This summer, 10 students and two faculty members are traveling to China to enhance their Chinese language skills while experiencing the country’s vast and diverse cultural landscape. Please enjoy this first blog post below from Ella ’26 about how after an all-night travel adventure filled with laughter, snacks, and a strategy to beat jet lag, the group finally arrived in Shanghai, where first impressions of the city’s beauty and a shared welcome dinner set the stage for an exciting journey ahead.
你好!
Today was the first (and probably the longest) day of our China CSGC trip: travel day! For some of us, the ringing of our alarms at 2:00am marked the beginning of the day, while others (including myself) decided to not go to bed last night, so this morning was just a continuation of the long day we had yesterday. But not to worry, those who pulled the all-nighter had a big plan and even higher hopes: we would continue our no-sleep streak until the flight to Shanghai, where we anticipated being so tired that we’d sleep the whole flight and seamlessly adjust to the time difference in China. As I’m writing this entry, it’s 11pm in Shanghai and somehow, I am still awake, so I’d say our plan worked pretty well.
Back to our early morning though, we left the airport hotel bright and early at 2:30am. After checking in and going through security, we arrived at our gate, dropped our bags off, and beelined straight to Starbucks for some breakfast. We all got breakfast sandwiches and coffees, but the best food purchase of the morning was Ava’s very first American pickle.
Despite it being so early in the morning, the group’s energy was off the charts (even before the Starbucks coffees). We created a new groupchat in WeChat which quickly became the outlet for all of our jokes and laughter. Another bonus of the newly established groupchat was being able to communicate with each other on the flight across our separated seats. This first flight was to Dallas, and I think it’s safe to say that no one stuck with the pact to stay up until the Shanghai flight. This was probably for the best though, because I know I’m not just speaking for myself when I say that all the laughter at the gate and before takeoff made me more tired than I already was.
We landed in Texas where we stopped to get some more snacks (in my case, another round of Starbucks) before our flight. Oscar and I killed time by shuffling our “liked” songs on Spotify and seeing whose music taste is better. Soon enough, we were on the plane and Jeanne and I were lucky enough that the seat in between us was empty so we were able to get some more room.
While most of the flight was spent sleeping, everyone was also able to finish a movie they had been meaning to watch. My movies of choice were 13 going on 30 and The Sound of Music.
And finally, after a 16-hour plane flight, we had arrived in Shanghai. We met our CIEE program leader, who took us on a bus to the hotel. I grew up in Hong Kong, so I thought Shanghai would look similar. However, they are very different from each other. Shanghai has such beautiful buildings and a lot of natural beauty. I saw some traditional Chinese architecture, long rivers, lush forests, and so much more. This got everyone more excited to explore the city of Shanghai.
Once we got to the hotel and took much needed showers, we all went out to a welcome dinner with the CIEE staff at a local restaurant. We had lamb skewers (羊肉), steamed cauliflower, chicken with noodles in a spicy broth, and bok choy (白菜). We finished off the night back at the hotel where we played games as a group and shared our excitement for the trip ahead.
明天见!