The Marriot Hotel has the comfiest bed I think I’ve ever slept on, and I’m not sure if that’s because I was really tired, or if it’s just a comfy bed. Never the less, I had a nice sleep. The morning started off at 8 AM with breakfast, and then starting at 9 we went into the first presentation, which happened to be a welcome video from the State Department. There were a few more presentations about rules and expatiations before we had our first break. We got to go outside and play a game where everyone stands in a circle. One person starts off by saying a fact about themselves and then everyone who shares the same fact runs to the center of the circle and tries to switch spots with someone else. The last person to find a spot gets to say the next fact. It was actually a really fun game, but I’m also really unfit so art way through I was ready to eject my lungs. After the game, one of the instructors switched to Chinese which was kind of startling because part of my brain was like: oh hell yeah, you understand this! And the other part of my brain was like: shit what’s happening. Thankfully, I think most people were on the same page as me. We ended up getting into five lines and learned some Tai Chi. While I enjoyed it, I was also moderately confused. Never the less, I got to learn something new. And I guess I should start getting used to hearing only Chinese since that’s the language I’ll be speaking for the next six weeks. Oi what have I done? After our break we had more power point presentations about rules, and then at noon we got to break for lunch. The food at the hotel is also incredible. They had really nice sandwiches and some salad. The cookies and brownies are also a 10/10 would recommend. Even the drink selection was A+. Lunch was followed by another group activity of sorts. We got to split up into our cities and ask our RD some site specific questions we might have while there. For some reason, my group thought it would be a good idea to have our group meeting outside where the humidity was like 80%. I felt bad for all the people who wore jeans that day. Thankfully we were only outside for 30 minutes before we got ushered back into the blissful air conditioning. We had more presentations and more food. We got our program cell phones (which are basically brick phones.) I was hoping that would allow me to put the SIM card we get in China in my phone since it’s unlocked, but they said we are required to use the program SIM card in the program phone. We can however buy our own SIM card to use in our personal phones, but quite frankly, that seems really extra. We also got our tee-shirts, which are extremely comfortable. And the Nanjing and Suzhou people got 10 dollars since we have to be in the lobby by 3:40 AM in order to catch our flight. (And while I wish I could say they were paying us to get up early, the money was actually for breakfast at the airport since we wouldn’t have time to eat at the hotel.) A lot of people debated staying up all night and sleeping on the plane, but I am not about that life. PDO ended around 6 and we were free to do whatever until room check at 9. I went back to my room and took a shower and packed before heading down to a friend’s room. Earlier I said that I’m glad I got into the group chat when I did because I was worried that making friends would be hard with pre-established relationships. I think I was right because the Nanjing group is kind of already split. It’s not like we don’t talk to other people—we do—but I think we’re just a little too loud of the “new” people. We do have one snake (Alex the Mormon :D) who slid into our group and he’s super chill. All of us piled into Jessica’s room and basically sat on top of each other. Everyone’s super chill, and so far, it seems like no one is just a giant stick in the mud.
It’s going to be a solid trip.