Sunday, May 12, 2018
After a long day of hiking and a 3-hour delay due to lightning, we finally arrived in Chengdu! Our living accommodations are very similar to a hotel, and centrally located on the Sichuan University's campus. Getting used to waking up early, Elliot and I embarked on a journey this morning to find some breakfast and ended up grabbing some pork steamed buns from a local food cart.
We then met with local university students for a tour of the campus, getting acquainted with our classroom location, and exploring the various university amenities. I was surprised to find out that Sichuan University hosts several foreign students and many of the locals we encountered seem less surprised to see foreigners than many of the people we had come across in Beijing.
After the tour, many of us went to try out a local noodle and dumpling place. Elliot and I ordered the spicy pork noodle soup and it was delicious! For about $1 or 7 yuan, this will definitely be a place we'll come back to. We then went to explore the local area and bought some necessities from the supermarket down the street. It's really convenient how centrally located Sichuan University is in Chengdu, and how many students are out playing different sports. The students here at Chengdu seem to be incredibly active and I'm definitely looking forward to assimilating more and maybe playing some pickup basketball with the locals (even though I'm not that good).
Returning back to the dorms, we all had to finish up our weekly journal assignments and review the course pack before our first weekly discussion meeting. Led by other students in our dialogue, we spent about an hour and half discussing what we had seen over the past week and our reactions to the cultural differences. We discussed opinions on the preservation of hutong's (historical alleyways) in Beijing, the industrialization of China and its impact on migrant workers, the significance of the Great Wall in today's evolving China, and the social responsibility of corporations and the movement towards sustainability in China. It was amazing to finally digest everything we've experienced as a group and to hear everyone's unique insight into what we learned and saw. I'm definitely looking forward to more weekly discussions and truly amazed at the depth of topics we were able to address as a group.
Afterwards, a group of us embarked to another part of the University to find dinner and stumbled upon a local restaurant where we ordered various dishes family style. Although I'm not completely sure what exactly we ordered, the food was so good that I think I might leave here with a few extra pounds…..
Since tomorrow's our first official day of classes, we went to the local shopping mall to buy school supplies as well as other items we couldn't find at the local supermarket. On our walk over, we crossed the JinJiang River, where for the first time we were able to see some of Chengdu. I was amazed to see how vibrant the city was, how clear and blue the river looked, and how much Chengdu resembled a western city. Taking it all in, I began to think to myself about how this would be my home for the next 5 weeks and about how much I didn't mind being able to experience something so new and so different with this amazing group of people. We are all already getting along so well and I'm excited to finally start learning more of the language tomorrow!
- Kush P.
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