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Fancying Myself Some Good Old Fashioned Escapism

shanghai-skyline.jpg

There's been quite a lot i've tried to put onto my plate this year: between uni and the subsequent homework, working retail, trying to write occasionally, fencing, french tutoring, exercise, spending to spend quality time with family, friends and a boyfriend, and then also getting good qualitative quantitative sleep, it's safe to say i'm exhausted. The strange irony behind this complaint is that i'm responsible for all of this juggling, it's certainly not anybody foric. The languages, the sport, the writing, blogging, socialising, it's all extras alongside the university/homework/base that seem to be keeping me up that extra bit longer at night. I'll own this right now and unabashedly, I want it all! I want to fulfil every passion and aspiration be it necessarily related to my career or not. With all of these things needing amounts of time though, my brain is literally just a working calendar, trying constantly to manoeuvre between all of them, alot time between each. Although I found last year's university to be quite stressful, I still jumped out of bed to get there on the majority of mornings. This year however there seems so much more reticence, it's almost dragging myself out of my house. It seems silly but I fell too young to be this stressed, this tired and in this much of a rut: for the first time since beginning my design course, the thought occurred to me to take some time off and defer, and see the world.

For quite a while I've found myself drawn to the Orient, in particular Shanghai. Leave it in part to Skyfall (Daniel Craig's uber-sexy pool diving, bar-hopping and assassin-stalking in extremely luxe locations), The Lady From Shanghai (Rita Hayworth running through San Francisco's back streets chattering in Mandarin Chinese to everyone she meets), and just about every Chinese film i've seen in the past twelve months (i'll include a must-watch list at the end of the post). There's a certain glamour and fascination that the world has always had with China, and it's now reaching apex as we well and truly enter the so-called Chinese Century. There's literally so much desire to just disappear into the city and immerse myself into a new culture.

From everything I've read Shanghai is about to boom with fashion conglomerates as well, it's already been titled the Paris of the East, and the sheer amount of designer consumerism is obsessive, but as well as that quite a pro for any possibility of developing a brand name there. There are the general tribes that just clamour for the Gucci-LV-Chanel-Prada goodies (like the majority of the world I imagine) but for the hardcore fashionistas stutting their stuff through that Mega-Metropolis of dreams, they dress on such amazing scale unlike anything i've ever seen, embracing new designers and labels as willingly as the most coveted couture pieces. The thing is, although actually going there would be extra reassurance for you the reader, the cyber-world has made my tracking Shanghai Street style very easy, and as an indicator of such I follow no less than 125 fashionable kindred spirits from Shanghai along (if you haven't realised, i'm more than a little curious about the whole Spectrum there). I've made quite a few friends who've emigrated to Melbourne from Shanghai and have heard so many marvellous stories, so many exciting anecdotes, and so much about the culture and people, I feel like it would be more than a little intimidating learning the langauge and all about the culture at large, but oh so much fun as well. And such a magnificent adventure!

As such at the moment I only have one friend in the city, well placed in a luxury brand, who was wonerfully willing to give me the fashion scoop. Apparently alot of the brands host interns for approx three months, and preceeding that I would (theoretically) like to learn Mandarin intensively so as to make the trip worthwhile and attain a new lingual asset. I was thinking six months study beforehand, so as to gain at least a good footing of the language and make myself understood.

At the moment the ultimate dream is to spend time over there studying, and then become proficient enough with the langauge to begin the three months of internship. The ultimate dream during this period would be to actually get one of those internships and continue writing on this recording my adventures throughout, and then afterwards to maybe add a Mandarin language tab to the blog at the end of such a journey.

It's all in the pre-planning stages at the minute though, and i've got more than a couple of questions about it all for my friends from China and just the lovely readers at large. Is Shanghai the best city to learn Mandarin and get a fashion internship? Is six months intensive (5-6 hours every weekday) even long enough to get proficient with the language? and what are the major sights around both Shanghai and China worthwhile seeing if i'm there? Plus also feel free to tell me if you think it's a ridiculous idea althogether.There's definitely something reassuring to know I have this entire network of people that can help me with information and advice, it's very appreciated as always <3 xx

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Must Watch Chinese Films (from the persective of an uber-novice like me)

  • Raise the Red Lantern (Zhang Yimou, 1991)

  • The Story of Qiu Ju (Zhang Yimou, 1992)

  • Shanghai Triad (Zhang Yimou, 1995)

  • Hero (Zhang Yimou, 2002)

  • House of Flying Daggers (Zhang Yimou, 2004)

  • The Curse of the Golden Flower (Zhang Yimou, 2006)

  • The Flowers of War (Zhang Yimou, 2011)

  • Tiny Times 1,2 and 3 (Guo Jingming)

  • Spring in a Small Town (Fei Mu, 1948)

  • Legend of the Aroma City (2011)

  • Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee, 2000)

  • Farewell my Concubine (Chen Kaige, 1993)

  • Temptress Moon (Chen Kaige, 1996)

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