Hello from Beijing!

Well 8,000 miles and 24 hours of traveling later I have finally arrived in Beijing. It is hard to comprehend the fact that having brunch with my girlfriend and my mother bringing me to the airport are all technically still this same day for me being that I have not slept since. My concept of time is shot, not to mention the +12 hour time difference. Anyway, so much to talk about since I left JFK airport so let me start there. My first flight from New York to Zurich was familiar being that I made a similar flight last summer when I took a trip to Europe for a month. This flight was roughly 7 hours and most of that time was passed watching a pretty decent selection of movies. Only speed bump on that flight would occur when the girl sitting on front of me spilt her entire cup of apple juice on me. I was pretty upset, and interestingly enough this girl would turn out to be a fellow CRCC Asia intern (I didn’t find this out until my arrival in Beijing). Who would have thought our friendship would start on such a great note! The reality of this 2 month journey didn’t hit me until my stopover in Zurich. While waiting for my connection flight I realized how far I was from anyone I knew. That was the first time in my life I felt completely alone and isolated; if only I had made friends with the ‘apple juice girl’ from the flight there. With no phone, internet access, or any other method of communication with anyone back home I was beginning to wonder if I had made the right choice this summer. True definition of home-sick. My second flight (Zurich to Beijing) was pretty boring as expected. This flight being 9 hours I was able to watch a few more movies to pass the time away. My previous feelings about the trip were still lingering in my mind so that made time go much slower for me. After finally landing in Beijing and passing through Chinese customs, I walked to the assigned meeting place for CRCC interns (my flight landed 2 hours before the first scheduled pickup time). It was during those 2 hours that my feelings of loneliness and regret changed for the better. While waiting I was approached by a girl, whom I recognize from both flights I was on, asking me if I was there for a CRCC internship. We spoke for a bit then she introduced me to her friend from law school that was also doing an internship. Turned out to be the girl who spilt the apple juice on me so that was a pretty easy ice breaker. Little by little other interns started showing up at the meeting place and my anxiety diminished with each person I met. We all instantly got along great. When the first scheduled pick up time came around we had the perfect amount of interns to fit on the first bus to the apartment complex, so off we went! The apartment complex is great. It’s huge, clean, and fully serviced: a cleaning lady comes everyday to clean up, make our beds, and DO OUR LAUNDRY! Unfortunately I didn’t room with any of the people I met at the airport, but because I was the first to move into my apartment I got first dibs on rooms and I of course chose the master bedroom. It’s twice as big as the other two rooms, has a huge floor-to-ceiling window, and my very own bathroom. Thank you mom for booking the early flight, you’re the best. I just hope my two roommates honor the international “first come, first serve” policy and don’t make a big deal of it. I apologize for not posting in so long, there have been problems with the internet here. The government of China has blocked most major websites from being accessed here (like Facebook , YouTube, Blogspot, etc.) so it has taken some time to get past those restrictions. A lot more to talk about but that is all for now. So long from Beijing!