We started the day with a hearty breakfast at the hotel and then we were off to visit the Inner Mongolia Agricultural University.  It has been known as "the garden school" for many years by the local people due to the large amount of trees and shrubs on campus.  This university offers 20 different majors and is home to around 32,000 students.  The Veterinary program has 1200 students who will graduate after 5 years and there are another 1200 students in the 4 year Animal Science Program.  

                Upon arrival we first visited the Animal Pathology Specimen room. This room was filled to the brim with jars of preserved organ and tissue samples. Recently the program obtained a small collection of wildlife specimen that will further assist with studying diseases. The university houses the largest collection of specimen in all of China with around 150,000 samples. Students and professors alike use the room for classroom and study purposes.  We also had the opportunity to chat with several students from the program. One student came from a village that was over 1000 kilometers away and takes 16 hours by train to visit. The only time she visits home is during Spring Festival. Even during the summer recess, students stay on campus to work internships and study with their tutors.  She is studying Animal Science with hopes of specializing in genetic breeding.  Growing up on a small corn and livestock farm, she knew animals were going to be her passion.  It is her dream to contribute to the meat industry by creating safe and healthy protein choices for a rapidly growing country that consumes massive amounts of meat.  

                From there the group went to a classroom where the SDSU students were split into 5 groups and pared with 10 Chinese students. Introductions were made by Dr. Thaler and Dr. Clay, then several local students gave a presentation about their daily life and information about the university. Next we had 20 minutes of conversation with the students. Lots of interesting and fun questions were exchanged between everyone. One of the students told me that this was the first time any English speaking visitors had come to the university, so they were very eager to practice their English skills with us. Chinese students had also prepared gifts for us. The gifts ranged from notebooks, beef jerky, milk candies and even traditional Mongolian headbands. From there we went to the cafeteria where everyone was able to order food and eat together. The local students were very excited to show us their favorite meals. They were even nice enough to pay for our lunch.  After finishing up our dishes everyone took selfies before parting ways.  

                After a short 20 minute drive from the university, we arrived at the Inner Mongolian History Museum. We quickly created a meeting point and began to explore the History of the province. Within the museum, there were three floor. Each floor had 2-4 individual displays. The displays were a walk through style with figures, pictures, and descriptions. Walking through the first floor, it is very noticeable that Inner Mongolians value their land and nature.  Many displays show off the wildlife and natural beauty they possess in their region. The first floor also had a display for the aerospace program in China. Inner Mongolia was used by China for the launching of most of their spacecraft. The first spacecraft that was launched was a 173 kg, one meter diameter satellite. It was launched in 1970 and was used for broadcasting of radio waves. The aerospace program was originally created to increase their defenses.  

                The second floor focused mainly on the history of Mongolians. The Mongolians were first recognized as a race in the 7th century. The Mongolians were created when several tribes in the region decided to merge. Their first noble ruler emerged in the 13th century. His name was Genghis Khan. He modernized the Mongolians as well as made them a military force. Genghis died in his 50s and his sons took over. His sons made Mongolia cover most of Asia through various military expeditions. After being nomadic since the 7th century, the Mongolians settled in the region they are known to inhabit today. After exploring the history of the region, we ventured up to the 3rd floor. It consisted of artifacts and various historical pieces from the history of Inner Mongolia. After two hours of exploring the museum, the crew returned to the bus and made their way to the airport for the flight to Beijing.

First meeting

 

 Lunch time

 

 Museum

 

 New friends

 

Whole group