外国人 (wàiguó rén) - Foreigner

Dinky little plane from Cincinnati to Chicago. Hey-o.

In twenty-four hours of travel, about fifteen hours were spent in flight, no more than six hours were spent asleep, and almost the entirety of the trip was spent being reminded of my status as a foreigner in this country.

Being a Chinese-American in China is really no big deal at all, especially if you go often or know the language. Being a whitewashed American-Born-Chinese, however, makes for an interesting cultural experience/some potential awkwardness/a mild identity crisis. I felt kind of bad for my flight attendant - upon initial contact, she wasn't sure whether to ask me if I wanted a drink in English or Mandarin. I helped her out by promptly asking for an apple juice, please. If that didn't blow my cover, talking to the young Chinese woman sitting next to me on the plane certainly did. She was returning to Beijing after spending some time teaching Chinese to Americans in Nebraska, and so her English was quite good. I gave my two years of Mandarin training a test run - apparently, I really have to work on my first tone...er, and I guess my second, third, and fourth tones, as well. Ruh roh.

After telling my neighbor that I would be studying Chinese and public health at Peking University, she asked why I chose to do so. Cultural reasons, I replied - I want to know more about the country my parents came from, and about my heritage. She seemed to like that a lot. "Sometimes Chinese people forget they are Chinese - they think that they are only American." That gave me something to think about as I munched on my turkey-and-swiss sandwich (she opted for the teriyaki noodles).

 

There are about forty Northwestern students altogether, and upon arrival in Beijing, the Chicago flight group was greeted with these purple Northwestern flags. The Beijing airport was HUGE and beautiful - you can really tell that they spruced things up for the Olympics a few years ago. It's strange seeing so many people who look like me, and yet not being able to identify with them culturally. Again, mild identity crisis.

Soon after arrival, we were whisked away to Peking University's "Global Village," where we'll be staying for the next two months! Pretty excited for the campus tour today - I hear that there's a little lake/pond thing here too, just like at Northwestern...