August 7

I promised I would share my trip with you so this is the first day of my Chinese adventure.  I'm off to Kunshan after much planning and a deliberate decision to remain calm about all of the uncertainty of this project.

It's not my normal inclination to write a blog but this has truly been a group effort to set up the new library at DKU and it doesn't seem justifiable to hold my experiences so hidden.  I hope you will enjoy my observations and photos.  I will try to not be too mundane.

My flight took me from RDU to Detroit to Shanghai.  The flight left Durham at 6 am so we got very little sleep last night.  Michael had no complaints about his early rising even though he has a full day of work. I'll miss my sweet husband and feel very grateful that he's willing to take care of all of the home responsibilities while I am away. I'm very lucky.

I had a four hour layover in Detroit so I took advantage of the Delta Sky Lounge.  I've never flown business class so this was a treat. The flight from Detroit to Shanghai took fourteen hours and it made a huge difference to be able to sleep comfortably.

http://www.upstartmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/kunshan-map.jpg

 
Mengjie Zou, the library assistant at DKU, met me at the Shanghai airport with a driver.

So, off we went to Kunshan.  The Shanghai streets were crowded and several times I thought we were sure to have a collision with another car.  But, there seems to be an uncanny understanding of who can merge and who needs to yield.  We made it to the Fairmont Hotel in Kunshan without a hitch.

Mengjie has been wonderful! She has answered all of my questions and helped me orient to my new surroundings.  It would have been much more difficult without her help.

I'm settled into the Fairmont Hotel.  It's a luxury hotel with lots of amenities.  It's been good to arrive before all of the students and faculty as it gives me a chance to meet the DKU staff who have been here working hard to prepare the campus.

There's a happy hour every day in the hotel from 5-7 pm and I've met the IT guys working at DKU and Mary Bullock, Executive Vice Chancellor at DKU, to chat about our plans and the progress of the campus.  It's been a nice introduction to what feels like a quickly changing and intense beginning to this new semester.