The first 48...

Arrived in Beijing around 2:30 in the afternoon, local time on Tuesday July 8.

First a couple tidbits about the travelling to Beijing...
-leaving for Emerson bright and early Monday morning was no big problem--I slept about 3 hours the night before, so I was ready to go! Plus, after my dry-run of carrying/toting luggage around the house I felt pretty confident in my travelling capabilities.
-After hitting a couple snags on the road to the airport terminal (bus went wrong direction, didn't fit in a tunnel; driver did not park in the 'bus only' parking and thoroughly irritated some drivers at Terminal C)
-Got through security smoothly, flight from Boston to DC was uneventful, but we had a very quick turnover in DC. In fact, by the time we got to our gate they were already boarding the plane
-Not much else to report about the flight, but what is it about airplane food?! It is so gross and yet you are compelled to eat it...every last bite usually. I don't know where it comes from, but I was starving and I knew my Kashi Crunch bars weren't going to hold me over forever. But nothing makes you say "Mmmm" like 'beef' in a gravy sauce with a warm salad on the side. And by salad I mean some lettuce, a few strips of cheese and some light ranch dressing.

ARRIVAL in Beijing-
After a bumpy descent, and then an extremely long taxi around the runway, we arrived at the gate. Looking around outside the airport, we wondered if it was a rainy/overcast day or if this was, in fact, a typical weather day in Beijing...it was.

After going through Immigration, we were greeted by 4 CUC students...all very friendly and excited to see us. We loaded up the motor coach and headed to the International Center at CUC.

We had about 30 minutes to get settled in our rooms. We are on the 9th floor of the International Student Center...we've got Internet (although facebook and cnn are not easily accessible!), air conditioning, a TV, and a western toilet! It feels just like a dorm with desks, twin beds, etc. Our shower is pretty teeny, and you could literally sit on the toilet and shower at the same time. For some reason I can imagine Homer Simpson really enjoying that.

After getting settled we had a quick tour of the CUC--the students giving us the tour told us it was a 'small campus' but to us it is HUGE. They have around 20,000 students here and lots of on campus housing, there are restaurants, dining halls and convenience stores/supermarkets throughout the campus. After the tour we found a fantastic restaurant right around the corner, literally. We ate some dumplings, fish, rice, and a couple of spicy chicken dishes that were SO tasty...and the whole meal cost about $2 after we divvied up the bill!

After that we came back to get some rest, since a few of us decided to wake up early (3:30 am) to go to Tian an Men Square to see the flag raising, a ceremony similar to what is done at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. We arrived at the Square around 4:30, after an eventful trek through the campus, trying to find an exit. There were hundreds of thousands of Chinese at the ceremony, our professor explained that many of them are peasants who have saved for years, maybe even a decade or more to come to Beijing and see the sites.

As the flag is raised, the national anthem is played and the cameras were out in full force…just hundreds of digital camera screens.

And as soon as the flag is raised, they all disperse. Obviously we got plenty of looks from the locals, and a couple just took pictures of us.

At this point it was a little after 5 am, so we wandered around the square, took some pictures, and ate breakfast around 7. When we arrived back at the CUC I was feeling a little uneasiness in my chest--I know this sounds weird, but I felt like I needed some fresh air. And luckily my friend Helen (who is a Marketing major at Emerson) hooked me up with a bunch of PODS: Personal Oxyen Devices. They are just a can of O2, and I took a couple deep breaths of that and felt much better. Don't worry Mom, it's not like a whip-it.

Anyways, after my breath of fresh air we met in the lobby to take our cheesy group photo, and then we had a lecture on the history/culture of China and Beijing. Our lecturer is a professor at CUC and he kept talking about Kung Fu Panda! He has seen it 3 times and he could not seem to get over the fact that an American studio made such a great movie with Chinese values in it.

After the lecture, we had some free time, I tried (unsuccessfully) to nap. And next thing we knew it was time for our first meeting our ONS (Olympic News Service) supervisors and the BOGOC (Beijing Olympic Games Organizing Committee). We received our SIM cards for our phones AND we got to try on uniforms! We will get 3 shirts, 2 pairs of pants (they are the kind that zip off into shorts), a pair of sneakers with “Beijing 2008” on them, 3 pairs of socks and a heap of other goodies…oh yes, and my favorite part, a fanny pack. The interesting thing is everything is Adidas, and we can only wear Adidas when we are working…right down to the socks apparently! I will be sure to post pictures when we get our uniforms.

Our ONS supervisor, Emily, is really nice and she gave us our schedule for the upcoming weeks. We are actually only working 2 days a week until August 1, when we start working full time. Also, the BOGOC has arranged a 3-day tour of Beijing for us this weekend—Peking duck at a famous restaurant, Great Wall, Summer Palace, and the Peking Opera! Definitely looking forward to doing the touristy stuff.

Tomorrow morning, we tackle Wal-Mart!