On to Wuhan!
To be honest, I'm writing this journal in a large part for myself, since this will probably be a year that I won't want to forget! I only mention this because I'm going to try to be as detail-oriented as possible and my entries may be rather long. Okay, enough warning, let's fly to Wuhan!
So, I believe that I fell asleep within ten minutes of getting into bed, and while Lilia and I had set the alarm for 10 am, we both woke up MANY times before that! We all met up downstairs to check out of the hotel at 11:30am and had lunch at the hotel. It was VERY tasty, and while I'm fairly certain that Lory doesn't understand what I mean when I tell him that I don't eat meat, there were a few dishes that just had fish and veggies in it so I was happy! I learned how to say the name of my favorite dish that we ate so that I would be able to ask for it later - but I have no idea what it looks like on a menu, so I'm not so sure how well this will go in the future! Lunch took a while, but we were still at the airport two and a half hours before we needed to board the plane - I think that Lory didn't know what to do with us so he just took us to the airport and told us to "take a rest." :)
To get to the plane we had to take a bus, and my little group were the only non-asian people onboard. The Chinese know what's up, and basically ran and pushed the way to the front of the bus and onto the plane...we didn't know that all of the overhead bin space was going to be gone before we even got on the plane! The people in me row were laughing at me as I tried to find somewhere to stash my two relatively small bags, and eventually the flight attendent took my bag in frustration and stowed it in first class! The rest of my group was holding their backpacks on their laps - makes you wonder how crucial it is to stow carry-ons doesn't it?! The majority of the flight consisted of men - who were all sitting with legs wide apart, and taking up OUR room! The seats were SO close together, and I wish that I could have moved a little more, but it was only a two hour flight, so it wasn't so bad.
We got off the plane, collected our luggage (all there again!) and boarded a bus that was sent from CCNU for us. It took us a little over an hour to get to CCNU and when we arrived everyone was telling us what to do at the same time, so of course, we had no clue what we were supposed to be doing. It was stressful, and just as we pulled all out luggage to the back of the building - where we were told to go - Lory came out and started assigning us apartment! Mine was the first one called- in the first third of the building, the second floor. Let me tell you, getting my 100+ pounds of luggage up that flight of stairs was no small feet, but I somehow managed it in the end! My landlord Shifu - well landlord is a bit strong as I'm not paying a cent to live here...but anyway! Shifu had turned on all my lights and was off illuminating the next apartment before I even got up the stairs!
My apartment is super cute, and VERY large. I promise I will post up pictures soon, I just have to get a lesson on how to do it from Miss Kelly - she's my livejournal guru! Anyhow, I'll tell you about it now, and you can tell me how well I did! From my front door there is a short hall that ends with a door to the left and to the right. If you turn left you would be in what I call my "catch-all" room. It has my t.v., computer(s), MICROWAVE, MINI-FRIDGE, kitchen table, and five chairs in it around the room. It's hard wood floors and it just feel a little too full to me, so I'm thinking I will move my fridge and microwave into the...uh...kitchen! If you go to the right you would be in my bedroom! I have this huge space that hold two beds that are bigger than twin beds but smaller than full beds, a bookcase, tall skinny wardrobe, and bedside table. If you turn right before my beds, there is another doorway that leads to a short hallway with a huge closet, once in the hall, off to the left is my kitchen, and straight through the kitchen is my bathroom. Both are pretty standard, and you'll see them soon!
Anyway, after dropping off our luggage, we went to dinner at a super tasty dumpling restaurent that is right across the street from the gate closest to our apartments. CCNU's campus has four main gates, and we are right up the hill from the east gate. It is not the most threatening hill to look at, but it is very hot out, and it becomes rather threatening rather quickly.... but I digress. Dinner was great, but it confirmed my fears that Lory doesn't understand what a vegetarian is, as he told me that he ordered the "5-Star" dumpling just for me, and it contained ham. Well...you live you learn! We were all super tired from all the travel, so when we got home we all pretty much passed out without exploring the apartments much. Well, I guess Flannery and Andy set up their space pretty well..but the rest of us just unpacked our pj's and hit the sheets! Oh. And I'm happy to report that the air conditioner works just GREAT - to the point of a mid-sleep freeze fest! I woke up at 3:30am again, but I think that will stop happening soon! Anyway, don't worry, the next update will cover more than one day, cause the next three days were pretty lazy! It's about 9:00 pm here and I'm ready to relax for a little while before bed, so I'll write more later!
