Ananya D's Explores China with Fort Bend ISD
On May 31, 2018, the last day of school and I have taken all my exams, I was looking through my email and saw the Global Initiative Leadership program had selected me to participate in the delegation of 2018 to Foshan, China. It was beyond my expectation, I had never imagined that one day I would travel to China all by myself with a bunch people that I have never met or knew and then become close friends. The day that we were leaving for China, I wasn’t feeling worried, stressed, or tense, I was just calm, no excitement or happiness or anything, just calm.
I made new friends along the trip (while waiting for 2 hours in Washington due to a delay in our flight), we spent more than 2 hours waiting for our flight and chit chatting with each other. Our 1st destination was Beijing, since our flight was delayed we couldn’t do everything planned for that day, we ate dinner which only served pork and beef (which I cannot eat) so I only had the vegetables. The next day we went to the Great Wall, this was like a dream come true for me, I was so stoked that I almost lost track of where I was going. The tour guide who accompanied us told that, we had two options; we climb up to the wall or take hang-glide up, I chose to climb up the stairs, which turned out to be the worst choice I have ever made. It was more than 100 steps and I got tired and worn out after that, I had to stop several times because of becoming short of breath, but to be honest it was worth it, I got to experience the most magnificent view of nature from afar, experiencing a feeling of ecstasy. I was spiritually swayed out by the nature’s beauty and gracious silence.
Next day we went to the Temple of Heavens, Forbidden City and a Jade carving place. It was spectacular, my favorite part of the Beijing tour was visiting the Great Wall and learning the history of the Forbidden City, it was just breathtaking and all of us felt so happy. At the jade carving place we all had opportunity to get some token of the traditional jade art of China; that night before dinner we went to a local shop and experienced the ancient tea ceremony, for me this was new because I have never drank tea in my life so this was something to try for. Once we finished with Beijing, we boarded a plane to Foshan, our main destination of the trip; we stayed there for 5 days, being with our host student and enjoying a quality time with them. As we spent our days in Foshan, I realized that the Chinese people really care about their environment, when it comes to the streets especially, I saw street workers dusting up all the trash and other stuff from the road to make it look clean.
As for the students in China, they are really into education, most of the students I asked about what their favorite hobby was, and they said studying. Over here in general, most of us usually think study is a routine boring matter which is intense and time-consuming rather interesting, but not for them; they believe that good education will make them better than others in the world. In my observation, Chinese people are overall sharp, smart, and intellectual; but they believe in lots of traditional myths like, one of their beliefs that writing your wish and tying it to a tree or wood stand will allow their wishes to come true. So when my host friend’s mom told me, I decided to do it for myself with the same belief in heart. My stay in Foshan was the most memorable experience of all, everyone was so nice and kind, including the welcoming ceremony that they gave us when we reached there. Eventually as the last day of Foshan came, we all had a tearful moment; I promised myself not to cry but couldn’t hold it to myself, it was
heartbreaking to leave my new friends behind as we became very close to heart within a very short time.
Our last destination for the trip was Hong-Kong. We went to hong-kong by ferry, which was indeed fun and at same time it was a little scary, but enjoyable. The city of Hong-Kong, with its high incline basically is built on a dead volcano, we visited the Victoria Peaks and the Po Lin Monastery and Tian Tan Buddha. At Victoria Peaks, we saw a great view of the city though it was pretty chilly and windy; the view at Victoria Peaks was absolutely splendid, I couldn’t resist myself not to take any pictures, just get blended with the nature. After the peaks we went to a Monastery and saw the Tian Tan Buddha; the scenery of the place was very calming and relaxing and it also had about 250 steps to reach the monument. The Tian Tan Buddha is one of the Seven Wonders of the World, I never knew that information which was interesting.
Finally we came back home, through San Francisco then Houston, the return journey was extremely tiring, all of us were totally exhausted just wanted to get back home and plop on the bed. The trip to China was a fantastic adventure for me, exploring a new world as well as culture, which enable me to have some good friends abroad, the essence of that friendship ties memorable attachments and treasure the fondest of memories.