I keep replaying my last few days in China over and over in my head, so I might as well take this opportunity to write a blog about it (my last blog, as I am now home in Chicago).
Leaving homestay was really sad, and at first I was a bit upset to be back in the dorms rooming with someone I didn't particularly mesh well with. However, the last week in the dorms was one of the best weeks so far. We had three real days of class (Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday) with little homework before our test on Thursday. We all were thankful for being in the dorms because we could study together and spend time in eachother's rooms once again...I know at homestay I missed being able to see people whenever I wanted to. We had tea parties and stayed up late talking about silly things and just enjoying eachother's company. Then, once we were done with class, our time in the afternoons was devoted to practicing for our assembly (that upcoming Friday). We danced together and sang together and laughed and signed eachother's memory books and took pictures and realized how much we meant to eachother. Later on those nights, we didn't have homework to do, so we crashed in eachother's rooms talking about eachother's "numbers" (ahahahahahah),going out to the field at night to play volleyball in the dark, and sharing embarassing stories from the last few weeks. We slept in eachother's beds, wore eachother's clothes, and stayed together until the end. The last night in particular was an amazing but sad one. Almost the entire day was spent in Andy and Brian's room, all of us piled on beds, laying in eachother's laps, staring at the ceiling and talking about how we didn't want to leave eachother. We tried to make the best of our situation, occasionally joking here and there to lighten the mood, but by the time dinner came and we went to go have Korean food, I was quiet and depressed. After dinner, we decided to go play volleyball (in the dark again, we're dumbasses) and I FINALLY got to ride on the back of someone's bike (haha). We walked around campus for the last time and returned to the International Exchange Service Center (our dorm building), squished ourselves into an elevator with a damn wheelbarrow (hahaha, Kevin Lee should have been there) and when we got up to the tenth floor, there was a dance party awaiting us in the hallway. We turned down the lights, someone broke out some glowsticks and people shuffled in and out of the halls, dancing and packing suitcases at the same time. I stayed and danced for a little bit (it was a little awkward when people would come out of the elevator and see a bunch of random American kids dancing to techno in the dark) and then went back to Andy and Brian's room. I talked to Chicken and Kevin for a little while, ate some Ramen out of a teapot (haha), ordered some McDonalds chicken nuggets, and downloaded some of the songs we all sang together. Blasting 童话, pretty soon people trickled into the room and we had a nice (but depressing) sing-a-long. It was about 1 am and we had decided to stay up all night and sneak out at 4 am to go to the field and watch the sunrise, so I played some upbeat Hot Chip songs to keep us awake. Laughing at my music, Joe Wat started doing our taiji routine as if it were on fast-forward to "Out at the Pictures" and it was one of the funniest things I've ever seen. However, we couldn't fight our sleepiness so we piled ourselves into bed (3 people in each twin bed) and tried to sleep.
However, I couldn't sleep because Joe Wat and Julius were bitches and wouldn't leave me any room. I crawled down onto the cold, hard floor (conveniently located under the stupid airconditioner, set to 18 degrees Celsius) and shivered until one of the guys kicked the covers off of the bed and I stole them. The warmth, however, was only temporary, as Joe Wat yanked them back within a minute and I was left cold and uncomfortable on the floor. Sleeping wasn't feasible, so I got up and stood in the warm hallway, staring out the open window looking over Shanghai until 4 am when I decided to try to wake everyone up.
Surprise, surprise, those stupid kids wouldn't budge no matter how many times I tried to wake them. I watched the sunrise from the window on my own and then marched my ass back to my own room and slept. Somewhere around 9 o'clock I woke up and realized I had left my computer and some of my other things in Andy's room so I went back and everyone was still there. They blamed me, of course, for the fact that it was our last morning in China and we missed the opportunity to see the sunrise. I told them all the goofy shit that they had done the night before and we laughed until we almost cried. Some of the roomates came to our dorm to say goodbye soon after and I went back to my room to get last minute things together.
While I was packing, I heard a knock at my door, and 施杰 was there. He looked like he was going to cry, and I invited him in to talk. We talked for almost an hour about how we felt about leaving, and he wrote an additional note in my book (which is actually very sweet, thanks for translating Karen). I didn't know what to say to him to make him feel better, and I didn't know what to think myself. Eventually, we all went to lunch together but none of us were very hungry. We took pictures and ran around the restaurant laughing. The re-enactment pictures of the "illegal picture" were HILARIOUS. I realized even more that I was going to miss these guys so much. I know I'll still see my American friends (we all live in Chicago, we can get together every once in awhile) but it won't ever be the same as the six weeks that we lived together and did absolutely everything together. We struggled, were there for eachother, and bonded so strongly.
After lunch we packed our things on the bus and drove to the bullet train. Some of the roomates came with us, and we had a terribly sad and emotional parting at the airport. Once I boarded the plane, I played 童话 on repeat and tried to sleep. It was comforting to hear, no matter how sad it made me.
We arrived in Chicago about 2 hours later than planned, and we huddled together just past Customs at the baggage claim. I slept most of the way home, so I missed out on the "incident" with Kevin Lee's computer and had to hear the story second-hand. We all joked around and insulted eachother for the last time, afraid to leave the safety bubble of baggage claim and be forced apart just outside the doors where our family and friends were awaiting us. Once the 28th person got their final piece of luggage, we walked together as a group outside those doors and were greeted by the yells of loved ones and the array of silly signs our friends made us. It was very cute. I ran to my parents and Dot, gave them quick hugs, but instantly looked back at my friends. I ran to one of my closest friends and joked around about thinking about granny panties (inside joke, I'm not a weirdo) so I wouldn't cry, and about singing 朋友 in the middle of the airport, even if it would only be the two of us singing. I gave many hugs until I was forced by my father to leave, and I looked back on the people I consider my family while I rode the escalator up to the parking garage. Even still, its sad to be home. I can't believe I'm no longer in Shanghai, and even if I return one day, I can never replicate the conditions of the best six weeks of my life.
I suppose that's all I have to say. Blog complete.
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