After about 28 hours of traveling and one of the most beautiful rides I have ever taken on a highway, we have finally made it to the Far East in the city of Shanghai.

It seems like the moment we entered our hotel rooms we passed out from exhaustion. Amazingly, we all woke up bright and early in the morning to sit down for our first Chinese breakfast, and it was just what we needed. There were no forks, no knives, and no coffee. We had a lovely Dim Sum breakfast, which included my new favorite food item; the Dim Sum dumpling (with a sausage like meat). The meal gave me a great amount of confidence in the group because we had no problem making and eating our meal. I think we did a good job fitting in with our fellow Chinese guests.

We have taken a walk around some nearby neighborhoods and have already interacted with some of the local people.

As I am writing this I am sitting in a canteen enjoying a cappuccino smoothie from HollySong (which is delicious and costs less than an American dollar). I have to admit; I do not feel as if I am in a whole different part of the world. So much is different here and yet so much is very similar (American celebrities are all over the billboards). On an internal level, I’m curious to see how much we are going to change as people the more we interact with others with vastly different values than us.