KATHLEEN HEATH, Cultural Studies major, writes: Rolling out of bed now. According to everyone else�s complaints on the trip about getting over jetlag, I think I�ve officially rewired my internal clock. I�d like to say that I�m �naturally� waking up at 7:00 A.M., but like in the States, I�ve already started sleeping in here. No time for that, though--we are down to our home stretch with three official days left, including today. The last week really snuck up on us. I don�t know exactly where and when I discovered this, but a couple days ago I officially decided that I don�t feel as lost here anymore. And that�s great.
The past few days have been packed, considering the near-closing of our trip. Just yesterday we visited the Shanghai Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art. At the Shanghai Museum we first began in the Chinese bronzes room observing ancient relics that Hollywood would just love to get their hands on as props. Caught lunch at, don�t scoff, but at an �Italian� restaurant. The four of us found ourselves in the most touristy spot yet, with options like burgers, fries, and mini-pizzas to choose from. And we did. I can�t say I was the biggest fan of burgers before I left; in fact I was nearly vegetarian, but there was excitement to say the least in eating the familiar. Excitement and nausea. Even after a week and a half I think I�ve conditioned my stomach to not greet those types of foods so kindly anymore. I�ve been trying to explain this to the group--unsuccessfully, I figure--but there is something here about the food that makes being �full� less painful.
The most interesting happening in the last few days, what I�m going to tell my friends first if I can get a hold of them in the next few days, was our experience at Radiance Digital Entertainment. We went to a studio that housed the animators that are going to be responsible for the video game �Beach Volleyball� in the next year. The animators have been working feverishly in the past year to produce this sport/fighting game in a �highly sexualized� style. When we were there, it seemed to be the context of the tour to express how important it was to make the characters �sexy� to please their client. I was holding back some laughter believing that I was in the headquarters of where they make anime porn. I watched as the animators worked on every last pixel of the �perfect breasts� and added thong lines to their characters--they really weren�t kidding. After hovering over the shoulder of one animator, grueling over the exact shadowing and volume of the �perfect ass� with use of a photograph, our guide Evan told us that it was �very important for the staff to have a large collection of (pornographic) photos for reference.�
