In June, social studies teacher Ken Brown offered his students the opportunity to take a class trip to China.
“I chose China because I wanted to take the students somewhere in Asia, somewhere that has a lot of history, and somewhere they probably wouldn’t go on family vacations so that they could experience a new corner of the world. It’s so important for students to understand China, and to understand China I think you really have to experience it firsthand,” said Brown.
Fifteen students went on the 10-day-long trip that included travels to multiple Chinese cities, including Beijing, Xian and Shanghai. The students learned about Chinese culture and were given many opportunities to interact with the local people during the travels.
The group experienced all things China and enjoyed amazing sights, including the Great Wall of China. According to junior Simren Rai, “It didn’t matter what culture you were, they broke all the barriers and were very friendly…even though we didn’t all speak the same language, the locals encouraged us to join them.” She also described the Chinese being awestruck by the American group no matter where they went; “we were constantly being pulled aside by locals, young and old, to take pictures with us. I guess we were the tourist attraction.”
Another junior Francesca Navarro admitted going to China was a culture shock, “Everywhere you went, it felt like you were watched, not in a bad way, but in a sort of ‘wow, they are so different’ kind of way.” She agreed to feeling very accepted by the Chinese, “I felt like I was not only being welcomed by the individual people there, but by the entire country…Everything had a sort of essence of, ‘We are China, we are awesome, we are beautiful, and we are proud of it… COME BACK!’ It was a life-changing experience.”
“We were quite the spectacle there because westerners are quite uncommon” said junior Paul Gicewicz, “quite a few people took pictures of me due to the fact that I was a foot taller than the average Chinese person.”
“It was an amazing experience,” Rai finished, “no matter what language you speak, we all smile in the same way.”