Let’s
begin with the drive to RDU, simultaneously the longest and shortest drive of
my life. This was no fault of its
occupants. We engaged in reassuring chit
chat, mostly consisting of me downplaying the all too real difficulty of the
trip ahead. This is a tactic at which I
have become quite proficient. I must
admit that I have been riding on the razors edge between mania and madness for
the past several days. The prospect of
this huge commitment, however fun and educational it will be, is still daunting. As such, I have been quite unable to focus on
any one thing for more than a few minutes.
I couldn’t even set the dinner table, having to do it in several stages
as my mind would race to find something else I should be doing to prepare. This is entirely unsurprising to me. I expected a rollercoaster of emotion, and
that’s what I got on this drive. One
second I was flying high, the next second I was ready to wrench the wheel and
throw the truck into a U-turn. This
would continue for some time.
The
first hitch in the plan came and went rather quickly. Turns out Air China doesn’t allow any bags
over 50lbs. Solution: buy another bag
and split it up. Job done, I said my
goodbyes (which was difficult, I can tell you that much), and proceeded to my plane
to JFK.
This
flight was barely a taste of the flight to Beijing, being only an hour, it was
over quickly. I soon found myself
walking through the labyrinth of John F. Kennedy International Airport. My
first goal was to make my way from Terminal 5 to Terminal 1. I never knew that arrows could be so
confusing! I felt like a country
bumbkin, even having to stop and ask for directions. I eventually found my way to the AirTrain
platform, where I met three people who were also studying abroad with CET. Departing the train, we approached the Air
China desk and I remarked to one of them, “Yeah, I have a whole bunch of vocab
cars to study on the plane. There in
my…Oh no…I have to go!” I said, jogging
back to the Air train that still held my carryon bag. What followed were the some of the tensest
moments of my life, as I paced back forth, throwing myself into any train that
came through, regardless of whether it could logically hold my bag. After a full twenty minutes, and probably 500
calories burned pacing a rut in the floor, I found my bag exactly where I had
left it. This phase of terror was
followed by almost an hour of abject boredom as I waited in line for my
boarding pass. During this time, I got a
lesson in the Chinese version of personal space, as the man behind me
repeatedly rammed me with his luggage cart, ambivalent to my own repeated looks
of outrage. Boarding pass in hand, I
cruised through security with enough time to scarf down a turkey and swiss
sandwich.
To
understand what it’s like to fly for 13 hours on a plane packed with 500
people, you must understand that everything is relative. The food, for example, probably wouldn’t pass
for dog food if it were served on earth bound transportation. At 38,000ft, however, it was great (One note:
meal number one featured your choice of fish or beef with rice. Meal two?
Why you could have chicken or pork…with rice. The Chinese are nothing if not consistent). This brings me to the thought that inevitably
occurs to anyone flying for so long; I am in a giant sky tube that is actively
defying gravity. Traveling at 584mph,
it’s hard not to consider the ridiculousness of this endeavor, a fact that is
reinforced by the real-time data that was fed to the large cabin screen. Did you know that it’s -68 degree F at
38,000ft? Not a reassuring thought.
Having
arrived in Beijing, I was faced with the possibility of having to take a taxi
to my destination, Beijing Institute of Education. After competing with nearly 500 people at the
baggage claim, I was relieved to find that the shuttle to campus provided by
CET was still operating. Reaching BIE, I
was exhausted, but unable to sleep.
Hence, I wrote this. Not sure
what else there is ahead of me, but if the journey here is any indication, it’s
going to be interesting.
EJR
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