Friday, September 3rd- Arrival in Beijing 北京

This morning I arrived at Newark airport only to realize that I HAD FORGOTTEN my passport! My dad rushed back home to get it while my mom and I waited anxiously. I had until 11:10 to check in and it was 11:00 when my dad came back with my passport.. SO I MADE IT. Once I finally got on the plane, a suitcase fell on my head. I thought I was on some sort of punk'd MTV show. 

However, after a rough start I finally arrived in Beijing! We took a shuttle bus from the airport to my dorm where I was given my key, student ID (which looks like a passport and is all in chinese) and directions from a Chinese lady (which were all in Chinese). I looked at her and shook my head up and down, like I really knew what she was talking about?

My roommate's name is Elizabeth and she was actually on my plane from Newark. We unpacked and walked around and met people on our hall; it felt just like freshmen year all over again! 

Around 7pm a group of us went to a Noodle House to get dinner. A girl Katie, from Tufts, who is a LAXER and I shared some Noodle dish. All the chinese people around us were laughing at us as we tried to eat the noodles as politely as possible- MAJOR FAIL. I can't begin to tell you how many noodles were left on the table!

On our way back to the dorm we all stopped at a local market and picked up some drinks. And then we hung out in a room and got to know each other better. 

So far the experience has been more than I expected! Tomorrow we have orientation from 9:30-12:30, then a pizza party (I thought I was in China?) and then we are off to Wudoukou- not sure what that is, but I will report back tomorrow! I miss everyone and I wish all my friends from Wofford the best of luck moving in! 


Here are pictures of my room: 

My desk!

My bed!

It's bed time for me... FINALLY

Love y'all,

Rachel