Written by Elissa Goldman

Today was our first full day in Chengdu, China.  We woke up this morning to devour a satisfying breakfast buffet.  The Chinese students who have joined our group showed us where the canteen was, where we ate.  Breakfast consisted of “dinner-like” foods that are typically eaten in the U.S., including vegetables, pasta, orange/mango flavored juice whose taste resembled that of tang.  Upon completion of breakfast, we embarked on a tour through the campus.  Our first stop was meeting the “big cahunas” of the pack, in front of the White House.  This was our first group picture of the day.

We then walked to the gymnasium where we were able to watch young, talented athletes presenting their dances and routines.  Everyone from our group was so impressed! We saw three different “groups” perform: the first was a class of various aged, co-ed students who performed mostly routines with tai chi, swords, and other forms of dancing.  After we were lucky enough to experience this once and a lifetime chance, we headed to the Affiliated Hospital.  When you first enter the hospital, there is a place set up for Chinese medicine, where a woman was preparing herbs.  If you kept walking, you would come to where the western medicine is located.  We visited various rooms, which included an exercise physiology room, a bone density room, and several others.

Nick told us that we will understand why our group bought shot glasses for the professionals here after lunch.  He was certainly not lying, they surely can manage their alcohol!  Lunch was “family style,” where we sat in two different circle tables with a “lazy susan” type device in the center which spun around with the food. There were over ten dishes served, with continuous re-filling of everyone’s glasses.  Following this ten-course meal, we headed to the Panda Reserve.

After about an hour tour through Chengdu city, we arrived at the Chengdu Panda Center.  We unfortunately did not run into many pandas during our visit.  We did, however, get to visit the gift shop, see red pandas, and watch an informative video about pandas. 

When we got back, we headed to dinner.  Dinner consisted of turtles, broccoli, and the usual pasta with vegetables.  Surprisingly, nobody attempted to try the turtle stew.  Following the delectable dinner, we prepared for our show.  Throughout the afternoon we were all in debate about whether just to do the Ithaca almamateur or to demonstrate some of America’s well known dances: the macarena, cotton-eyed joe, and the cha cha slide.  Everyone from the university thoroughly enjoyed our performance.  After the performance, we all headed back to our rooms and got some much needed sleep.