My wonderful journey to Taizhou University!

This June, I was lucky enough to be offered a spot to go on a travel-study program with JSU. This program would lead me all the way across the world, I knew. But something else happened on this trip. This program lead me to more than just a few credit hours- I gained the ability to digest anything (even tiny bones!) incredible experiences, mad chopstick skills, a bit of culture shock, information on how to save someone who's having a heat stroke, but most importantly, I gained international, lasting friendships. I never thought I could end up so close to so many people, so different from myself, in such a short amount of time. But, the students at Taizhou University in the eastern part of China proved that I could. 

When we finally arrived in China, after a 24+ hour travel day, everyone was incredibly excited to get in bed. This night, we stayed in a hotel right next to the airport in Shanghai. We arrived pretty late in the evening, and Trent and I were thirsty. Because it was so late, all the restaurants in the hotel were closed. So, we were forced to buy water at the bar. Two 16oz bottles of Evian and 76 RMB later, we realized we were seriously ripped off. So, after that disappointment, it was bed time.

The next morning, we got up ready for breakfast. Our first meal in China was on a buffet on the hotel's bottom floor. Feeling adventurous, I tried several things that I've never had- and also some that I was familiar with. Now I know, though, that baked beans, hashbrowns, bacon and Tobasco sauce are definitely not common breakfast food in China. 

After breakfast, we waited on the bus to take us to Taizhou. The 5 hour bus ride featured TV with Chinese karaoke videos, 3 rest area stops, and a wonderful host, Megan. The first rest area stop was... interesting. Open air bathrooms with squatty potties. After that short break, we stopped at the second. This one definitely interested us JSU students because the architecture of the rest area was built like a pagoda. All of the local Chinese people probably laughed under their breath at the foreigners who were so excited to take pictures of a rest stop, and all of the products we thought were strange. But hey! We had never seen a dried pig leg packaged  to sell at a  rest area before.

After a final stop for dinner, we finally made it to Taizhou University.

When we arrived, the Chinese students that would be our partners or "co-students" for the duration of our trip met us at the door of the on-campus hotel where we would stay and helped us with our luggage. After we met everyone, Greg insisted that we go somewhere, so the Chinese students took us to a restaurant that was a few blocks down the road from our hotel. We walked through the little shop and ended up upstairs where there was room for all of us. The room featured bright pink wallpaper and an AC unit, which we learned to become quite grateful for. Here we all sampled several teas- black tea with rose, oolong tea, and my personal favorite- pomelo. 

After that, we decided to go back to the hotel and retire for the night.