Jeff Barnwell: China Eve
So the eve of our departure has finally
arrived. All our bags are packed
(hopefully), and all we really have to do is wait until the morning arrives. I don’t know if I’ll be able to sleep at all; it’s
the excited, nervous, anticipation that usually makes it hard for me to do so
the night before something amazing. It
is almost like Christmas!
Questions race throughout our
minds. Who will be become lifelong
friends? What experiences will push us
outside of our comfort zone and allow us to grow? What wild new food will we eat? What is the spiciest thing that we’ll be
served, and who will have the best tolerance to it? Will anyone become sick (stay optimistic)? Who are the new and exciting people we’re
going to meet, what will we learn from them and what will they teach us? How will we deal with conflicts in the group and
emerge stronger; or will the WOLF PACK not have them because we
are too awesome? How is the language
barrier going to be for us non-Chinese speakers? What will we be able to come home and tell
our families? How will the flight over
be (I hope to sleep the entire way)? Will anyone run into any trouble (I’m
gunna place my money on Gonzo)?
We’ve already learned so much from many
different speakers. On Friday we visited
Neptune Terminals. I have always wanted
to visit a port, so this was a bit of a dream come true for me. We were shown a pile of potash that was valued
at over 350 million dollars! I don’t
think that I have ever seen anything so valuable, and likely won’t see something
of such value again (well, at least until we go to the port in China!). It was also very fun to dress up like the “Village
People.” It was nice to learn that a
company that you would not generally consider as caring about the environment
is actually working very hard at reducing their environmental impact. They are doing this by increasing efficiency
in many of their processes such as: using fully electric locomotives, and
increasing the number of cars that trains carry. We all look foreword to meeting up with Tony Nardi, Vice President, Logistics and Community of Neptune Terminals in China. Hopefully we can split a few pi jios with
him!
It has been along road to get to this point – with papers, tests and classes
all on top of a grueling finals schedule. But we are finally here, and now all we have
to do is get to the airport on time. All
we can hope is to be upgraded to First Class by the generosity of Capilano
University.
wishing you all safe travels and wonderful adventures
ReplyDelete