So, I believe that I fell asleep within ten minutes of getting into bed, and while Lilia and I had set the alarm for 10 am, we both woke up MANY times before that! We all met up downstairs to check out of the hotel at 11:30am and had lunch at the hotel. It was VERY tasty, and while I'm fairly certain that Lory doesn't understand what I mean when I tell him that I don't eat meat, there were a few dishes that just had fish and veggies in it so I was happy! I learned how to say the name of my favorite dish that we ate so that I would be able to ask for it later - but I have no idea what it looks like on a menu, so I'm not so sure how well this will go in the future! Lunch took a while, but we were still at the airport two and a half hours before we needed to board the plane - I think that Lory didn't know what to do with us so he just took us to the airport and told us to "take a rest." :)
To get to the plane we had to take a bus, and my little group were the only non-asian people onboard. The Chinese know what's up, and basically ran and pushed the way to the front of the bus and onto the plane...we didn't know that all of the overhead bin space was going to be gone before we even got on the plane! The people in me row were laughing at me as I tried to find somewhere to stash my two relatively small bags, and eventually the flight attendent took my bag in frustration and stowed it in first class! The rest of my group was holding their backpacks on their laps - makes you wonder how crucial it is to stow carry-ons doesn't it?! The majority of the flight consisted of men - who were all sitting with legs wide apart, and taking up OUR room! The seats were SO close together, and I wish that I could have moved a little more, but it was only a two hour flight, so it wasn't so bad.
We got off the plane, collected our luggage (all there again!) and boarded a bus that was sent from CCNU for us. It took us a little over an hour to get to CCNU and when we arrived everyone was telling us what to do at the same time, so of course, we had no clue what we were supposed to be doing. It was stressful, and just as we pulled all out luggage to the back of the building - where we were told to go - Lory came out and started assigning us apartment! Mine was the first one called- in the first third of the building, the second floor. Let me tell you, getting my 100+ pounds of luggage up that flight of stairs was no small feet, but I somehow managed it in the end! My landlord Shifu - well landlord is a bit strong as I'm not paying a cent to live here...but anyway! Shifu had turned on all my lights and was off illuminating the next apartment before I even got up the stairs!
My apartment is super cute, and VERY large. I promise I will post up pictures soon, I just have to get a lesson on how to do it from Miss Kelly - she's my livejournal guru! Anyhow, I'll tell you about it now, and you can tell me how well I did! From my front door there is a short hall that ends with a door to the left and to the right. If you turn left you would be in what I call my "catch-all" room. It has my t.v., computer(s), MICROWAVE, MINI-FRIDGE, kitchen table, and five chairs in it around the room. It's hard wood floors and it just feel a little too full to me, so I'm thinking I will move my fridge and microwave into the...uh...kitchen! If you go to the right you would be in my bedroom! I have this huge space that hold two beds that are bigger than twin beds but smaller than full beds, a bookcase, tall skinny wardrobe, and bedside table. If you turn right before my beds, there is another doorway that leads to a short hallway with a huge closet, once in the hall, off to the left is my kitchen, and straight through the kitchen is my bathroom. Both are pretty standard, and you'll see them soon!
Anyway, after dropping off our luggage, we went to dinner at a super tasty dumpling restaurent that is right across the street from the gate closest to our apartments. CCNU's campus has four main gates, and we are right up the hill from the east gate. It is not the most threatening hill to look at, but it is very hot out, and it becomes rather threatening rather quickly.... but I digress. Dinner was great, but it confirmed my fears that Lory doesn't understand what a vegetarian is, as he told me that he ordered the "5-Star" dumpling just for me, and it contained ham. Well...you live you learn! We were all super tired from all the travel, so when we got home we all pretty much passed out without exploring the apartments much. Well, I guess Flannery and Andy set up their space pretty well..but the rest of us just unpacked our pj's and hit the sheets! Oh. And I'm happy to report that the air conditioner works just GREAT - to the point of a mid-sleep freeze fest! I woke up at 3:30am again, but I think that will stop happening soon! Anyway, don't worry, the next update will cover more than one day, cause the next three days were pretty lazy! It's about 9:00 pm here and I'm ready to relax for a little while before bed, so I'll write more later!