Today was the start of our two-week Plus 3 trip to China. It began with the arrival at JFK International airport. I must say that the airport was not as nice as I thought it would be. Considering how famous the airport is, I was expecting a much nicer sight for the eyes. The trip began with a nice two-hour delay on the runway (which is not wanted before a 13.5 hour flight). Overall, I thought that the flight was very enjoyable. I had time to do a little bit of everything. I began to read The Da Vinci code, watched Superbad, slept, ate and still had more time to do whatever I wanted. It seemed like a never-ending flight. I sat near Matt, Mary, and Emma, which also made the flight more enjoyable because I got to know the people I was going to spend the next couple of weeks with. At one point during the flight, we got up and walked around to stretch out our legs when we ran into another American. We had a very interesting conversation with him. He had been in China before for school and he had some very good advice to give us in order to make our stay in China more enjoyable. I think this can be applied to the business world in the sense that if you are going into a new environment, it can be helpful to talk to somebody with experience to try and help you adapt to the changes. The more knowledge you have to adapt to the change in environment, the quicker you can adapt and the more successful the experience will be.
We finally landed in Beijing a full hour after the scheduled arrival. The first thing I noticed was the enormity of the airport. There were several levels to the terminal and the entire outside was made of glass. Once you got into the terminal, it was wide open allowing you to see from one end to the other. The ceiling was uniquely designed as well with panels to cover up the yellow steel that lay behind it. After leaving the airport, it was neat to see road sign in Chinese characters. When we arrived, it was already dark out making it hard to get a good impression as to what Beijing is really like. The streets and sidewalks were somewhat deserted. I found it interesting that they ride bicycles at night with no lights on them. The hotel is very nice as well. There is a neat entrance leading up to it where I sort of felt like I was entering Jurassic Park as we entered beneath a neat looking sign. After checking in and getting settled in our room, we had our first experience in a real Chinese restaurant. It was very different. We had the group helpers explain what a lot of the food was because we had no idea what the names meant. At least there were pictures on the menu. After the long process, we finally picked our food, which was very good. My favorite was this milk bread in the shape of an egg. It was filled with a cream that could have been lemon flavored (I’m not really sure). We also had porridge, which was surprising good as well. Overall it was a good first day.