The last 4 days have definitely been eventful. Had my first night on the town last Thursday where we went to Bar Rouge, spent Friday recovering then out again Saturday to Club Gaga and last night to Rich City. The clubs here are breathtaking, it's obvious no expense was spared when creating these venues. As a model the clubs want you to stay and have a good time and they definitely make sure of that. From allowing access to an open bar to bottle after bottle of alcohol being brought to our table. And at the end of the night they even pay us for our time.

The castings have been somewhat positive the last few days. I got booked for a lingerie shoot on friday, but turns out I already have a job that day so I couldn't do it which was disappointing as I hear lingerie pays well.

Me and Ashlee went to the 'fake' markets on Saturday. There are stalls as far as the eye can see full of Chinese folk yelling out what I can only imagine is banter about what they have to offer. Everything at the market was dirt cheap. 29RMB for denim shorts which works out at roughly 5AUD. That price isn't set in stone as well. It's very easy to barter and get an even lower price. I managed to buy some shoes for 120RMB that were initially 230. I think I could get used to this!

Long day today with about 8 castings. One being Dior show. About 120 6ft giants were present including the local models. Ive never felt so short in my life! My number was 70, even though we were one of the first to arrive they like to see the Chinese girls first.

While waiting I met a fellow Aussie who used to be with the same agency as me - Scene, she was filling me in on her modeling career around Asia and Europe so the 2 hour wait wasn't as bad as it could've been.
I managed to book 3 jobs today - 2 runways shows and a catalogue. All for the same client; Dazzle (womenswear)

Day 3

The weather in Shanghai today was wet and muggy. We had 6 castings, a few for catalogues, a tvc, and a show for crocs. We were asked if we could ski for the tvc and although I've never really ski'd in my life I said I could. If I get booked I'll just need to wing it, it can't be that hard surely! 
 
Usually for catalogues the client would give us all clothes to try on and each of us would take turns posing while they video us. One of the castings was in a small apartment which was used as a model agency. There were close to 50 girls there so you can imagine how stuffy it was. The first client seemed to like me and called me back in for a second look but the second client not so much. There was alot of waiting around in between so I got talking to a few of the other models - An American girl who i had met on Sunday and a Mexican guy who was telling us about the food in his home town. Who knew burritos aren't really Mexican but more of a Texas food? I feel robbed!

Day 1 & 2

The model apartment - well what can I say it's no four seasons. The kitchen is covered with dirty dishes and food scraps and the fridge is inhabiting some not so identifiable produce. Who knew we actually had a cleaning lady.  I go to use the toilet but it's blocked and there's no toilet paper, looks like I'll be holding on.. I then go check out where I'll be sleeping. I'm sharing a room with a nice Ukrainian girl named Marina who arrived a week prior. As I have to be up at 5am for a show I decide to hit the hay. I assess my bed situation, the mattress is more spring than anything and the blankets are stained and itchy. I quietly thank the lord I brought my own pillow and make do with what I have for the night. I didn't get all that much sleep, between the foreign screeches of drunken girls in the apartment and being bitten alive by mosquitos I woke every hour hoping it was time to get up.

The next day me and about 20 other girls drove to Xicheng Lu which  is  2 hours from the city. The job consisted of us parading on stage whilst some Chinese popstar performed then we would stand next to a Rolls Royce each while the locals took photos of us. Its crazy how fascinated they are of Caucasians, both men and women falling over each other to get a photo of the tall fair girls.

It's now Monday and we've just arrived home after attending a string of castings, the apartment is starting to feel more homely after I sorted my bed with a new sheet and blanket and am now more comfortable with the other girls.

As an outsider looking in, one would come to the assumption that a models life is cruisey and full of luxury. All we have to do is stand there and look pretty, right? Well that couldn't be further from the truth.  Don't get me wrong there are definitely the luxurious moments when it comes to being a model but it's not an easy road to success.

Arriving in Shanghai on Saturday I came to the realization that this is no holiday, the next 3 months are going to be tough but I'm here to work and hopefully make some money so whatever this industry throws at me, I'm ready.