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The SC Delegation travels to Wuhan

This morning we had an early wake up call to depart Sun Yat-Sen University at 6:45 for the Guangzhou airport. Our stay was very special, Mr. Jay is an excellent host and a great friend, thanks Jay! We arrived at the airport at about 7:45 to begin checking in as a group. Luckily we planned to arrive early since the system of domestic flying in China is somewhat different from in the U.S.

We were all very surprised to find out that we were allowed to check two bags with a TOTAL of less than 20 kg (44 lbs). In the U.S. you can also check two bags, but each must be under 50 lbs. We had all planned for according to our knowledge of traveling in the U.S., in which case several of us have two bags with one weighing nearly 50 lbs. When we read the rules, we had to make some quick changes. In addition to the luggage we packed for the trip, we have all done some shopping and been given a number of gifts, so we have a lot of stuff! We threw out any unnecessary contents and proceeded to check in. Then came the next curve ball: you are only allowed to carry on one bag (in the U.S. it can be two), and that could be a maximum of 5 kg (11 lbs). Back to the drawing board. Oh, and by the way, NO liquids are allowed either! The creative minds of the SC delegation were hard at work early this morning. They checked us in, and by the 18th person (21 in group), we had exceeded our weight limit. Luckily there was only a small charge so we were ok. The way they do a group check in is to calculate the total weight the group is allowed, rather than evaluating each individual’s baggage. A weird system since this doesn’t give the 19th-21st person too much opportunity to help the cause.

Travel from Wuhan airportAt any rate, we left for the gate and made our boarding time by 5 minutes. The flight was fine, about an hour and a half. After claiming our baggage we met the shuttle and were off to the Wuhan Institute of Physical Education. The drive was about 1 ½ hours making our door-to-door travel about 6 hours. During the drive we crossed over the Yhang Zi river (sorry if my spelling is incorrect), which is the longest river in China and one of the longest rivers in the world.

group under SC signOnce we arrived at the Wuhan Institute of Physical Education we checked in at the hotel and headed down for a nice lunch which consisted of beef ribs, lotus roots, Chinese cucumbers, rabbit, bread, and cabbage. After lunch we prepared for a tour of the campus. There were two large banners posted on campus reading “Warm welcome to the delegation from Springfield College”. This was a very nice gesture that made us all feel welcome.

The campus here is under major construction as they prepare to celebrate their 55th anniversary. The facilities resemble SC in that there are many gymnasiums which were all filled with athletes having their daily practice. Sports in session were wrestling, kung fu, basketball, soccer, and gymnastics. The wrestling team was in the middle of a weight training session, which was of major interest to our students.

Wuhan IPE facilitiesEditorial note: along the way in this journal I am thinking of details that I may have left out. One is that half of our students are Athletic Training majors, with the other half majoring in Applied Exercise Science. Furthermore we have several athletes in the group, so there was a lot of interest in the sports scene here.

After the tour we entered a large meeting room where we were greeted by 57 students from Wuhan Institute of Physical Education. We were seated in the middle of the room surrounded by their students. One of their students gave a brief description of their University, followed by an introduction of all of our students and a brief description of our College by one of our students. We then broke off into small groups to talk about cultural differences which we all found fascinating. One note was that the full cost of a year of College here is about $900!

meeting Wuhan studentsThe conversations had to be cut off for the sake of time. The session finished by a dance presentation by some of the Wuhan Institute of Physical Education students.

The weather here is very hot and humid, and none of us are acclimatized yet, so we were all quite warm during the afternoon. After the tour we prepared for dinner. Dinner was with the President and Vice President of the Wuhan Institute of Physical Education. Wuhan dancingWe had a nice time and exchanged gifts. Now it is off to rest before our tour of Wuhan tomorrow. I hope you had a nice weekend, I look forward to writing tomorrow.

Springfield College 263 Alden Street, Springfield, MA 01109-3797 413.748.3000
Page updated on: 05/26/2008 05/26/2008