Hello from China! Let me tell you, time change is odd: we left the States on January 3 (afternoon) and arrived January 5 (midnight). That means 44 hours “elapsed” during our ~18 hours of travel time from Minneapolis to Beijing.
I left most of my packing to the day of departure and ran into a problem, I could’t find my wallet! I returned from Kansas City with a few of my Moorhead friends and left it in the front seat of their car. What a headache. In it, the only thing important to me was my debit card. It’ll be interesting getting along here without it but what an adventure it will make!
Grandma and Grandpa dropped me off at the airport and escorted me to my group at the checkin desk (thanks you guys). We departed MSP airport for our two hour overlay in Chicago, a 1.5 hour flight at most. While in Chicago we ate light snacks and still felt restless for what lay ahead.
The flight to Beijing lasted 13.5 hours! Over half a day of altitude-induced swollen feet and lack of sleep don’t bother you until later on, as I am still discovering. I sat next to George from Chicago who was on his way to visit his brother in the Philippines. What an interesting man, at about 60-ish he knew four languages and acquainted himself with computer science even before internet existed. We conversed on so many random topics and philosophical discussions that got my head spinning. Oh, and during those 13.5 hours, the flight attendants fed us about 6 times. Who can complain? Also during the flight I slept about 4 hours and read for about the same amount.
Our arrival in Beijing happened way too fast. We touched down ever so lightly and everyone seemed to get off the plane with haste. The terminal was insanely huge, standing as one big room as you see in the picture. My class got through customs (which solely consisted of checking our passports) and got our bags quickly after that. We met Signe, a recent St. Olaf alumn outside the gate and led us to the bus that would take us 45 minutes to Bei Wai (北京外国语大学) located northwest of the Forbidden City.
At this point the air quality as well as massiveness of the city caught my attention. Even in the airport I noticed a haze, which slipped in from the ever so smoggy outside. On our bus ride to school, the city kept going and going. We passed so many sky scrapers and buildings. Driving in China is very similar to America: on the right side of the street. The only differences are everything in characters and some new street signs I couldn’t recognize.
The campus is walled in and very compact. Signe gave us our keys and roommate assignments for the night, then let us run free. Keep in mind that by this time it is about 1:00 in the morning. On our way into the campus we saw a karaoke bar and once we got settled we walked over. Turns out it just closed ten minutes before we arrived. Because I and my roommate tonight are actually in home stays, we barely unpacked and will be moving to our respective homes tomorrow! He and I sat around finally getting to sleep around 2 AM. Apparently we have orientation at 9 AM so the lack of sleep might hit me soon.
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