Life in Shanghai is feeling quite amazing tbh. I've met people from almost every continent and got to know many of them. The academic life didn't turn out to be stressful as expected; I enjoyed every session so far, at least in the first week. Since NYU is ranked top 2 globally in finance and 13th in economics, I wasn't sure to choose which one as my intended major. But after a past week of classes, I feel like economics is the right fit (and plan to minor in finance).

Learning Chinese from zero feels so interesting but also onerous with a sheer number of assignments given. I've practiced writing 你好 (ni hao) this whole week and still struggle to appropriately write it, lol. Beyond classes, I really liked the campus and the city's well-planned infrastructure. The huge cafeteria here includes a variety of international and halal cuisines for muslims. The library has two floors with plenty of quiet study areas. In the city, you can see greenery, like the trees on the road, literally everywhere.

So yeah.

“We suffer more often in imagination than in reality.” — Seneca

Walking around this city shows me how much of what I call pressure exists only in my imagination.

@D7posts