And his arrival in the Chinese capital – home to somewhere around 20 million people who speak a language entirely foreign to his own – was the first time the Crozet, Va., native had been to a big city.

“That as a really big eye-opener for me,” Martin says. “I really had no clue what to expect.”

He certainly wasn’t alone. Trip leader Myrrl Byler estimates that about one-third of the last 91¶ĚĘÓƵ group he led to China was flying for the first time, and the experience often represents students’ first time outside the United States. Byler, director of the program (a partnership between several church mission boards and , a relief and development non-profit), has led three-week cross-cultural study trips to China every May since 2004. In 2012, math professor was the faculty co-leader of the trip.

The curriculum includes an introduction to written and conversational Chinese, lectures on Chinese culture, tai chi classes, a several-day homestay with a Chinese family, and plenty of interaction with Chinese university students.

After some sightseeing in Beijing, Byler takes the group to a “smaller” Chinese city where they spend the majority of their time. In May 2012, the group went west to Nanchong, a Chinese city populated by around 1 million in Sichuan province. (Nanchong also rates “small” by another metric useful for assessing Chinese cities: it has just one McDonald’s).

With the enormous language and culture barriers, the unfamiliar food and the sometimes overwhelming attention that the group can attract from curious Chinese people with little exposure to foreigners, Byler says the trip forces students far out of their comfort zones. The homestay in particular, he says, can cause particular anxiety, although many of the students end up looking back on the experience as one of the highlights of the trip.

“You had to build patience,” says Valerie Burton ’10 Moore, who went on the China cross-cultural in the summer of 2010. “You just had to relax.”

New food experiences were among the things that placed demands on Moore’s patience and, ultimately, widened her horizons. These included all kinds of seafood, noodles for breakfast, unusual (from her American perspective) preparations of chicken, pork, duck and lamb, unfamiliar vegetables and dishes so spicy her nose broke out in a sweat. While she likely wouldn’t have tried these foods if the decision had been up to her, Moore eventually came around, and after returning home, resisted eating American “Chinese” food for more than a year – not wanting to tarnish the memory of the actual, real Chinese food she’d come to enjoy.

Moore, a four-year member of the 91¶ĚĘÓƵ soccer team, also says the attention she and the other students received from Chinese people took some getting used to.

“They almost treated us like celebrities,” she says. “They were gawking all the time.”

The American students’ height was often an object of great interest, as were those with blonde or red hair. 91¶ĚĘÓƵ senior Jennifer Blankenship, who went on the 2012 China cross-cultural, recalls Chinese people often crowding around members of her group, asking for autographs, or even pushing babies into the students’ arms for photo ops.

“Everybody wanted pictures with us wherever we went,” says Blankenship, a four-year member of the 91¶ĚĘÓƵ basketball team.

At least one basketball or volleyball game is usually on the agenda during the group’s visits to Chinese high schools and universities – often the Chinese school’s varsity team versus an ad-hoc team of cross-cultural students – as when Blankenship and a few other students played basketball against a Chinese team in Nanchong. Blankenship says the court was surrounded by hundreds of fans – more than typically attend her games at 91¶ĚĘÓƵ – and the atmosphere was electric.

“When I made a good pass or basket, everyone went crazy,” she says.

The attention wasn’t all positive, however. Dirty looks from men sometimes made female students feel uncomfortable, and Blankenship says some vendors tried to take advantage of the students’ naïveté by ripping them off. Blankenship, who is white, says the experience gave her insight into how minorities in the United States might feel when they are subject to discrimination based on skin color or unfamiliarity with American culture.

Blankenship, Moore and Martin all say one reason they chose the China cross-cultural was because it happens during the summer, when it didn’t interfere with their sports schedules. (Numerous athletes have been on Byler’s five summer cross-culturals to China, although he is now planning a semester-long trip for the fall of 2013, to be co-led with math professor .)

In almost all cases, Byler says, his students have arrived back home with new appreciation for travel and interaction with unfamiliar people and places, after being stretched out of their comfort zones by the trip.

Though he discovered he has a strong anxiety about flying, Martin said he “definitely wants to travel abroad again.”

Martin graduated from 91¶ĚĘÓƵ after the cross-cultural, and is now working in Harrisonburg. He will start a baseball-coaching job next spring at his alma mater, Western Albemarle High School outside Charlottesville, Va.

Blankenship returned home equally enthusiastic about the experience.

“I want to go back,” she says. “I have to take my future spouse. I want to share that. I can’t imagine only going that one time.”

Each team brought in a solo run in the first, with (Miramar, FL/Pace) bringing in 91¶ĚĘÓƵ’s on a sacrifice fly.  The Mountaineers scored their second unearned run in the third, but the home team followed suit in the bottom of the inning when Chris Rodriguez (Miami, FL/Pace) scored as (Sterling, VA/Park View) was caught in a run-down between first and second.

