From 1st July–12th July, the 9R1 class of Barking Riverside Secondary School went to China for the very first time! Our timetable consisted of having breakfast, four back-to-back Chinese lessons, lunch, a creative lesson, dinner, and lastly an activity that usually took place outside. With such a filled timetable, the programme ensured that we were able to get the best experience out of the trip.
Shenyang (also known as Shenjing, 沈京), is a city in Northern China, and is the capital of Liaoning Province (辽宁省). It’s home to one of the two imperial palaces in China. Luckily, we were able to visit this imperial palace, and it was an interesting experience where we learnt facts about the ancient city. The university campus where we had our lessons was also huge, with a paleontological museum that had four floors!
Nearly every day, we had all meals in the cafeteria at the university campus we attended, Shenyang Normal University (沈阳师 范大学). For breakfast, most of us would have fried eggs with toast or a plate of noodles with vegetables and perhaps a bottle of milk. A cultural shock for us was that milk was served warm, as well as water, in both shops and the cafeteria. For lunch, watermelon, dumplings, potato smileys and vegetables were usually served. Similarly, for dinner, we had dumplings, potatoes with filling, beef noodles, chicken, broccoli with vinegar, rice, fries, and more.
In lessons, we learnt words that would help us with the following day’s activities and interactions with people. We learnt words for drinks, foods, flavours, shopping items, school facilities and the modes of transport.
Our accommodation was set in the university’s international languages institution with rooms shared between two students. The rooms had a bathroom, two closets, two desks, a TV, two beds, two bedside tables and free slippers and snacks!
Many students say that the highlight of their trip was the boat ride experience we had, where we took many pictures of the Hun River (渾河), or perhaps sugar painting, which involved the art of making drawings with melted sugar, then eating it. Others say they enjoyed going to a small store outside the cafeteria after lunch/dinner to buy lemon-flavoured ice cubes or ice cream.
My personal highlight was when my roommate sleepwalked at night out of our room and locked herself out! It was hilarious hearing her talk about how she banged on our door for several minutes!
I feel very grateful that I was able to take part in this wonderfully enriching experience with my school teammates and teachers. It has given me the opportunity to enrich myself culturally and improve my Mandarin.
By Julia, local teen
