Wow!! What a trip.
I left 迈阿密 yesterday (?) morning at 6:50 to go to Newark, where my plane to Beijing was scheduled to leave at 12:50 or thereabouts. There was nothing spectacular about the plane ride to Newark, besides the two fifty-something lovers who were obviously not aware that I was in the row right next to them.
When I got to Newark I went straight to the gate for the direct flight to Beijing, which wasn’t that far of a walk and not a hassle at all, considering that I was expecting some sort of regulatory mob to track me down because it was an international flight. In any case, I met up with a bunch of other people doing the program. We got a little hungry/antsy and a few of us thought that it would be a good idea to pick up some food before we left on the plane. As fate would have it, the last meal I had in the U.S. was from McDonald’s and the first I got in China was from Starbucks.
The plane was huge and overbooked, and a couple of times over the loudspeaker at the gate repeated attempts were made to sway some passengers into foregoing their flight for a day’s delay and $800 in Continental Airlines credits. The offer seemed really enticing, but I didn’t want to miss my placement test and be forced to find my way to Beijing Normal University on my own–at this point I’m having extreme difficulty even ordering food at a restaurant. Clearly I have my limits.
The plane trip was really really really long. Like, really really really really long.
It was a fun trip though, being that I’d never been to the North Pole. When I looked outside midway through the trip (see picture)
All I could see was white, which at first I thought was clouds, but then I quickly realized that what I was seeing was ice. Siberia was really similar–the air was really clear and the scenery looked beautiful.
We got three meals during the flight, the first of which were not bad, but the third one (see picture), left a lot to be desired.
For some reason, ketchup was included, and I couldn’t figure out why. In addition, we were given what looked like a random scrap piece of wood to eat the ice cream. I couldn’t quite understand what was going on so I gave my ice cream to the little kid sitting in the row next to me so that he would have to deal with it.
During the flight, I also tried to review some Chinese, which didn’t turn out to be such a great success. I gave up after about an hour because it dawned upon me that it would be fruitless to attempt to study for the placement test (this soon turned out to be the correct judgment on my part, details to follow).
When we got to Beijing a whole thirteen or so hours later following our departure out of Newark, the scenery outside was beautiful, but the weather was not. What I first though was overcast clouds were simply conglomerations of dense smog. This was not a happy revelation.
Not much talking went on when I entered the airport in Beijing, as most of the Customs agents and border guards just took our little slips and pointed us in the direction we needed to go. I was surprised that there was no hint of air conditioning in the main concourse, but it’s ok, because it didn’t bother me much. I was really impressed with the speed at which we received our luggage–I couldn’t have been waiting for more than five minutes to get all my luggage.
When I stepped out the baggage-collection area, there was, lo and behold, and Starbucks. Needless to say I was quite wiped out by all of this traveling, and so getting coffee was a high priority of mine. I also have to say that the latte was not bad at all, in fact it was pretty damn good.
After a half hour or so we were somewhat herded out of the airport by the PiB people and were led to our bus waiting for us outside. The air definitely had a smoggy feel to it, but it wasn’t enough for me to want to ball my eyes out because of irritation. It is my first day here, though, so time will tell if I’m going to have and eat my words. I forgot to change my money at the airport (I’ll explain the importance of this soon enough). Our luggage was hauled away in separate vehicles–this didn’t feel too kosher–see picture and you’ll understand why I felt this way:
The ride to Beijing Normal University took about a half hour, and was pretty smooth. I was surprised to see so many Volkswagens on the trip–I had no idea they were so popular over here. When we got to the Beijing Normal Dorms, we were immediately told that we’d need 200 Yuan to reserve our room–this is where my little problem of money surfaced. A few other people also forgot to change their money, so we all went together to try and find a place to exchange our dollars. This turned out to be quite the task.
We first went across the street to a place that looked like a working Bank, but the ATM wasn’t usable (it turns out that this was the Agriculatural Bank of China, which is different from just the “Bank of China”, which is what we were looking for, and turned out to be on the same side of the street). Anyways, it took us a good forty minutes or so of diligent searching to find this place, which had an ATM right in front that seemed to work, as luck would have it, for EVERYBODY else except for me. So I had to walk inside the Bank of China. With my laptop case and everything else that was stuffed inside of it (remember, I couldn’t get my room yet, because I didn’t have the money to pay for the key deposit, and thus, I had no place to put my bag).
I went to the little machine at the entrance to the Bank, where you’re supposed to press a button and take the slip of paper out that marks your place in line. This was the first thing I wasn’t used to doing at banks in the U.S. however, this wasn’t the worst of it. I waited for over an hour, and just like the airport, this place wasn’t air-conditioned.
I was handed a slip that I’m guessing foreigners must use to exchange money, and was asked to fill it out. Somehow I got my Yuan, and I was happy, and was soon to be much happier when I found out how far our dollars go in terms of purchasing power.
When I got back to the dorm, I managed to get my key, booklet, etc, and went straight to my room and met Chris, my roommate. The room is spectacular–we have a TV, air conditioning, bathroom, closet, maid-service, the list goes on and on. It’s basically luxurious, and I feel a little bizarre when I walk past the Chinese dorms and see that they’re nothing in comparison to this.
A little after getting into my room, a few people were getting together for dinner. Not only was finding a place to eat a little difficult, but the act of dining was quite the experience in itself. We had no idea what the menu said, besides some 汉字 (hanzi, characters) like 鸡 (ji, chicken) and 肉 (rou, meat). We got food though, and it was good. And cheap. I mean really cheap. Like two bucks a person. And I was truly full. After dinner we walked around a little bit to explore, and when we got back to the room I was exhausted. After a few minutes of taking a shower and shaving the day was over for me. I had been awake for over 28 hours and wasn’t about to stay up any more–not that I was even capable of doing this. So I went to bed at 9ish and woke up to take my placement test…this is a good place to stop ;).