Paige Bromen, a junior on the U of M women’s golf team, is spending three weeks in China as part of a program titled “Beijing Olympics: Sports Globalization.” She’ll be checking in daily with updates; here is Part II of her odyssey:

Last night nine members of my “Sports Globalization” trip walked down to a sports park near the heart of Beijing. At the complex, three soccer fields and eight basketball courts bearing approximately 50 Nike logos sat amongst the skyscrapers. After finding one more player, we spent a couple of hours playing pickup, enjoying the scenery, and getting quite a few stares from the other Chinese players (this is a pretty common occurrence in China as three of the girls on our trip have white skin, are at least six feet tall, and feature either blonde or red hair).

The basketball game was definitely one of the highlights of my trip. I loved playing under the lights and in the middle of a city which houses over 15 million people. In my opinion, language and cultural boundaries are transcended on the court. Although I did not get to play with anyone from Beijing last night, I can’t wait to meet the locals by playing some true pickup-style basketball next time.

After what seemed like a quick nap, I was up at 5:30 a.m. and on my way to the Great Wall of China. Luckily, our travel guide took us to a less crowded spot of the wall and save for a few annoyingly persistent peddlers, my friends and I were allowed to truly experience the beauty of the Wall in peace. But I don’t want to give you the wrong impression — the day was not a stroll along the Mississippi. It was a 10K trek over mostly un-restored portions of the Wall. At first I undaunted by the challenge, but after staring straight up one of the biggest “hills” I have ever seen, I had my doubts.

Our group of about 25 quickly fell into smaller sects based on physical fitness. I was towards the middle, but as I saw Harlan Chambers, a wiry theater major, and Jenny Chang, a swimmer at the U, scaling the steps rather effortlessly in the distance, I couldn’t swallow my pride. Tightening the straps on my pack I jogged to catch up to them. I may be a golfer; but hey, we’re athletes too!

Three hours later we finished the hike over a rickety wooden bridge which teetered in the wind over a small river just as the skies started to downpour. It was a long day, but definitely something I wouldn’t have wanted to miss.

As we mentioned, today marks the debut of what we hope will be some very worthwhile daily guest posting by Paige Bromen, who is in China. This is her inaugural post, and she’s taken the liberty of writing her own introduction. We’ll get out of the way and let her go:

My name is Paige Bromen, and I am a junior on the golf team at the University of Minnesota double majoring in Marketing and Entrepreneurship Management. Throughout my life I have been somewhat of a sports fanatic, playing three sports at Stillwater Area High School (basketball, golf, and tennis) and traveling around the country to various competitions. So when I heard that the “U” was going to host a 3 week program to China titled, “Beijing Olympics: Sports Globalization,” I jumped at the opportunity. There is a wide range of knowledge on this trip, a dichotomy between those who know sports and those who don’t. I’m afraid I was a little taken a back when one of my fellow classmates asked me what the NCAA was! No worries, though — I’m sure that within a few days everyone will be caught up to speed.

This morning we woke up early and went to the Beijing Planning Commission. At first our professors did not think we would be able to access the government planning agency; however, Mr. Ma, the deputy director of the research department, studied for four months at the University of Minnesota. In China, I guess it’s not who you know, it’s what you know. The presentation was spectacular although a little high on the propaganda side. The sheer mass of work to be done is ambitious, but without any party opposition the feat seems likely to be completed in time.