18 days later....And I've finally made it!!
Experiencing Chinese quarantine was fascinating. Let me explain
Hey friends!
*If you’re new: I’d recommend you check out this post (link here) so you can understand why I’ve uprooted my life for a year (maybe more!) to live in China.
First and most importantly, I’ve finally made it to Schwarzman College! 🎉🎉🎉🎉
When I got here, I was in total awe. This is a moment I have been thinking about every day since 2016. I stood in silence looking at the view below and cried.
Schwarzman College is insane. And to think that I’ll be living here for the next 10 months aside ~150 amazing people…I was at a loss for words.
But also, I’m sure you’re thinking:
“Neel, you’ve been in China for nearly 18 days. Why is it that you’re just getting to Schwarzman College??
Good question! Let me quickly explain:
First, we have to talk about the 10-day hard quarantine. Any incoming traveler into China (regardless of nationality) has to quarantine in a government-sponsored hotel for 10-days.
During this time, you are essentially locked in your room. No leaving. No visitors. Many of the hotels don’t even allow you to order in food or drinks. So you’re subject to the food they provide (you’ll see pictures later on…).
I landed in Shanghai and thus had to conduct my 10-day quarantine there.
After the 10-day quarantine, we then had a 7-day “medical observation.” This was a rule instated by Tsinghua University, the Chinese university of which Schwarzman College is a part.
This “medical observation” started when we arrived in Beijing from Shanghai (via bullet train, which was sick!). We stayed in yet another hotel and had to get COVID tested daily. I guess this was the university’s way of guaranteeing we didn’t catch COVID during our commute from Shanghai to Beijing.
However, this medical observation was actually quite nice!! The Program put us up in a nice Hilton Hampton, and we were afforded regular freedoms like being able to leave our rooms, walk around outside, take taxi’s to go into downtown Beijing (pictures below!), and workout together!
Plus, our stay in the Hilton was quite nice because it was the landing spot for all inbound Scholars in our program, and so I got to meet many Scholars outside of just the ones with whom I had travelled from Dallas —> Shanghai.
But, let’s start back from the beginning: landing in China
I felt like I was entering a dystopia.
Following the ~15 hour flight from Dallas to Shanghai, our plane was greeted on the tarmac by hazmat-suited individuals.
It was honestly like I stepped out of the present-day COVID-care-free US and into a different version of history. In some ways, you could argue that’s exactly what this was. Except that it’s happening in this version of history, now.
Once we got off the plane, there were hazmat suited people everywhere, and miles and miles of rope safety barriers to guide us along the seemingly never-ending route through customs, COVID tests, baggage claim, documentation checks and more.
Roughly 5 hours later, we were herded onto a random bus and shuttled to a randomly selected government-facilitated quarantine hotel. This whole experience gave me feelings of a scene straight out of the Terminators, were humans were being robitically sorted by the cybernetic Skynet government.
After a short bus ride into the city, my Dallas-originated group finally arrived at our quarantine hotel. And to be honest, our accommodations were pretty good!
As you can see, the room was pretty spacious which would later be muuch appreciated when I saw pictures of my other cohort-mates’ much worse accommodations. Plus, we were provided with nice views of downtown Shanghai.
Day in the life: Quarantine edition😷
Spending 10-days alone in a singular hotel room was a memorable experience.
I never would have thought previously that I would have been subject to 10-days of solitary confinement. And even more unthinkable - I never would have thought that I would have enjoyed it! But looking back, I found the 10 days quite pleasant.
I was lucky to avoid any jetlag and start my quarantine routine off strong. Any given day might have looked a little something like this:
6:30 am: wake up, immediately open my blinds to get some sunlight ☀️
7 am breakfast delivery
6:30 - 9 am: do some online calisthenics or cardio workout, shower🚿, and eat
9 am - 2 pm: work on YouTube videos (script, film, edit, obsess over Mr. Beast interviews)
11 am lunch delivery
2 - 6 pm: schedule chats with fellow cohort mates or Australia-based friends from Vow (especially given that I was now only 2 hours behind Sydney time zone)
*I would also join Schwarzman orientation zooms scattered throughout the day
5 pm dinner delivery
6 - 10 pm: Have an additional chat or two, work on some more YouTube stuff, and hangout (e.g., browse YouTube, call friends and family back in the US)
10:30 pm: Sleep!
You repeat this schedule 10 times, and that’s it - that’s the quarantine! I overall enjoyed the quarantine. I’m glad I was able to keep myself busy and enjoy the “calm” of it before the “storm” of living in a building with ~150 other amazing people and having non-stop stimulation.
And now, what I think most of y’all have been waiting for: the Quarantine Food
Some meals were great! Others weren’t. But I didn’t starve to death and was supported by the snacks I brought (thank you Mom for packing some Oreos!)
