Finally here!

It’s still hard to believe we’re finally in China. Of course after struggling through 32 hours of travel and suffering from the effects of jet lag, my body has no question that I have in fact landed on the opposite side of the world. Add to that the never ending barrage of all things Chinese from the uniformity of the crowd, to the bizarre foods, to the Chinese signs, and you’d think it’d be difficult to forget that we are yes, indeed in China. However, being in a nation so different from your own tends to boggle the mind. Despite having visited China before, there are still moments where I abruptly grasp the concept that I am in CHINA.

The days have passed by in a whirlwind and there’s been hardly enough time to absorb everything I’ve seen, heard, and learned. And we sure have seen, heard, and learned quite a bit in these last few days. Every day we have four hours of intensive language classes. I have never in my life had so much Chinese crammed into my brain in one sitting, and now it has become a daily occurrence. Afterwards we go off to either a culture class, where we learn things such as Beijing Opera and Chinese painting, or to a meeting with Dr. Liu. Afterwards we head off for an hour of Taichi and finally we have some time to rest. I’ve learned that rest here in China has so far consisted of writing emails and doing homework, while trying not to pass out on the bed. But I’m sure things will become easier over time.

It’s not only the academic aspect that overwhelms the brain. Just walking through the university campus or in the city floods the mind with new experiences and glimpses of culture. It’s interesting to note how many things are different here in China. Of course there are the obvious differences. Everyone here is Chinese. It’s a stark contrast to our own ‘melting pot.’ The food is different, often consisting of mysterious components. The signs are all different, the language is different, and so on and so forth. However since arriving I have seen a lot of other interesting cultural differences. For example everyone here likes to beep their horn at every possible occasion. I often wake to a chorus of never-ending honking. In the US, in all places that I’ve visited, this would be considered rude, but here it seems to be the norm. Another interesting thing is that people here are not afraid to stare. A group of students like ours garners a lot of attention here, which is to be expected. What I didn’t expect to see was heads literally turning to follow us as we walked by. People on the streets, on bikes, and in stores all would unabashedly stare at our group in a way that would be considered socially inept at best in the US. Another thing that surprised me here in China wasn’t specifically about Chinese culture. In our classes, we have international students hailing from all across the world. Each and every one of these students speaks some English, many nearly fluently, and some with hardly any accent. It’s strange being surrounded by students of all different nationalities, yet have the ability to speak my native language and be understood by them all. These students are all attempting to become at least trilingual. This is very impressive to me. In this matter at least, I think America is lacking.

Well, that’s it for now. Until next post!