Almost Famous

---

Today was such a happy day. I was probably completely irresponsible last night and went out even though I was sick, and had another night where I didn't get home until around 4am. After going to Windows Tempo, we all went out to probably my favorite nightspot so far, Barbarrosa, which is a 4 or 5 story bar/lounge with a middle-eastern feel which is surrounded by a man-made lake. It's really a beautiful place & a nice atmosphere and it was all in all a really good night. We left there around 3:30 and were in the mood for dumplings & noodles, so we had a midnight snack at the dumpling place across the street from our apartments.
I woke up this morning and was in a really good mood after having checked me email and found out that Alexandra my best friend who's studying abroad in Paris this semester, is actually going to come visit me in Shanghai for her spring break! I can't believe she's actually going to come and I absolutely can't wait to show her around. And I also got a really happy email which completely eases my mind about coming home & having a job this summer - I got funding which I applied for from the Baker Institute for a research internship in D.C. Which means another summer with Ale!
After I finished skyping everyone with all of my news, my friends here texted me about going to read in the park, Zhongshan Gongyuan, cause its another pretty day. We got to the park and easily spotted a few other CIEE students who had the same idea as we did (we totally stand out), and it started out so nice just sitting in the park and people-watching. There were tons of kites and people playing badminton, and Asian babies everywhere, and David, our park even has paddle-boats too! It started getting a little weird though as one by one, people kept crowding around us because they were intrigued by us. A few took our picture from afar, and one guy came up really close and was taking portraits of us, and at one point we seemed to have attracted a pretty big group, and we had the idea to take pictures of them, too. Right before we left, a man came and introduced himself to Scott, who kind of stands out as being a real American-looking guy, and said that he is filming a tv show and wants Scott to be in it. He asked us all if we were American, and asked me if I was french!?, and then started taking down all sorts of information, mainly about Scott, like his age and height and weight and we left as they were exchanging phone numbers. Apparently it's some show about a horse, haha...so we'll see if Scott actually makes it onto Chinese tv!

---