The trip of a lifetime

Last summer, along with seven other students and two teachers, I went on the trip of a lifetime to China. Our five day stay in Beijing was mostly spent sightseeing and visiting popular tourist destinations such as the Great Wall of China, the Summer Palace and lots of Buddhist temples, one of which contained the world’s tallest wooden Buddah statue, standing 26 metres high and made out of a single sandalwood tree. For the rest of the trip we stayed in Changzhou where we spent around four hours a day in the classroom, learning Chinese, martial arts, calligraphy or music. We got to work with our Chinese partners and some other students who came on the trip from other parts of England. It was great talking to and making friends with new people and seeing the similarities and differences between the lives of Chinese students and English students. In the evenings we went out to explore the city and to go shopping. During the week we got the chance to part in various different activities such as making dumplings, peach picking and, my favourite, bartering in markets. One of the days we got to spend to with our Chinese students, learning first-hand how their homes and food differ from ours. Saying goodbye to China and all of people we met was hard but I’m so glad that I got the opportunity to experience so much amazing stuff!

Morgan Howgate