Eastern Mennonite starter (Louisa, VA/Louisa County) continued sailing through the SVC lineup when he got some run support in the fifth.  With an infield single and a pair of walks, 91¶ĚĘÓƵ had the bases loaded with two away.  Justin Rodriguez ripped a double to right field, plating a pair of runs.  Smith was out at home trying to score from first, and was ejected for his collision at the plate, but the Royals had the 4-2 edge.

Southern Vermont broke through in the seventh, tying the game with two runs on a bases loaded single.  But Harlow limited the damage by getting a grounder to third for an inning-ending double play.

Christian Rodriguez led off the bottom of the seventh by beating out a single, but he sat on second with two outs.  The Mountaineers should have escaped unscathed, but the left fielder dropped a fly ball from (Chesterfield, VA/Manchester) which would have ended the inning.  A run scored to put the men ahead, but SVC imploded from there, committing two more errors and giving up three additional hits.

By the time the dust settled on the long inning, 91¶ĚĘÓƵ had sent 12 men to the plate and seven had scored, all unearned with two outs.  The Royals led 11-5 and never gave up the lead.

Toney, who had replaced Smith at first, led off the eighth with a bomb over the left field wall, and the Mountaineers added a grand slam in the ninth, but Eastern Mennonite held on for the 12-9 decision.

The Royals only out-hit SVC by two, 15-13, but were helped by five Mountaineer errors.  was a sparkplug from the bottom of the order, singling all four times he batted.  The freshman scored three runs and knocked in one.

Justin Rodriguez went 3-4 with three RBIs and a run.  Toney scored twice and (Bridgewater, VA/Turner Ashby) had two RBIs.  (Stafford, VA/Mountain View) and (Waynesboro, VA/Fort Defiance) each added two hits to the balanced attack.

Harlow threw seven strong innings, allowing just two earned runs to get his first win of the year.  (Crozet, VA/Western Albemarle) pitched 1-1/3 innings while Banglesdorf came in for the final two outs.

After scoring 45 runs in the weekend three-game sweep of Southern Virginia, Eastern Mennonite is now 4-5 overall.  Next up the men step into ODAC play, traveling to Randolph-Macon for a doubleheader on Saturday.

NC Wesleyan 5, 91¶ĚĘÓƵ 2
In game one, the Royals jumped on the board in their first at-bat of the year.  Freshman (Lansdale, PA/Christopher Dock) led off with a double to right.  He took third when (Sterling, PA/Park View) reach on a two-out error.  Smith was subsequently picked off first base, but he stayed in the pickle long enough for Melendez to touch home.

The Battling Bishops took the lead in the bottom of the second with a pair of runs.  But 91¶ĚĘÓƵ came right back in the third.

(Miami, FL/Pace) led off with a walk and scored when Melendez smacked his second double.  (Crozet, VA/Western Albemarle) sacrificed Melendez to third, but a pair of infield outs ended the frame with the score tied at 2-2.

North Carolina Wesleyan strung together three hits in the fifth to plate three runs and go back on top.  The men then got two runners on in the sixth, but a pair of fly balls ended the threat.

Melendez walked to lead off the Royal’s final chance in the seventh, but a double play emptied the bases and cut down the rally.

(Louisa, VA/Louisa County) took the opening day start and took the loss.  He gave up only six hits, but allowed five runs (four earned) while striking out four.  Freshman (Shippensburg, PA/Shippensburg) struck out two in his one inning.

Melendez had a successful debut, reaching base in all four of his trips to the plate and factoring in both of 91¶ĚĘÓƵ’s runs.  He finished with two doubles and two walks, scoring one run and driving in the other.  Smith and (Selinsgrove, PA/Selinsgrove) had the other two of the men’s four hits.

91¶ĚĘÓƵ 9, NC Wesleyan 1
The Royals were in control in the nine-inning nightcap.  (Miramar, FL/Pace) laced a two-run, two-out single in the men’s first at-bat, then brought in the first run of a three-run rally in the third by getting hit with a pitch.

The Battling Bishops scored their lone run on a two-out single in the fifth, but 91¶ĚĘÓƵ put up back-to-back two-spots in the 6^th and 7^th.  Melendez shot a two-run long ball to right to provide the final runs on the team’s first homerun of the year.

Eastern Mennonite had 10 hits in the second game, and junior transfer (Varina, VA/Varina) scattered five hits over seven innings in his 91¶ĚĘÓƵ debut.  He struck out six.  (New Market, VA/Stonewall Jackson) provided two inning of scoreless relief.

Melendez finished 2-5 with three runs and a pair of RBIs from his homer.  Smith had three hits including one double.

Justin Rodriguez finished with a pair of hits and four RBIs.  Sophomore (Miami, FL/Doral Academy) scored three runs.

The Royals, now 1-1, return to Harrisonburg for their home opener on Wednesday.  Mary Washington will come in for a single game at 3:00pm.