Here comes the sun...do do do do do.

July 14, 2010
What a weird day. So much of it “technically” consisted of travel because we were in the air most of the day. I’m not really sure of where to start documenting, since we traveled throughout the night. Haha. I guess the day really started in Dubai, which is actually a really cool place. Technically we only were in the airport, but I’d go back for the airport! Actually, when we were flying in, I had a window seat and I’m pretty sure that I saw the (now) tallest building in the world. Crazy cooleness! Anyway, we got the airport and realized…man this is a cool place! Haha. They even have a Cosi and a Burger King...and a prayer room (they actually seem to be pretty popular for airports in this part of the world) And, the transfer rate between their currency and the dollar is really pretty good. I got a bottle of water for about 30 cents. Yes! Anyway, we landed and got ready for class. Class on a layover! But it actually was really good. We discussed one of our Harvard cases that revolved around a clothing company. (We actually are going to have a business visit with the clothing company later this week. Random thought, the toilets there were pretty cool. I don’t know why, but seeing the different toilets throughout the world is really interesting (granted, its an airport), but still. So, with that being said, these toilets have tobe documented! Gotta love the toilet pictures.
We went around and ate (Cosi and BK) and bought a few things here and there. It really was pretty good and I wouldn’t have minded staying there a bit longer. But alas, our 4 AM plane departure time came and we had to go. We were missing one member of the group, but he showed up at the last (or so haha) minute and we all were on the plane. Keeping 20+ people together is really kind of rough sometimes! Haha. When we got our boarding passes and information in Milan, I was the last person in line and so as weird as it is, I only got a ticket for the flight from Milan to Dubai, and I was placed on standby for the flight from Dubai. So, I ended up being placed in an area all by myself. I wasn’t paying attention and I went too far. When I realized that my row was way ahead of where I was, I started back and started getting really excited because I was getting closer and closer to first class. Could it be that I was bumped into first class?! I looked at the row numbers and I had a long way to go number wise, but not a very long way distance wise. I moved closer and closer to the front of the section and….I WAS almost IN FIRST CLASS! Haha. I was the row right behind the first class cabin. Dangit! So close! Some day…
It was another Emirates flight on a Boeing 777 and boy..it was NICE. I could flight like that anytime. I didn’t have a ton of legroom because I was the first row in the section. The Emirates line brings you a warm towel to clean up with before the flight starts, which is actually really nice. And, the coolest part was that we had a ROCKIN entertainment system. You have about 3000 hours of music to listen to, about 50 hours of the world cup (which had just ended), as well as about 100+ movies in different languages to watch…a lot of which were pretty darn new. And, you can start, stop, rewind, start over and whatever else during the entire flight. I started with the film Broken Hill, which is like August Rush, but in Austrailia or New Zealand or something. Pretty good. Then, The Ghost Writer, which I mostly slept through (not because it wasn’t good, but because I was tired…at least that’s what I tell myself haha..) in Rome (hilarious) and selections from the Princess and the Frog (gotta love that music!).

I think the coolest thing about it all was that while everyone else was asleep, I opened up the window and could almost see the curvature of the earth, but more importantly I could see the sun rising. Realize, that this is around 4 AM for me, haha but it was still really beautiful.
We had a good breakfast…more croissants (I actually was starting to get kind of tired of them…surprising I know) and a super teeny bowl of fruit. I was very surprised at how small the bowl was…I think it had 4 pieces of fruit in it. Like…four small chunks. Nice. Haha. Yet, still good.
7 hours after leaving dubai, we had jumped ahead another 4 hours and made it into China around 3 PM. I was in front of everyone so I went to the top of the escalator and waited…and waited….and waited when I realized that the group was probably waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs. So, I walked back into the arrival area and looked down..and there they were. One of the guys saw me and said, “haha there he is”. Yup. So, they all came up and we went through Customs. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, though they kept asking me about my boarding pass and I couldn’t remember where I put it. But they stamped my passport! I was sure excited. Yes! We jumped on a short train to get to the exit area and then saw a sign of awesomeness…”BYU Marriott School.” It was our Bus driver and crew. Super cool. We got all set up with the bus and headed to the hotel. The trip was only about 30-45 minutes, but that was mostly because of traffic. Seeing Beijing as we drove in was really cool. We checked into the hotel and I was in a group of three for this go around, which was actually pretty cool. And, I have to say…this hotel ROCKS. They tell us it is a 5 star, and I can pretty much believe it. They even had ice already in the bucket for us when we got there (ICE!), real A/C, robes, a nice bathroom, comfortable beds (well, the pull out beds which is what I was on were okay) and a great view of the city below.
We met as a group and then braved the insanely crowded subway system (I’ll try and get a picture on here later…seriously crazy…more details later) and went to Tiananmen Square. As usual, it was much different than I thought it would be. They had these HUGE tv screens in there (I assume from the olympics) and they had videos playing, probably related to the world expo in Shanghai going on right now. They had to be at least 30 or 40 feet long and probably 10 feet high. Nuts. The square scoots right up next to their equivalent of the capitol building, where the politicians meet. Mao’s tomb thing is in the center of the square. I guess he wanted a square where all the people in china could gather (he’d need a much bigger square..but its still super big). We walked around the whole square, watched a flag lowering ceremony (quite interesting) and then the police/military force kicked everyone out of the square after the ceremony (probably around 8 pm.) Interesting evening. We jumped back on the subway and went back to the hotel. A few of us were really hungry as we hadn’t eaten for the majority of the day so we explored the area and found a McDonalds (thank goodness!) But, we didn’t eat there haha. We went to this Yokiyama or something place that served fast food Japanese style. It was mostly rice, and then beef or chicken and veggies. I got the chicken and veggies and it really hit the spot. Plus, I got practice eating with chopsticks. Yes! We of course had to stop at McDonalds after and get some ice cream…especially when you can get a fudge sundae and an ice cream cone for about $1.00 US. Man, I love china. Haha.
Bedtime. And it is good.