The Month at Shanghai!
8th of December, 2005
Thursday, 9:30am
Dear Diary,
Today I left home at 4:30am and went to Melbourne airport to go to Shanghai. I took a direct flight so it was like 10hours non-stop flying. We went as a group and none of our parents came. We all got a scholarship study in Shanghai for a month. There are 7 girls, 4 guys and a teacher. I’m currently on the plane and I’m so bored! I miss all my friends and family so much! I hope they are well. Okay I gtg now! Cya later! ^^
Love from Alice

Dear Diary,
Hi I’m back again! I slept for a while and now I’m listening to plane music. We had lunch and watched a movie. I didn’t catch most of it though because I was asleep. We’re nearly half way there. I’m so bored. I wonder what all my other friends are doing back in Melbourne. Anyways, the girls are all either listening to their MP3s or the plane music. The guys are either sleeping or playing cards. I think I better wait until something interesting comes up and then write it. Cya laters then! ^^
Love, Alice

Dear Diary,
Phew! We’re finally here! It’s been such a big day today. The rest of the plane journey was passed by me predicting everyone’s future. I made a lot of new friends but I also miss my friends in Melbourne and other Asian countries. I have to confess that I am having quite a lot of fun. The guys on the trip are also fun and easygoing. I just found out that one of them has the same badminton coach with me. Anyways, I’m so tired atm. I gtg to bed now, another big day awaits tomorrow. Goodnight!
Love, Alice

9th of December, 2005
Friday, 7:50pm
Dear Diary,
Today I had such a good day! Firstly, we all bought phone cards and contacted home and made our parents happy. Then Anna, Alan and I went to another secondary school to get timetables for the weekend. We came back to a whole afternoon of shopping and OMG it was so good! I bought so much food, pressies and DVDs! Anna, Margaret, Alan and I just walked around like a quarter of Shanghai and bought so much stuff! Every step we took we saw a new shop filled with so many gifts and nice things!
But bad news, we got into trouble because we were like 2 hours late and the teacher was so angry! :S But actually I think Alan got the worst scolding because he is the oldest. I feel so guilty. I really want to apologize to him but he went out with his aunty.
Okay, good news: I GOT AN A ON MY 8TH GRADE PIANO EXAM!!!!!!! My mum just called me and told me. Okay enough said. ^^ Goodnight!
Love, Alice

10th of December, 2005
Saturday, 8:00pm
Dear Diary,
Today we went and saw two famous places in Shanghai; 东方明珠 and 上海科技馆. 东方明珠 is the third highest monument in the world. There are three viewing levels. We went onto the second one which is about 2000 feet above the ground. It was a bit foggy today so we didn’t get to see much but I still took a lot of photos.
Then we went to the science works in Shanghai. It was so cool in there! We went around the place and saw so many interesting things. We saw an explanation of the geography of Shanghai. We also saw how minerals were made, and best of all were the rides and activities! I went on a pilot ride and then we all went and sang at this mini stage. It was so cool! I embarrassed myself by singing the Australian National Anthem. Alan sang the most songs because he’s the singer in our group. Then of course the other school (school in Shanghai) in the place sang many interesting songs. I was very entertained today. I had a great time! Goodnight!
Love, Alice

11th of December, 2005
Sunday, 8:20am
Dear Diary,
Phew! We just went out for a jog and got breakfast just then. Anna, Margaret, Alan and I went to a new canteen that we’ve never been to before. The environment was better then the one next to our residential apartment. We all got sweet Soya bean milks and sat on a table. The funny thing was the spoons. OMG! They were so short and they kept on falling into the Soya milk. I had to like go fishing for Alan’s spoon four times and Anna fished for mine once. It was quite funny. Anyways I gtg now. A big day awaits me. I’ll write to u at night again. Cyas soon!
Love, Alice

Dear Diary,
Hello! I’m back again from our visit to the Shanghai museums. The first one was a bit boring because all that was in there were the historic aspects of Shanghai. But the second one was soooo GOOD! It had different displays of different themes. My favorite one was the diamond and stone display. It was SOOO PRETTY!!! There were diamonds the size of plates and my favorite was a pink pearl the size of a tennis ball. It was the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen!
In the afternoon we went shopping again. I bought a lot of presents for my friends. I haggled like hell and it was so fun!
We have to go to school tomorrow so I gtg to bed now, cya soon! Goodnight!
Love, Alice

12th of December, 2005
Monday, 7:00pm
Dear Diary,
Today class started. In the morning we had two Chinese classes and it was about the history and people of Shanghai. Then we had three hours of free time and I went and bought the most beautiful necklaces in the entire world! They were so pretty!
Anyway, then we went to rehearse for the end of year concert. We’re going to sing the Australian National Anthem and a song called 同一首歌. The guys were so much better than the girls at singing. Then I went back upstairs and I SAW MY GRANDPARENTS! OMG! I’M SO HAPPY!
We went to play a bit of badminton but because we didn’t have student ID cards, we couldn’t play which really sucked. But when I got back this incident was made up by my grandparents giving me half a suitcase of things! OMG! It was sooo good! Okay I gtg and do my Christmas cards now. Goodnight!
Love, Alice

13th of December, 2005
Tuesday, 8:25pm
Dear Diary,
Today was the second day of class. The morning ones were quite boring but the afternoon ones were so awesome! We learnt how to draw Chinese bamboos using a calligraphy brush and special ink. It was so cool! We did five different drawings of different bamboos and I really enjoyed it. Some other people were groaning about it but I really loved it! I learnt two new ways of using a calligraphy paintbrush, and also a new way of holding it.
I really enjoyed my afternoon today. Later that evening Anna, Alan and I had dumplings in our dormitory. It was fun. ^^ goodnight!
Love, Alice

14th of December, 2005
Wednesday, 10:46pm
Dear Diary,
OMG! I just came back from a show! It was sooo amazing! We saw a whole bunch of awesome shows put on by this acrobatic group in Shanghai. There were chair stacking and hoop diving and candle playing and plate spinning and best of all was the motorbike show at the end! IT WAS DA BEST! It looked very scary but it was so amazing! It was called: “The Ball of Death”. It was a large metal ball enclosed on all sides and five people maximum could ride motorbikes up and down the sides. It looked extremely dangerous but it was sooo cool! Okay I gtg to bed now, Goodnight!
Love, Alice

lol this is just some of the happy days in Shanghai. i can really say tat the month i spent there was the happiest month in my whole life! apart from no parents nagging us everyday, out tour group treated each other like family. no one knew each other at the begininng but everyone was really good friends at the end!

^^ ^^ i shall update some more when i finished typing more of my diary entries! ^^ cya soon! ^^

love, alice ^^