My 44-hour journey from Knoxville, TN to Zhengzhou, China was exhausting, but fairly easy and uneventful. During the 16-hour flight from JFK to Guangzhou, I had trouble sleeping due to anticipation of what was to come, which led to a migraine. The process to go through immigrations and customs was almost identical to that in the United States when arriving in Guangzhou. After a two-hour delay, I finally boarded my flight to Zhengzhou!

The flight seemed to take forever! Once I arrived and got my luggage, Shao and Dr. Liang Wang picked me up from the airport. They took me out to a traditional Chinese dinner which, unfortunately, did not go so well for me. Everything looked and smelled delicious, but I was so exhausted from traveling that I could not stomach any food. Luckily, they found a nice hotel room for me to relax at for the night. I am extremely grateful for all Shao and Dr. Wang do to make me feel comfortable in their home country. I am incredibly blessed to be given this opportunity and for all of the support I am receiving. Looking forward to the next two months!