Tasting freedom ☀️🗽🐤
Remember that I had to do a “medical observation” in Beijing after the 10-day hard quarantine in Shanghai? Well, before transiting from Shanghai to Beijing, we did have a night of freedom in Shanghai. And it was amazing!!! 😍
And I mean, imagine: you weren’t able to talk to, touch, or be with another human for 10 days. All while being confined to a ~200 square foot hotel room.
Then, you’re released back into one of the most bustling, populated, beautiful cities in the world. Pretty big shock, right?
As soon as I left my quarantine room post-quarantine, I was overjoyed and uncontrollable smiling at just hearing my other friends’ voices down the hallway.
And then, my friend, Joshua Davis, and I went to stay in a 5-star Shanghai hotel (bonus was that it was essentially for free because of some nice credit card perks).
But the thing I enjoyed the most that night was grabbing dinner with a Scholar from the 1st class of Schwarzman Scholars, Tomas Fuentes Benítez (shoutout to Joshua for organizing this). Tomas graduated from Schwarzman back in 2017. And since, he’s largely been in China founding and running a healthy food company. This is something that intrigued both Joshua and I because we both, like Tomas, want to impact the world through food. Joshua wants to increase accessibility to healthy food, and I want to increase accessibility to sustainable, delicious food.
We picked Tomas’ brain about his time at Schwarzman, his learnings growing a company in China to $1M+ in yearly revenue, and just bonded over our shared experience of being Schwarzman scholars. The dinner was both amazing and a prelude of what our next year would look like.
Some more freedom! 😍
After the 10-day quarantine, my travel group (the ~10 of us who flew from Dallas) took the bullet train (高铁) from Shanghai to Beijing.
But first, I have to speak about how impressive this train was! It crossed ~800 miles in just under 5 hours. It was incredibly smooth and provided some phenomenal views of the Chinese country side
Once we got to Beijing, our medical observation started. Like I mentioned earlier, these 7 days in medical observation were muuuuch different than the hard quarantine. We were afforded our normal freedoms to leave our rooms and interact with others.
During 2 of the days, I even went with some friends into Beijing to get some delicious food and see historical sites.
These 7 days passed pretty quickly, both because of the increased social opportunities and the start of classes (you can find the list of interesting classes I’m taking below).
And that takes us all the way till the moment I arrived at Schwarzman college!
What’s next?
Well, the adventures have JUST begun given that I’m finally at Schwarzman college!
I am confident there are many life lessons, adventures, good friends, delicious food, and more to come.
And I’m very excited to keep you updated along for the journey!
But don’t worry, that’s not the end of the post! Keep reading below for some more exciting stuff.
⏳Advice for incoming Schwarzman Scholars pt. 1:
Expect social shock: While you will soon be entering a space of ~150 amazing people, they still are ~150 strangers at the beginning. You won’t have the sense of social security or comfort as you do when you are with your friends from home. But here are some ways I think you can combat that:
Listen well: get to know people for who they are at a deep and genuine level. Yes, you will have to ask “Where are you from?” or “Why did you want to come to Schwarzman / China?” But then, dig deeper with a thoughtful variety of “why”, “how come”, and other types of questions. Unbridled curiosity can solve many problems.
Create social situation: During these first couple of days, I’ve found that myself and everyone around me has wanted to do stuff socially, but didn’t know what to do. A great solution is to just host things yourself! It could be as simple as posting in the group chat “Hey everyone, basketball at 7 pm tonight?” You will get traction, and people will appreciate you for it.
Know your priorities: It will make you more intentional with your time and help you combat FOMO when you get here. I listed my priorities below, and they have already helped me decide what I really want to do when I might have several options to chose from:
Make deep connections and friendships with amazing people, and in doing so learn more about them, myself, and the world
Learn Chinese and through that, learn more about China
Investigate China’s cultured meat space
I’ve successfully fought my urge to come up with a 3rd point just to appease my consulting side, so you’re left with only 2 for now.
📚What classes am I taking?
The required ones:
Chinese 201A (there are 4 Chinese levels from 1 through 4, each level divided into A and B)
Forty Years of China's Political, Economic, and Social Reform
Electives:
China’s Foreign Relations
History of Modern China, 1911-2011: A Century of Transformation
Strategic Communication in the Era of Neo-Globalization
Last thing: What are some additional things you’d like me to share about my experience? Here are some potential ideas:
More food pics
Stories of interesting people I’m meeting
Funny stories
More pictures of China / Beijing
Interesting things I’m learning about Chinese culture
Love reading about al the adventures Neel! Keep posting and have fun! Xo
Great newsletter!! More food pics, funny stories, Chinese culture insights/experiences/ and interesting ppl pls :)