Hello from Guangzhou!

Hello all!

I'm writing this on Sunday at 6:30 PM China time.  Back home in Indianapolis, it's 5:30 AM Sunday.  I feel jet lag creeping in.  My body is so confused right now, it doesn't know what to think!

Getting to Guangzhou wasn't too horrible.  I flew from Indy to Detroit (40 mins) with a three hour layover.  Next, I hopped on a 777 to Beijing.  That flight was a ridiculous 13 hours!  Luckily, I snagged an emergency exit row seat and had plenty of leg room, plus a handy flip-out TV.  There are only so many movies you can watch, though.  I attempted to sleep with the help of Nyquil, but only snagged about 2 hours.  We were served 2 attempts at "meals."  Finally, we landed in Beijing.

 
My time at the airport in Beijing was CRAZY.  First, we disembarked from airplane.  We then had to wait for our luggage.  After grabbing my checked suitcase, I had to pass through immigration and then customs.  Think long lines everywhere!  I successfully made it through both of those and then had to recheck my bag for my domestic transfer.  They printed me a new boarding pass while I attemped to figure out where the hell my gate was.  I ended up walking to Terminal 2... which was the wrong terminal and a 15 minute walk from Terminal 1.  I realized my mistake and jogged back to Terminal 1 where I then had to go through airport security.  Security was insane.  I had to try and understand the Chinese policeman about taking out my laptop, tablet, contact solution, and umbrella for them to check.  My layover was only two hours, so at this point I was sweating like a madwoman and freaking out that I was going to miss my flight to Guangzhou.  After security, I jogged through the aiport to get to my gate at the end.  I MADE IT with barely any time to spare.  I was so exhausted that I slept the entire 2.5 hours to Guangzhou.  Small world: my seatmate during that flight was from Michigan!

After arriving in Guangzhou, I waited what seemed like forever for my checked bag.  I was almost in tears at this point, because I thought they had lost it, and I had no idea how I was going to deal with that.  I was never so happy to see a bright pink suitcase in my life.  I walked out of the baggage area to see 2 students from Sun Yet-Sen University (SYSU) holding a sign with my name.  We hopped in a waiting car and drove to the university.

Chinese drivers are the worst drivers ever.  Pretty sure there are no rules of the road here.

SYSU is gated and there are security people everywhere.  Everything seems extremely safe and the students have been so welcoming.  When I was told I would be staying in a dorm room, I pictured an American dorm.

HAHAHAHAHA.

Dorm rooms in America are hotel rooms compared to my room.  They typically fit 6 people in each one of these rooms.  I have one to myself.  There are bunkbeds with a mattress about 2 inches thick.  There's no heat and today it was down-pouring and about 40 degrees, so I'm writing this wrapped in a blanket.  I'm only allowed to shower with hot water between 6-11 PM and am restricted to 50L of water per week.  I have a shower card that regulates the hot water.  I'm glad I brought body wipes and dry shampoo.

And yes, the only toilet is a porcelain hole.  The "squatty potty."

Culture shock here is fairly intense.  Granted, one of the reasons I decided to do this rotation was to get out of my comfort zone.  Mission accomplished!  Thank goodness the students are so kind and helpful, really going out of their way for myself and the other IU student who is here.  Hopefully I'll have some pictures to post soon.  Tomorrow morning I start my rotation at the hospital.  I'll keep everyone updated!

I had some issues with my phone when I arrived, but now I have Wifi and a Chinese SIM card in my phone.  My WeChat and Viber are both working.  I miss everyone back home, especially my hubby and puppies.

Until next time,
jessica.eae