The first full day started with a quick, simple breakfast in the UIBE multipurpose room (AKA, the basement of the International Student Center, building #6), followed by a “Welcome Session” in a large classroom in the Ningyuan building on campus, where TBC offices and the library are located. Together, they take up only about half of a floor there, but mind you, like most buildings here on campus, the Ningyuan building is quite enormous, to say the very least.

Anyway, during this roughly two-hour orientation session, we were treated with a welcome from Fr. Ron Anton,, SJ, head of the program, a welcome from a member of the UIBE administration (given to us with the help of a translator), an introduction of TBC staff, and then brief introductions of all the students enrolled in the program for the semester. Afterwards, Fr. Anton gave us a brief overview of the orientation program that was to follow for the next several days, and then it was on to other business (and a change of scenery as well).

We all then went down to TBC offices a floor below to a room where we received $50 worth of Chinese currency (in exchange room cash from us) a meal card that allows us to eat in the student cafeteria on campus, a keycard for TBC study lounge in the international student center, bulding #6, an then finally, we all had the opportunity to meet our host students face-to-face for the very first time.  

As it turned out, another TBC-er, a Fordham junior named Bridget and I, are sharing a host student, a finance major from Hebei province who prefers to go by her chosen English name of JJ. And of course, I failed entirely to bring my camera with me that day, so as of now, no photos of her (sorry, will get those later!) Anyhow, JJ so far has proven to not only be extremely helpful, but also enormously nice as well (and her English skills are top-notch as well, in my opinion at least.) After telling us a little about herself, such as the fact that she worked as a volunteer for the Beijing Olympics (followed by an invite to the Olympic Village at a later date), off we went for a tour of her "small" university, and of the general area outside the university gates. 

Lunch at the small restaurant in UIBE was good, if mostly unidentifiable. Much of it is very spicy, and although delicious, like I said as of now most of what I'm eating is still a total mystery to me... which didn't keep me from taking the leftovers back to my room in the International Students Center, building #6. After lunch, we went on a brief tour of the neighborhood, specifically to places we'd probably need to use later on, such as the post office, a nearby ATM machine, and a local electronics store down the street, where JJ offered to help us purchase cell phones to use while we're here. Thank goodness for her kind offer, because after seeing her talking with the sales officials there, I've concluded that I wouldn't have been able to accomplish squat with the severely limited Mandarin that I know. So in the end, I left the store with a cheap little Nokia phone (299 yuan, or a little over forty dollars) and a set number of yuan I can use to make phonecalls (one yuan for five minutes domestic, two point five yuan for one minute international.... so to contact everyone back home, I think I'll stick with Skype, e-mail and AIM, if that's all right. I already used up a phone card in about five minutes calling my mother the day before to let her know I was all right.) 

After that little adventure, we parted ways once we returned to campus, and things were pretty low-key until I went out with a group for dinner, where I had my first taste of Peking duck, along with another myriad of dishes which I can't identify at all, except for the dumplings and noodles. Like most meals I've had here though, the overwhelming majority of dishes I've enjoyed here are total mysteries to me. 

That more or less was all the big events of the day, with not much more to report, as once again I crashed early in the night due to the lingering after-affects of the immense time difference. Sorry for the lack of photos, I'll have plenty for the next entry, for that's when we all took a day excursion to the one place that probably pops up in everyone's mind at the very mention of the name China .... the one and only Great Wall.