Thursday, July 01, 2010

What Happens in Shanghai Stays in Shanghai

At about 1:30 pm or so, I'm going to get on the bus to Heathrow airport, from which I'll be flying to Shanghai! This will be my first trip to China, and probably the trip to which I have most been looking forward among any trip I've taken in the past several years. It's going to be awesome. I'll be working hard---I am teaching a 2-week summer school on network science---but it will also be a lot of fun. Even the hard work should be eminently worthwhile, as my lecture notes will basically be the first draft of what will eventually be an introductory book at the level of first-year applied math graduate students. I have one from high school who lives in Shanghai, and also one friend from Caltech who lives there. Plus, one of my Somerville students is from there, so I think the plan is for her to show me around. Two of my other Chinese students from Somerville also plan to be Shanghai during my trip, so I'll hang out with them as well. I also will try to visit other places in China as well during my trip. (My students were each trying to convince me to visit them in their hometowns.)

Update: According to the weather report about an hour ago, it was 97 degrees Farenheit in Shanghai and the overnight lows for the next few days are around 79-80 degrees. I knew this was coming. I am crossing my fingers that my place there will have air conditioning! There are also supposed to be thunderstorms, so we'll see how things go. But it certainly looks like I am going to transition from trying to be outside as much as possible to wanting to spend quality time inside...

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