So, I'm here in China now...its about 5 pm local time (4 ish in the morning back home) and things have already been pretty crazy.

First of all, my flight was delayed about an hour and a half due to some small storms in the Chicago area. When we finally took off, some birds were sucked into the engine, and we were forced to return back to O'Hare after two hours of circling over Lake Michigan. Apparently, in order to land, the gas tank of the plane needs to be somewhat empty. We had to dump somewhere around 30,000 gallons of gas into the Lake before landing. Later, after assessing the damage, it turns out that it was a good thing we returned home-- many of the engine blades were badly damaged by the impact of the bird, and it would have been dangerous to fly to China in that condition. So, at O'Hare we were told that the next flight to Shanghai would be at 9 a.m. the next morning. Very frustrated, we all took our complimentary meal vouchers and looked for the nearest shuttle bus to a hotel. After about an hour or so of wandering, we ended up at the Wyndham Hotel...without any of our luggage.

Finally, after our stay at the hotel, we went back to O'Hare in the morning for our flight. We took off without a problem, and landed on time. Shanghai is very humid and rainy. The skies are bright white and everything looks dreary. We rode a bus to East China Normal University and walked to our dorms in the rain.

My dorm is on the tenth floor. It's very cramped and I don't know what I'll do when my roomate moves in next week. I had purchased several adapters so that I could plug my American electronics into the differently-shaped Chinese sockets. However, they don't seem to be fitting quite right, with the exception of one socket I found back behind one of the beds. That will have to suffice for now, while I also try to work out my internet situation....surprise, surprise, its not working.

And, all of this aside, I'm struggling even already..only a few hours after arrival..to understand what is going on. Various employees of the dorm have come to my room, speaking Chinese very quickly and almost confrontationally...and I haven't been successful in communicating so far. Right now, I'm holed up in my room until 5:45 (in 20 minutes or so) when we'll all meet and get dinner. All I want to do is sleep and not think about anything. Six weeks here will be extremely difficult, though I'm not helping myself any by letting it get to me so soon. I have to fight off the anxiousness and the emotions that drive me close to tears and just face the fact that I'm here now and won't be leaving for awhile.