Great Wall, new friends, and traditional instruments. Biking trips around Beijing, rock concerts, and museums– the agenda of D219’s summer trip to China was never empty. 

Sponsored by the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) and the China Tourism Group (CTG), 47 students from Niles North and Niles West and four chaperones traveled to Beijing, Shijiazhuang, Fuzhou, Hangzhou, and Shanghai from June 30 to July 14. 

While every student on the trip studied Chinese for as many as three years, not many had traveled out of the country before. Few had any idea of what China was actually like.

“It was a lot easier to navigate than I expected,” junior Raia Calimutan said. “They’re very open to other cultures. Even though everything around us was obviously [in] Chinese, it was very open to people who weren’t fluent [in the] language.”

Students visited a high school in each city as an opportunity to understand what the life of a Chinese teenager was like. The Chinese students’ English proficiency was a surprise to many of the travelers. 

“[The Chinese students’] English was impeccable, even kids that were younger than us,” junior Alexandre Banks said. “I tried to speak as much Chinese as I can, and then they were trying to speak English, so it was kind of like a half-sided conversation, which made it a little awkward. But [there were] so many students, they were really diligent. They were really motivated.”

The trip also provided the experience of speaking Chinese in real-life contexts. 

“At some of the hotels, I tried to use Chinese,” senior Derrick Chhay said. “And [the hotel workers were] impressed. That kind of boosted my motivation to study with Chinese a little bit more.”

One of the most impactful parts of the trip for Chinese teacher and chaperone Limin Dove was getting to visit her hometown, introducing her parents and alma mater, Fuzhou #1 High School to her students.

“It was a very emotional moment for me because I feel like it was a full circle,” Dove said. “I graduated from the school as a student, and now I became a teacher, and I brought my students from a different country, my adoptive country, to go back to visit that school. And that really meant a lot to me.” 

The trip offered a once-in-a-lifetime experience for students to understand what life is like outside of the US.

“It was a really transformative experience for me,” Banks said. “I think it’s really important, especially for Americans [to travel out of the country]. Since America is such a huge country, you can go live your whole life and not see the whole of it, but I would encourage everyone to go around and see different countries, so you see what different lifestyles are like, and you don’t get too comfortable in one place.”

Gallery • 12 Photos

47 D219 students traveled to five Chinese cities in July.