Day 5: Beijing

Isaiah Richardson, Fayetteville, NC

August 7, 2008

I feel a lot better after getting some rest last night. I did not sleep much on the train ride. Today we have a morning lecture on the history of the doctrines. After a small break the lecture was more interesting because we asked questions. The translator, Professor Bo Hu, was the producer for the opening and closing Olympic ceremonies. It was very cool that he took time to spend with us. Not many college students can say they took a class in China. I am enjoying the experience very much. The lecturer was a former professor of our tour guide Jenny.

Next we headed to the Beijing Museum to learn more about Chinese culture. I wanted to find something for my paper on Chinese althete development. The museum was very nice and had five floors with two different sides.

Back at the hotel we decided to eat at Big Pizza down the street. China does not have many places with air conditioning. The Chinese people have been very nice to us. We took pictures with them and I gave them a deck of playing cards as a gift. Long day tomorrow...

Kelly Hargis, Madisonville/Alvaton, KY

Emily and I woke up at 5:45am because Brian Soverns' mom called the wrong room. We got up at 6:15am and the two of us plus Kristen Howard started on a run. We found a track where many people were running, walking, lifting, and doing taichi. It was very hard to run in the humidity. The shower felt very good.

Breakfast was interesting. We had a small omlette, rice, cereal, fruit, and coffee. Today we have a lecture and going to a museum. The lecture was by Professor Wu Guanyean. He talked about Confucious, Menius, and other Chinese cultural figures. The translator was Professor Bo Hu and is a graduate of NYU film school.

I am so happy to be here and keep smiling. It is awesome how we are being accepted. This feeling of being a minority is new. The museum was so large. We only had one hour because our faculty had a dinner with administrators from the Capital Institute.

Dinner was a very interesting trip. We found a bakery and I bought two items for breakfast. We ate dinner at Big Pizza. I ate with Drew, Kristen, and Emily. The food was good. Emily and I had girl talk time. We were all very tired and went to bed early.