I awoke with a strong sense of anxiety about not being able to finish my GIS training, and knowing that later I would be paired with my group mates. Luckily anxiousness was quickly replaced with hungry pangs.

Even though breakfast is not a normal part of my day, it has become a time to practice my favorite past time – people watching. This daily leisure activity continued all throughout the day as I internally waffled between going to the art museum or the urban planning museum. Choosing the latter I soon found that it held many artistic renderings of Shanghai architecture.

Painting of Outside Bowling Centre on HengshanRoad

The phrase “this is amazing” became like a mantra when looking at Shanghai’s plan for the future.

Virtual Reality Exhibit to show future plans

This was almost also followed by “if Atlanta only”.

Apprehension soon returned as time drew near to meet our Chinese counterparts. This was abruptly interrupted by a case of stranger danger.

Upon boarding the number 9 exchange, a middle aged Chinese man felt a strong connection with Anna’s hair. Even with all the pointing and gawking from previous days, this was the first time I truly was uncomfortable. The event was purely creepy, but did lead to little-hearted laughs which helped to put my mind at ease.

Entering the campus I thought to myself it was time to put my nose to the grindstone, but I was so tired from the day the only thing I could think about was sleep and food. The anxiety I had woke up with and carried all day was now overshadowed by exhaustion and hunger. In most cases being either is bad thing, but this mixture allowed me to be free from anxiety. It made it where I could enjoyably listen to my group members speak. The day turned out wonderfully even though I let my nerves get the best of me.