Leadership and Culture in Asia: The Beginning

We just got to the Capitol Hotel in Beijing. I don’t know if it’s hit me yet that we’re here, ready to experience everything that we’ve been learning about. Right now, I think I am caught up in the newness and excitement of it all. I was so thrilled when we arrived at the airport in Bay City and I was ready to get going. The adrenaline carried over to the flight from Detroit to Beijing. I was caught up in the fact that this was my first international flight, that the plane was huge, that there were so many people and things to take in. When we got to Beijing, our tour guide, Parrol, gave us even more information to consider as we drove to the hotel. We were also busy figuring out rooms and phone numbers and tipping – there was so much arrival and preparation to deal with that I haven’t really thought about the fact that we are in Beijing.

I did manage to stop and observe on the plane, though. I looked out the window when it was bright as day and saw the perpetual sunrise over the snowy Arctic Circle. My photos don’t even begin to do it justice. Although this landscape is not directly related to our upcoming experiences in East Asia, it made me realize how excited I am to simply be immersed in everything that is Asia and is not Michigan. I’m ready to leave everything behind and go on an adventure.