Today at 9:45 a.m. we met at ORD for our long 13 hour flight to Beijing. Half of the class took a bus from Champaign that left at 7:15 a.m. and the rest left from their respective houses. Everyone was very excited for the trip ahead but the reality of being in China had not yet set in. During the flight we had the opportunity to view a variety of movies and T.V. shows (i.e. Dexter, Wall-E, Leap Year), which helped the time pass by quickly. We were also served two meals and one snack throughout the trip. Most students were able to sleep the majority of the trip, however many did not get enough.

Upon arrival in Beijing at around 2:30 p.m. (which is 1:30 a.m. in Chicago) local time we went through customs very quickly and with no difficulties. However, we soon learned that travel in such a big group in such a big city would be a little bit of a challenge. Once we finally got everyone together we met our tour guides; Jane and John. Jane is a local here in Beijing and John who is also Chinese received his MBA from Michigan; which helped to have two more Chinese speaking individuals on the trip to translate for us and teach us about this amazing city and the culture. We got on our tour bus, which we would be using during our time in Beijing and drove to the Jin Ma hotel. On the way we saw some sights of the city; which included the Birds Nest and the Water Cube, which were built for the 2008 Olympics. We arrived at the hotel around 6:20 p.m. and only had time to drop our bags off in our rooms and change into khakis and polos for dinner.

The CAU (China Agricultural University) Office of International Affair, and their student Ambassador program hosted us for a dinner in the hotel restaurant. Dr. Renjie Dong, Director of CAU International Relations, gave us a warm welcome asking us to have our first cultural lesson, trying a delicious Chinese buffet as well as Tang Ying (Deputy Chief, International Cooperation Branch), Xu Ji (Senior Advice of International Relations). There were 15 students who we all had a chance to talk with while enjoying a delicious Chinese buffet. We were all surprised how easily we got along and had so much to talk about with them. They knew a lot about America and all showed excitement in visiting; some will be coming this fall to study at UIUC. We discussed things like school, social life, hobbies, culture, food and so much more. Many even exchanged emails with the students to continue communications later. At the end of the dinner all of us received t-shirts from the CAU staff and students. These shirts will remind us of our first night in Beijing. After dinner everyone was exhausted from the trip and most of us returned to our rooms to shower and go to sleep. All of us are looking forward to tomorrow.