First Taste

When arriving in Shanghai, our visas were stamped and we were ready to roam around the country. My two communication teachers from the University of Dayton were at the airport to meet us along with ten students from China. UD has an exchange program with Shanghai Normal University. Therefore, we were able to talk and go on excursions with Chinese students our age.

We settled into our hotel and decided to grab some dinner at a local restaurant. We quickly learned that the Chinese eat dinner very differently. We each tried to order our own dishes, as we do in America, but to our surprise, we realized that in China one person orders courses for the entire table. So my teacher tried to order our meal. However, since we couldn’t read Chinese characters, it was often hard to understand what we were ordering. Many menus had pictures of the dishes, which made our choices a little easier.

The food in China is not the same as the Chinese food we order take out from. At most restaurants, they use live fish to boil and cook for your meal. They also use less fried food and sauces with their dinner. Even fried rice is considered a dessert on their menus. Most of the food was very appetizing, if you could get past what you were actually eating. Duck, eel, shark fin, and ox balls are generally not something I would order in America, but the experience was one I will never forget.