Day 1: Beijing

This morning we left Cincinnati on our journey to the East. This point could be contested as we actually flew west to Chicago, and from Chicago direct to Beijing. The direct flight took around 13.5 hours and was quite a hull. We all tried to sleep as much as possible, but it was very cramped and crowded. This was actually my first international flight, so the anticipation and excitement coupled with a few cocktails, made it difficult to stay focused on any one thing at a time. I tried reading a short novel, a magazine about china, I watched a movie, played some chess, worked on a logo design for my girlfriend’s uncle, and chatted with my neighbor, a sweet old Italian lady from Chicago named Jeanine. 




When we got off the plane, we were corralled through customs and packed into a sardine-can of a tram in pursuit of our luggage. Luckily, all our bags made it and we proceeded to get two cars for 400RMB. RMB or Renmimbi is the Chinese currency which is also known as Yuan and with the current exchange rate, 400RMB equals about $58.25 American. Amongst ourselves, we’ve decided to refer to yuan as ping pongs.

We stepped out of the airport elevator and were hit with a ton of bricks. The thick, hot smog took us all by surprise, despite everything we’ve heard prior. Becks and I rode in one car with Neil and Jon in the other. This was our first encounter being placed in the hands of people with absolutely no knowledge of the English language. The travel lady told the drivers to take us to our hotel, The Landmark, in rapid Chinese. What a ride! We were speeding through the biggest city any of us had ever seen. It was beyond comprehension. We learned right off the bat that traffic laws are essentially negligible and pedestrians haven’t the right of way. On top of that, cars are constantly cutting each other off with inches between. It seemed inevitable that we’d be in a wreck within moments of departure. Somehow though, it all seemed to groove and there weren’t even cars with scratches or dents, almost as if each had an invisible forcefield. Anyway, we made it safely to our very nice hotel and checked in with ease.

Not even five minutes upon our arrival were we met by four UC grads. Dominic Berardi, Adam Hildebrant, Matt Mezinskis, and Brent Cengia knocked on our door and took us out to our first dinner. It was a great introduction and it was clear that we’d be having a lot of fun with these fellows. Dominic has been living in Beijing for about a year now working for the UC alumni association in recruiting Chinese students to study in Cincinnati. He was an SAE and of course the Bearcat mascot as an undergrad. The other three are also greeks from UC and live in New York, Latvia, and Cleveland respectively. They just so happened to be taking a vacation together that aligned almost exactly to our trip to Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. Talk about coincidence. Dom arranged for the UC recruitment dinner as described in the invite from my previous post due to all us coming together so far from home.

Our first Chinese dinner was amazing. We really wouldn’t have been able to tell what it was we were eating if it weren’t for Dom. He described to us the customs of eating in China and much, much more. This was also our first time using the squatting toilets in China. Neil was a little put off by it, but I think I could get used to it. It’s basically a toilet bowl in the floor that you squat over. I guess it allows things to flow better and makes for an easy cleaning.

After dinner, we all went to one of the major bar districts and had quite a few drinks on a rooftop tiki-style bar. It was pretty low-key being a Sunday and all, but a good time nonetheless. Most of the bars are open 24/7 and there is no drinking age or rules about carrying alcohol out on the street or wherever. Very wild indeed. Apparently, alcoholism is not much of a problem because there is a small minority of Chinese people that drink at all. After a couple beers, their faces start to turn red and they get inebriated incredibly fast. It must have been two or three in the morning before we left the bar, got some cabs, and headed home. Us Delts all carry cards with the name, address, and a small map of our hotel to hand to cab drivers due to the language barrier. Apparently, jet lag didn’t really phase us one bit. This was one hell of a way to kick things off in China.