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As I walked outside the gates of the Beijing airport, I was startled by a bus coming straight at me at full speed. The traffic standards here have definitely been a shock for me, as cars have seemingly replaced brakes with horns and it appears as if cars, not pedestrians, have the right of way. I was also not expecting so many cars because I thought that bicycles were more common. It seems that over the past few years, however, many people have switched over to cars.

I met my first language barrier as I was trying to get to the university. To travel there, I was supposed to hand my taxi driver written directions. Unfortunately for both me and my taxi driver, I could not read, let alone speak, barely any Chinese and he apparently did not know how to read completely. Luckily we made some hand gestures (while he was driving and honking at every car that kept swerving in and out of the “lanes”) and I arrived safely at the spaceship-like college. The accommodations here are much more luxurious than I expected–I feel like I am living in a hotel, as our fuwuyuans clean our rooms every day.

Although it can be difficult at times to get around because I have barely any Chinese under my belt and I can only understand bits and pieces of what people are asking me, it has been a very enlightening experience so far. It is sometimes very difficult because people look at me and assume that I should be able to speak Chinese, and instead, I must defer them to my Western-looking classmates who have taken much more Chinese than I have. I have been made fun of a few times because of this, however the whole experience has made me appreciate the diversity of language and also made me realize how difficult it can be for many international students in the US. But, just from the past few days, I have bonded well with my Western classmates as we try to fumble our way around getting food and buying essentials.

My Chinese roommate just arrived last night and we all went out to eat Peking duck–which is, of course, much more authentic in Beijing! I was surprised at how much English she knew, since Chinese students are required to learn English from a young age. I was embarrassed that she could converse so well with me in English and yet I struggled to even say a few sentences in Chinese–often replacing Chinese words with their English counterparts.

However, one of the most exciting parts of my trip so far was the scavenger hunt which we completed today. We were handed a list of information and objects that we were supposed to collect all around Beijing. We visited Tiananmen Square and the outside of the Forbidden City. We also walked around a very famous shopping strip called Wang Fu Jing. It was great to get to know the city, hopping on buses and subway trains, as well as bond with our Chinese roommates. I look forward to classes starting on Monday and really beginning to learn some more Chinese so that I can converse better with my roommate and with the local people.