Arrival at Newark - June 29th

             I knew I was about to spend the next month and a half with some pretty cool people the second we boarded the shuttle from the airport to the hotel. Besides the fact that our trip director, Dr. Chen, had to pick us up at the gate, we had an awesome first night. We drove to the hotel with the groups that came from Chicago and Miami. From Chicago, there was Catherine, Sydney, Justin, and Phoebe. From Florida, Camille and Zihan. They were all so funny and had such great attitudes while us San Francisco people were bitching about the weather being too hot. (Little did we know that Xiamen was going to be 10 times worse). We got to our hotel and I was immediately appreciative of how organized the trip was and how nice the accommodations were.

            Dr. Chen informed us that a big order of pizzas were on their way for dinner, and once they were delivered, we all went to Merrick's room and had a pizza party. It was so lit that it was almost like I was back in middle school. Our group truly represents the whole country - we have people from the Best Coast, East Coast, and states in-between.