Well, we're here, for reals. I woke up at 5:30 AM Beijing Time this morning, which is super weird. It was not yet fully light out. Interestingly, 5:30 in Bejing is about 2:30 PM in Seattle, which would be me sleeping in a couple hours back home. Hopefully my already terrible sleeping habits will be something of a buffer against jetlag.
The picture above is of my room, though it may not end up being my room in the end, as we're still figuring out the roommate situation. It is very messy because we were very tired last night and our suitcases sort of just exploded. It's 6:43 right now, which means I've got about two hours before we meet Dr. Clark for breakfast. My computer charger does need an adapter, so I'm not sure how I'll pass the time. Course reading, probably.
Speaking of reading, on the twelve hour flight from Seattle to Beijing I slept for maybe three hours, and spent the remaining nine reading the entirety of Larry Niven's "Ringworld Engineers". It was quite good, though I got tired of reading the faux-swear words "TANJ" and "FUNKT" every other page.
Tonight at 11:00 we are getting on a train (MORE TRAVELING YAY) out to Shanxi province, where we'll be touring a number of religious and historical sites over the next eight days. I'll snap pictures, but I'm not sure I'll be able to make any posts until we get back. This study tour will amount to a solid 90% of our "Cultural Oddessy" class, which means that after this week I'll have basically finished one of my four classes this semester (five if you count all eight credits of Mandarin). That's sort of cool, but also sort of intimidating.
Later today I'll try to get a picture of our building and Minzu's sign to post. Our building is really posh, more like a hotel than a dorm room. There's a lobby with a staffed counter, elevators, and decorations everywhere. The rooms are basically hotel rooms as well, with two desks, two beds, a TV, a minifridge, and a bathroom with a shower.
That's all for now. I'm going to go find something to do for the next couple hours.
The picture above is of my room, though it may not end up being my room in the end, as we're still figuring out the roommate situation. It is very messy because we were very tired last night and our suitcases sort of just exploded. It's 6:43 right now, which means I've got about two hours before we meet Dr. Clark for breakfast. My computer charger does need an adapter, so I'm not sure how I'll pass the time. Course reading, probably.
Speaking of reading, on the twelve hour flight from Seattle to Beijing I slept for maybe three hours, and spent the remaining nine reading the entirety of Larry Niven's "Ringworld Engineers". It was quite good, though I got tired of reading the faux-swear words "TANJ" and "FUNKT" every other page.
Tonight at 11:00 we are getting on a train (MORE TRAVELING YAY) out to Shanxi province, where we'll be touring a number of religious and historical sites over the next eight days. I'll snap pictures, but I'm not sure I'll be able to make any posts until we get back. This study tour will amount to a solid 90% of our "Cultural Oddessy" class, which means that after this week I'll have basically finished one of my four classes this semester (five if you count all eight credits of Mandarin). That's sort of cool, but also sort of intimidating.
Later today I'll try to get a picture of our building and Minzu's sign to post. Our building is really posh, more like a hotel than a dorm room. There's a lobby with a staffed counter, elevators, and decorations everywhere. The rooms are basically hotel rooms as well, with two desks, two beds, a TV, a minifridge, and a bathroom with a shower.
That's all for now. I'm going to go find something to do for the next couple hours.
Wow - I can't believe how prolific you are on your blog, and you are only hours into this adventure! I can't wait to read about the interesting stuff you see and people you meet, and how you and others respond to the novelty.
ReplyDeleteGreat job on the blog Jeremy! We're so excited to be 'traveling' along with you guys. Keep it up!
ReplyDelete