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Welcome to the China Trip Journal

First Photos Hello and welcome to the China Trip Journal! For the first time at Springfield College a group of faculty and students will be taking part in a short term study abroad program where we will travel to China for 15 days. As part of this trip we will be keeping a journal which will provide a summary of our daily activities during this great adventure. Depending on internet access and logistics we hope to publish one entry per day at this site, so please check in daily. The purpose of this first entry is to give a brief background about what has gone on to this point in preparation for the trip.

Planning for this trip started almost 2 years ago and has continued at a steady pace ever since. The idea was to create a trip that included both educational and cultural experiences through collaboration with some of the institutions we have built relationships with over the past several years. Through the 15 day trip we will travel to 5 cities: Hong Kong, Guzngzhou, Wuhan, Tianjin, and Beijing. At each stop our faculty will provide lectures in the areas of athletic training, functional human anatomy, exercise science, and nutrition. We will also have the opportunity to attend lectures and demonstrations by faculty at instutions in each city. We also have multiple cultural / touring experiences scheduled in each city - so we will be very busy!

The faculty and students have been preparing for this journey by taking a class once per week where we diligently completed a number of tasks including: lots of paperwork, learning a few key phrases in Mandarin and Cantonese, learning about cultural differences, practicing eating with chop sticks (lots of fun!), and answering the many questions that came up along the way. The students also prepared some excellent presentations about topics in Chinese culture and Sports Medicine to give us all a preview of what we might expect.

With only days remaining until departure we are all packing our bags and making last minute arrangements. We hope that you will follow along with us each day during this amazing journey. We are so thankful to the faculty and administration for supporting this trip and standing behind our efforts to cultivate the international ties of Springfield College! A special thanks also to Brian Page who set up this very nice web page for our journal!
Springfield College 263 Alden Street, Springfield, MA 01109-3797 413.748.3000
Page updated on: 05/13/2008 05/21/2008