Shanghaied

I just bought my tickets for Shanghai. Close to $950 RT. I'm happy its under a grand, but it's still pretty spendy considering that the school isn't even subsidizing this trip. This has actually been one of the most exciting semesters for me as far as studio is concerned. I don't think I've been nearly this jazzed for studio in a long time. Maybe its just a reaction from the New Orleans studio. The professor also gets me really excited. He's very easy going, but he gets very excited himself about the sites and conditions we're dealing with, and I really like his approach to architecture and urbanism, which is more of the "try something and see how the site reacts" rather than the "site analysis to death before you do anything" approach.

On the one hand, I'm still a little bitter about not getting to go to Shanghai this summer, and on the other, I'm really stoked about seeing the city again. The last time I was in Shanghai was '98 or '99, and we stayed in the vacant-seeming Peace Hotel. This same hotel is now part of the Fairmont hotels, and the nightly rate is about $400 USD. When I suggested staying there this trip, the professor just laughed. Times change.

Tonight, I went out with some friends to a Brazillian restaurant in Soulard for their happy hour. It's actually a pretty good deal. Fridays, from 5-7, if you buy a drink, you get all you can eat salmon soup, chips, nacho cheese, and spicy wings. The salmon soup is by far the prize- chunks of salmon, rice, peppers and tomatoes, got a nice kick to it too. They serve a real mean caipirinha too, real cahaca and as strong as I remember them in Sao Paolo. Actually, the best caipirinha I've had since then. I got a double, which was $10, but its a seriously strong drink that will take you through the better part of the night. You can also get a regular size for $5, which is what I'd do next time. The regular size makes you wistful for the hot nights and sweaty clubs of Lapa, the double makes you think that you're there.