凤凰国际

Day One: Phoenix- Dallas-Hong Kong-Chengdu/Dujiangyan

Maya: I am so excited. Thank you for everything you have both done.

We all met at the Phoenix International Airport at 3:30 in the morning and of course no one could sleep the night before. We wore our Phoenix International blue t-shirts which was important because it seemed to give us special treatment. We checked our bags all the way through to Chengdu and we went to the gate. Mrs. Kolodin reminded us that we could not call the adults by their first names because everything is more formal in China.

The flight was very long and everyone was so tired but the excitement kept us going.

Royal: The plane ride was tiring, by the time we arrived in Chengdu, we were exhausted. Word of advice: SLEEP ON THE PLANE. When I first arrived in China, I immediately noticed how clean the airport and the streets were. However, the weather is extremely humid.

McKenna: Getting up this morning was a little tough after about 30 hours of traveling, but the plans for the day and the culture shock of arriving at the beautiful city of Dujiangyan quickly woke me up.

Maya: Getting onto the first plane in Dallas to Hong Kong and seeing the seat that I would be sitting in for the next 17+ hours, was a little frightening. I was sitting next to random people before one lady kindly offered to swap seats with me so Nichole could sit by me.  The first two hours went by very quickly as Nichole and I talked and ate. After a few more long hours, I began watching movies. Some of the movies I watched were; The Neighbors, The Martian, and Django. We ate pork, yogurt, granola bars, rice and chocolate mousse on the plane. After arriving in Hong Kong, we quickly boarded another flight to Chengdu. The flight was approximately three hours long but I do not remember any of it because I slept the entire time. I remember thinking that I should be more tired than I am. Deplaning in Chengdu, I remember that everything had a different smell to it compared to the United States. I also noticed that people stare at a group of people wearing light blue shirts.

Settling into the hotel was an easy process and the hotel rooms were very nice. I noticed that in the hotel bathroom, the door could be used either for the shower or the bathroom itself but not both at the same time, very strange.