Getting situated-

It’s been just under 2 days since we’ve been here and already I feel like I’ve spent a week in China… so here is my attempt to summarize what all has happened since waking up Tuesday morning.

Tuesday was spent situating ourselves and getting to know the campus, which by the way is surprisingly large with all relatively new buildings. After getting our meal cards (similar to cougar cards with cougar cash that can be spent anywhere on campus), I watched my roommate attempt to order food at the dining hall nearest to our dormitory which all in itself was very entertaining. We stand out like crazy so not only is everyone looking at us but some genuinely want to help us which is next to impossible unless they know any English.

After eating we were split into groups of 6 and then paired with our Chinese student group who showed us around and told us a little about themselves. Even though most of them had been studying English for 5-10 years it was still hard to communicate simply because studying a language is entirely different than speaking it (which I think anyone can agree with… even with an easier language like Spanish). We then had our first day of classes and then walked off campus to a market place where we got the Ethernet cords (thank god! Two days without internet was starting to wear on me).

Another thing I bought at the store was a surge protector which a guy I was with swore would work for my hair dryer and straightener… me being stupid and believing him even though I knew he was wrong, bought it, took it back, and had him plug my hair dryer into it which instantly blew out the electricity in my entire room.. yea.. it was pretty entertaining but I felt like the American idiot who should’ve known better- and I did! I swear, every time I listen to a guy things blow up, even literally! Anyways.. I ended up getting a new hair dryer and I’m now borrowing a straightener of another Alpha Phi on the trip- yay for sisters!

The rest of that evening was free time where we did anything from shopping, exploring, spending time online/contacting friends and family, sleeping, to even drinking. I had forgotten that there wasn’t a drinking age in China so seeing 54% alcohol next to juice in the campus store was pretty surprising! I have yet to try any of it but quite a few of the students did last night in the computer room on our dormitory floor... Which happens to be right next to my room... lucky me!

I woke up today (Wednesday) 10 minutes before my alarm which was nice and took my second cold shower... I have to shower in the morning to wake up but unfortunately the hot water isn’t on at any time in the morning, so unless I get used to showering in the early evening I’ll have cold showers the entire 4 weeks we’ll spend on the campus! We had normal class times today which was pretty crazy- 2 hours for Marketing, a short break, and then 2 hours for Management Operations. You could tell everyone in the class was struggling to get through the final hour but hopefully once we’ve adjusted to the time it’ll be a little easier for us to sit through.

After classes a bunch of us went to lunch with our China buddies to a place off campus around where we had bought the Ethernet cords. The language barrier again made ordering food tough but seeing that I’m hardly picky about what I eat, I was happy just to be able to get anything set in front of me! Oh and eating with chopsticks is quite the portion control.. you’re just so happy you finally picked up one piece of meat that by the time you eat 10 of them you think you’re full- hopefully that continues! J

After lunch my roommate and I thought we should take a short nap, and this is when I realized that I really DID have jet lag.. I set my alarm but you know how that goes- I managed to turn it off without remembering and we woke up to Bill, our group leader, pounding on our door telling us that the bus was leaving in 2 minutes! We had a tour that night in a boat around Nantong but had set our alarms for us to wake up waaaay before that.. yea, too bad we ended up getting 4 hours of sleep! While our professor wasn’t too happy with us as we ran onto the bus, it was actually nice making up a few hours of the lost sleep I needed from finals week, jenny’s wedding, and the initial journey here.

Tomorrow we are going to some opening ceremony of a sport festival they’re having on campus, classes, break, then a trip to downtown Nantong to explore and shop! Even with my nap I’m still exhausted…but before I forget, I’ve started posting the majority of my pictures on facebook and even if you don’t have a facebook account, you supposedly can view them at the following link:

http://wsu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2079420&l=fc7c3&id=27213551

I’d love to hear any feedback about the pictures or just questions that you have… I miss you all so much and still can’t believe that I’m 15 hours ahead and across the Pacific Ocean! I’ll try to post every 2-4 days but we’ll see how that goes… so for now, good night!