{"id":321,"date":"2014-03-27T13:53:37","date_gmt":"2014-03-27T13:53:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ncsciencecompetition.org\/?p=321"},"modified":"2014-03-27T13:54:38","modified_gmt":"2014-03-27T13:54:38","slug":"maggie-from-russia-with-perspective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ncsciencecompetition.org\/?p=321","title":{"rendered":"Maggie: From Russia With..Perspective"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Maggie<\/a>
Maggie Pan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

En Route<\/strong><\/p>\n

T-minus 3 hours and 46 minutes till our arrival in Beijing, China. Despite the fact that my phone reads 11:26 in EST, a peek out the window reveals the ever-glaring sunlight outside. I\u2019ve given up trying to keep track of the hours. Sure, two years at the NC School of Science and Math has left me with an extraordinary ability to transcend natural circadian rhythms and work and sleep as I please, but trans-time zone travel might just be a little too much to process. Sometimes, I can\u2019t decide if it seems like time is passing impossibly quickly, or if it\u2019s simply slow to the point of a standstill. Nevertheless, my last bite of breakfast this morning seems eons away.<\/p>\n

This is actually my fourth trip back to Beijing, China since moving here with my parents as a toddler, but to be absolutely frank: No, the 13 hour flight hasn\u2019t miraculously become more manageable with experience. This trip\u2019s a little different though. This time, I\u2019m not here to visit relatives, lounge away my summer, and stuff my face with Chinese delicacies\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026Well, the last one might still stand. BUT\u2026this trip\u2019s special. Along with three other students from NC, I\u2019m here to represent the US with my research project at the Beijing Youth Science and Creation Competition. Boarding this morning with my itinerary and business visa in hand, I\u2019ll admit I felt pretty darn official.<\/p>\n

I glance back up at the little television screen in front of me. 3 hours and 26 minutes left.<\/p>\n

Still. So. Long.<\/p>\n

I mentally convert that number to minutes, but the result seems equally, if not more, discouraging. On the bright side, at least we didn\u2019t end up in Japan (Sorry, Alec and Anne Blythe!).<\/p>\n

It\u2019s 11:51 now. I wonder what my room mate is up to now. Probably snacking, doing homework, and enjoying her temporary single dorm. #smathlife. And I\u2019ll bet my parents are asleep now. Or maybe still holding vigil over the computer, casually refreshing the flight details page every now and then to make sure my plane is on the right course. Who really knows? The weirdest part of trans-time zone flights has got to be the fact that the rest of the world simply carries on as usual.<\/p>\n

\u2026Aaaand, on a completely unrelated note, check out this awesome view! (Russia maybe?)<\/p>\n

Somewhere Over Russia<\/strong><\/p>\n

Somewhere, over Russia\u2026skies are blue<\/i>. And indeed they are. I\u2019ll admit I just tried singing that line in my head to the tune of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”\u00a0and failed epically. Having a vocal range of barely over an octave kind of puts a damper on things sometimes. Oops.<\/p>\n

Despite the blazing sun outside, a little trail of ice crystals has formed on the outside of my window. I can barely fathom how high up above the world we are now. I love window seats on planes because I can look out during takeoff and landing and watch the gradual shift in perception. To see the vast landscapes morph into cities and farms and houses and little tiny school buses. The birds\u2019 eye view makes me feel simultaneously tiny and gigantic. Here I am, watching over civilization like some colossal being, but then I realize\u2026on any other given day, I would be just one of those little tiny walking figures in the streets.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all about perspective.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

En Route T-minus 3 hours and 46 minutes till our arrival in Beijing, China. Despite the fact that my phone reads 11:26 in EST, a peek out the window reveals the ever-glaring sunlight outside. I\u2019ve given up trying to keep track of the hours. Sure, two years at the NC …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":322,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,48,47],"tags":[52],"class_list":["post-321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all_posts","category-beijing-2014","category-meet-the-2014-scholars","tag-pan","column","threecol","has-thumbnail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ncsciencecompetition.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ncsciencecompetition.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ncsciencecompetition.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ncsciencecompetition.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ncsciencecompetition.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=321"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.ncsciencecompetition.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":323,"href":"http:\/\/www.ncsciencecompetition.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321\/revisions\/323"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ncsciencecompetition.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ncsciencecompetition.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ncsciencecompetition.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ncsciencecompetition.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}