This trip was the first experience I had in traveling in Asia. I heard so much about China in the news because the Chinese play such a large part in the current events. I also read the history of China in history books but I was never really too interested in their history. I learned a lot from the coarse although I felt that most of the time the coarse was focused on more recent history (and the reason, I'm sure, is that China's history is so long, we can't possibly cover all of their history). But now that I've physically been to these historical sites I'm more curious about learning about ancient Chinese history. On the one hand, it is unfortunate that I wasn't as curious before the trip but now at least, this trip is leaving me with a yearning to travel more in China. 10 days isn't enough to see a country, especially with size and history of China, but I think part of the purpose of the trip was to gives us only a glimpse into Chinese history and culture and made us want to come back to learn more.

 

Don't get me wrong though, many people that I know, who have traveled to China multiple times haven't nearly visited as many places that we visited. I think Priscilla and Shelly did their very best to show us as many places as possible in the short time that we were there. And like I said before, I think the purpose of this trip was to give us only a glimpse of the whole picture. 

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I loved the group that I was a part of. We, as a group, were very diverse coming from all different backgrounds and countries, and yet we have become quite close friends. We had different views on certain matters of course, but we still hang out together even after the trip (seriously, we had a reunion party only 5 days after the trip!). 

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Thank you Dona, Priscilla, Shelly and the group for an amazing trip. I feel blessed to be a part of this fellowship and it is something that I will never forget!