Day 1

               The time finally arrived for us to fly off to China!  We had been waiting and preparing for this trip since the semester started this January.  It was safe to say most of us could not sleep the night before due to so much excitement and anticipation about finally leaving for China. But after all of the preparations and packing we were ready to go!  We were off bright and early to meet in Sioux Falls for our flight leaving at 6:00n am.  When we finally arrived in Denver, CO it was a sprint to our next flight to San Francisco, CA. After landing in San Francisco we had short period to get some food to eat before getting on to our major flight to Beijing for 12 hours. During this 12-hour flight we got to experience some tight quarters, interesting food, and lots of excitement and anticipation. The time officially came and we arrived in China at 2:45 pm their time.

               When we arrived in Beijing, we loaded up on a bus to take us to the hotel that Governor Daugaard was having a reception for Chinese partners interested in business opportunities in SD.  While on the way there, we learned many different little facts about China and Beijing:

               There are over 19 million people in Beijing with only 1/2 million of them foreigners

               There are about 7,000 taxis in Beijing

               To say "very good" in Chinese is "ding ding hao"

        Governor Daugaard and a SD delegation are visiting China in order to promote trade and business opportunities between both China and South Dakota.  It was a great opportunity to meet with business leaders from both South Dakota and China, and also see and listen to what the Chinese people thought of South Dakota.  After an hour at the reception, it was time to get back on the bus for our hotel, and to hopefully a good night’s sleep before our first full day in China tomorrow.