Monday, July 7, 2008 5:43 AM
A personal recount of a travel adventure.
It was near the end of May, 2008 when I went on an exchange programme in China, Xi'an with my friends and teachers. I felt so excited on that day when we are going to fly towards China as it was the first time I am going on a trip to China. Our parents brought us to the airport and bid us farewell before we entered the checkpoint.
It was an eleven days trip. Due to the earthquake that happened in SiChuan a few days before we came to China, we did not visit the school there first. Instead, we toured around, learning the history of China. We visited Huang Di Ling, the Bing Ma Yongs, the muslim street there, the muslim temple, the Dayanta, Famen temple, and the Li Shan mountain. We even climbed on the Hua Shan Mountain and watched Chang Heng Ge performance in Hua Qin Chi. My friends and I were really enjoying ourselves in China. We took snapshots and even felt so fascinated when we saw many fascinating antiques found in China's modern days.
At the last few days, we finally went to visit the schools there. We get to see their flag raising ceremony and witnessed on how they take their pledge. At night, we went to our buddy's house to have a look. Indeed, there is a great difference in the apartment between Singapore and China's. Due to some safety precautions after the earhquake had happened, we were not allowed to stay overnight there. But it was really a great experience, and we had really learnt a lot of things in the eleven days of China.
Although there were great times, there were also bad times when we were in China. Homesick everyday, causing everybody's mood to decrease for a while and the losing of appetite as we were not used to eating the food there. But as time passes, homesick were not common anymore. Instead, we were enjoying ourselves until we forgotten about our home. Our appetite grew wider day by day too, and in fact, we even finished all the food that was laid on our table.
Finally on the eleventh day, we went back to Singapore. We bid farewell to our buddy and even invited them to Singapore. Back to Singapore, we began to miss our buddy, our hotel room, the girls secret talk we had everynight, those China's historical places that we had visited and even the food there.
It there is another chance to go back China for another exchange programme, I will be the first one to register for them !
