I can only see six months into the future. Beyond that is a world of possibilities.