Dear America (and other interested parties),

So far, China is great. It's been a crazy few days, but I'm no longer worried that I'm going to feel homesick (yes, for me, it's more of an encroaching feeling than a sudden realization). The plane ride actually went by pretty fast, and it was an easier plane ride than when I went to Korea earlier this year. Continental Airlines had about 400 movies to pick from, so I got to enjoy starting one and then realizing there was something better to watch. This process occurred about 20 times. I tried to watch Dr. Strangelove, but a movie about several Cold War-era US Soldiers headed to their inevitable death in Russia just didn't sit well with me. Speaking of Russia, I'm pretty sure we arched over on the way from Newark to Beijing. I saw the sun coming up over the Arctic Circle, and I actually paused It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia to take it all in. It was pretty, and I felt like a stupid girl. However, the most entertaining part of the flight was when I pulled out my Chinese textbook from school to bone up, as they say, and the middle aged man sitting next to me started laughing and pulled out the same book. The least entertaining part of the flight was shortly after this when I bit down hard on my tongue instead of my gum. The right part of my tongue is still swollen, and I'm currently using this as an excuse for my inability to produce tonally correct Chinese speech.

Fighting jetlag is no fun, but it's comforting in a childish way to fall asleep before 9 every night. Me and Tom (who also goes to SLU) have a pact to stay up until at least 11 tonight so we can eventually get the right sleep cycle again.

Beijing is an industrialist's wet dream, and the urbanist inside me enjoys the towering buildings at every turn and the green spaces added as an after thought. However, the human being in me doesn't enjoy the smog so much. It smells like a campfire all the time and I constantly have to sneeze.

Today I woke up at 8 AM and talked with my roommate, Nazar, about how our toilet was clogged. Then I took a shower and went to the bakery down the street for breakfast. I bought a cellphone with the assistance of a Chinese host student, many of whom decided to stick around campus after finals to help us out. After buying a cell phone, we went to a kiosk on campus to buy a sim card and pick out our number, during which I learned that the Chinese are willing to pay more for numbers that are "lucky." I am now sure that any catastrophes that occur to me for the rest of my life are simply because my cell phone number had too many 4's and 6's in it.

Later, the entire group went to Tiananmen Square, which was surprisingly tankless (I hope I can say that). It's the largest public square in the world, and is packed with tour guides offering their services to wayward foreigners and street vendors selling Coca Cola. The irony of a miniature free market bazaar under the watchful eyes of Chairman Mao himself seems to be lost, but then, I don't really even know what irony is. We saw some other place with some drums, which was cool I guess, and then went to this huge shopping area with a skating rink. That was fun. I saw my first Starbucks, and could read every Chinese character. It was really exciting, and the first time that had happened.

Well, it's past 9, and I'm starting to get sleepy, so I'll go find some caffeine or something. I promise to be more funny later.

Hope the Dow went up today,

Luke.