The starting line

Ok, this might have to be semi-short because I'm EXHAUSTED and we only have one hook up to the internet so Allie and I must take turns with the computers. Our flight was an hour late taking off from Chi-town- not too huge a deal. We sat on the runway because there was a plane stuck behind us. I sat next to my summer welcome roommate, crazy that we met 4 years ago beginning our college experience and now this. It was really not a bad flight- except that my mom told me that the plane would be so big I wouldn't be able to tell I was on a plane.......NOT true. There were 61 rows with about 10 to a row, except first class. It was really a rough start to the flight, especially anytime we tried to eat. It was amazing flying over Canada (on Canada Day) and the Arctic Circle (it was amazing, but really is actually melting). The best part is that after we got to China (we could see we were flying over it by the screen on the plane) there was the most amazing mountain ranges. I didn't realize that there were mountains so close to Beijing. The worst part of the trip was that when we got about 10 min from landing we could see nothing but grey clouds. AWFUL, the smog here is SO bad. I can't even compare it to L.A. last year when I was on spring break. We were walking to dinner tonight and you could feel it, anytime you go outside you feel like you need to take a shower. Hopefully as the olympics draw near, it will get a little better, but I don't know how it can do that in such a short period of time. When we got here we went through customs, they just waived my group through, didn't look at anything. We were meet by some students from Renmin and bused back to the university. The best part of this may have been the other bus missed the exit, so just reversed backwards on the highway to correct itself. I'm glad that I was on the other bus. Overall this city is extremely neat, not that different from any large city. We drove past where I'll be working and it is AMAZING! We also saw the swimming arena and hopefully I can get close enough and inside to take pictures. Dinner was an adventure, we all walked around and went to a Chinese place on campus where the students asked if we wanted dumplings, rice, or noodles. I got chicken and rice, which was very good but right now I just feel like a piece of pizza! I'm sure this will get a lot better in the next few days, right now it's just really unorganized. We meet with the olympic people tomorrow and then have a lecture and reception. I will try to write more at that point.


http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2273879&l=16ac1&id=15900202

That is a link to photos from my journey from Missouri to here. I took too many pictures out the plane window and my battery died at the airport (which I guess is the largest building per square feet in the world- don't know if that's true). And no mom, I didn't really sleep on the plane. Maybe 2 or 3 hours total, I was too busy exploring the arctic out the window! I'm off to finally sleep after being awake since yesterday at 7 am.......it will take me a few days to get this day thing down. Hopefully I'll have more info tomorrow!