Frankfurt - Shanghai - Xi` an

Take-Off Good Friday April, 3rd 2015

On Good Friday the 3^rd April, at a quarter past 12, we met at Frankfurt Airport. 22 Bachelor- and 4 Masterstudents as well as Professor Bopp and Professsor Schellhase with his wife Hellen started for the China Excursion.  

We all were very excited because most of us had never been to China before and we had no idea what to expect there. All flights of the excursion were “China Eastern” airline flights. We boarded the plane to Shanghai at 2p.m. after successful check-in and security checks. Inside the plane everybody had an entertainment system in front of them, where he could follow the flight plan, play video games or watch a Hollywood movie. We had a last contact with our home country in form of “Rindergulasch mit Rotkraut und Kartoffelknödeln”.

Some used the long flight for a nap while others made use of the entertainment system. After an endless 13-hours flight we landed in Shanghai on April 4^th at 8:00 a.m.  At this time it was 2:00 a.m. in Germany and some of us had jetlag.

Xi`an Saturday April, 4th 2015

An overcrowded airport and even stricter security and document checks than in Frankfurt welcomed us to Shanghai. We also realized quickly that we now entered into a communist country because neither Facebook nor Google were available. The Chinese habits of spitting and sneezing at each other in public were quite strange to us.

After a 2-hour stay in Shanghai we took our connection flight to Xi`an. Here we made our first contact with traditional Chinese food in form of pork and rice. The local spices and intensive smells were very different from ours.

Prof. Dr. Zhang, Li teacher of the University of Posts and Telecommunication Xi`an, welcomed us after a successful landing and baggage pick-up. The local temperature in Xi`an was far cooler than in Germany and it rained heavily.

A bus which was to be considered as an old school bus waited for us for the transfer. At the beginning of the journey it became clear to us that China has its very own traffic rules…. But our driver met the requirements perfectly – blowing the horn means “I have priority!”

The run-down streets and houses along our way made the poverty of the country obvious to us for the first time. Regular waste disposal seemed not to exist.

In the afternoon we reached “Xi`an Metro Garden Hotel”. After the distribution of the rooms the rest of the day was free time.

We started to explore Xi`an in different groups. Our group decided to look for a Restaurant because some of us were still very hungry due to the flight meal described above. We found a nice place where we made first contact with a local beer called “Tsing Tao”. Unfortunately we had to communicate with “hands & feet” because people in Xi`an hardly speak English. We decided to order only one meal for the six of us to begin with. At first glance it seemed to be “normal” fried chicken. At second glance we realized that in China animals are served and eaten completely – including head, feet and innards. Some of us could not look at and eat this and limited themselves to liquid food this evening.

Afterwards we found a nice bar close to our hotel and ended the evening with the one and  two drinks.

Impressions first evening, surrounding Garden Hotel: