orientation, departure preparation

The orientation program started with a little confusion since the living arrangements were changed from Oxford Housing to Mary Markley, but after we met each other and went to dinner at Pizza House this minor inconvenience was soon forgotten. My new roommate Xu and I both decided to go with the medium sized “chicago-style pizza” and were overwhelmed and found ourselves outmatched by the massive entrée; I think we both had a hard time walking back to the dorms. We boxed up our left-overs, but were unable to eat the rest since our desire to have another slice of Pizza House pizza did not come back for a few days. I was particularly pleased when I first found out that Xu would be my roommate because he speaks fluent Mandarin so hopefully in China he can help with my pronunciation, or more accurately serve as a Chinese translator for me.
Our orientation officially began on Monday, May 19 with an introduction from Dr. Coppola about the latest news on our China Visas, which we had still not received word about yet. We were informed that four of us had been given Visas, but that the remaining nine of us (minus Xu since he is already a Chinese citizen with a green card) had our Visas still in the processing phase. This added some tension to whether or not the trip would be underway as expected; however, this occurrence as described by Dr. Coppola is likely an anomaly due to the Beijing Olympics. Later that day we did a group activity session that focused on the message that “one’s process in problem-solving is just as important as the answer”. Although this is not something new, since most classes at U of M stress this same message I believe we all were able to discover something about each other’s personalities.
The next day of our orientation we met with our language instructor who will be accompanying us on the trip for the first two weeks in Beijing. Her name is Liu Nian and she was generous enough to give each of us a Chinese name. The name she gave me was Zhang Ke, which is supposed to be spoken with both words pronounced in the first-tone. Since I have not mastered Chinese tonnage pronunciation yet, others on the trip like to give me grief about my pronunciation of my name, which Tom has told me I pronounce in two subsequent fourth-tones instead of two first-tones. That same day we went to eat at a Chinese restaurant on Main St. where we ordered many different dishes to sample.
The best new of the week was given to us today; China Visas were awarded for all of us! Could not have been a closer call. So tomorrow we leave for China at 3:30pm.
I think what I look forward to the most on this trip is the opportunity to do research with a group in a different country, which is the main reason I applied to the program in the first place. I am also looking forward to the culture and seeing the Great Wall and the Terracotta. The only real anxiety I feel about the trip is not speaking the language well, but I will count on Xu to help me in this respect.