座谈会 = meeting

The study abroad group had the 2nd orientation meeting today; it was the first one for me though. It was great meeting everyone going on the trip! There are 30 (16 males, 14 females) students and 2 professors going. We formed our research and travel-buddy groups today. I'm with my friend Jon and a guy he knew named Renzo. We have to do two research projects before we go; one is on the city of Hangzhou, which we will be visiting, and the other one is on the World Trade Organization. We have a few really long papers to write and two presentations to give to the rest of the class. We start our "classes" on Monday, June 1 and will meet every Monday night until we leave.

We had a few guest speakers today that were really interesting. The first guy, Jim Miller, is a business man from the area that works a lot with Chinese companies. He travels to China often and actually just got back a few weeks ago. He shared some stories from his adventures in China. He talked about the business card etiquette I blogged about before, some of the creepy things the locals do to tourists, and how to negotiate in the markets.

A married couple that studied abroad in China years ago also spoke to us about their time there. The lived in China for a year with their children and worked teaching English to young Chinese locals. He gave us some really useful information about cell phones, internet, electrical outlets, currency exchange, etc. - the stuff people usually forget to think about until the last second. Now I've got a long to-do list to get my cell phone and Macbook ready for use in China. I also have to figure something out about how to use a blow dryer and straightener without causing an explosion because of the different electricity they use... that should be fun, lol.

We also had a Photo Journalism professor speak to us about picture taking techniques and Web 2.0. We are going to be blogging and now Twittering, too, throughout the trip. I am the quasi-blog/Twitter organizer for the whole study abroad group. I'm going to set up a separate Twitter account for the China trip instead of using my personal one because some pretty important people are going to be following it, like Dan Papp - the president of our university.

I'm getting sooo excited about the trip. I have lots to do before I go. And I already have homework (ugh) to do. I have a lot more I want to say about what we talked about at today's meeting... stay posted!

猪感冒 = swine flu

So, we got an email last week from the program director that said this:

"...a severe swine flu in Mexico is growing into a global pandemic. At least one student told me that you had planned to visit Mexico for a short vacation before our China trip. I suggest that you either postpone or cancel your trip to Mexico till after we come back from China. China might quarantine you for at least 15 days (starting the minute you arrive at Beijing) if they find out you have just been to Mexico in the heat of this swine flu."

Now that the swine flu is in the States, recently even here in Georgia, and in today's news confirmed in the metro Atlanta area... who's to say they won't quarantine us all?? I really hope this swine flu stuff dies down soon. There's no way I'm sitting in a Chinese holding facility for two weeks. :(