Wienna overall reflection

Dear parents,

Thank you for trusting me to be able to take care of myself on this

trip to China, from Shanghai to Hangzhou. I appreciate the given

opportunity to gain more experience and knowledge on China, as well as

allowing myself to learn how to be more  responsible. China is very

different from Singapore and as expected, we saw many new things and

definitely learnt a lot from this fun-filled eye-opening trip.

26/5 (monday)

The first place was headed for was Cheng Huang Miao. I immediately

noticed how crowded and packed the place was for a temple. In

Singapore, our temples are for worshipping and sometimes are also

tourist attractions. However, we do not have shops and cafes in our

temple for people to walk around to buy clothes or get some food. It

was a very different experience as the place looked very modern but

very ancient at the same time. I guess this is how China keeps their

old places. The prices of goods were also cheaper compared to

Singapore. For example, the price of a Starbucks Venti in China was

the price of a Grande in Singapore. The snapbacks that our friends

bought at Cheng Huang Miao was half the price of the ones sold in

Singapore. We also visited The Bund after that and I was very glad to

have witness that spectacular view of the iconic buildings of

Shanghai. I was really hoping we could go in the night just to see the

lights, however, the view in the morning was just as breathtaking as

we could see the details of the buildings very clearly. We got to take

many cool pictures and jumpshots over there as well.

27/5(tuesday)

We visited Shanghai Nanyang High School on this day. We were greeted

by a huge sign outside the school saying “Welcome students and

teachers of River Valley High School”. Even though this was a very

simple gesture, we were all very amazed and touched by them. We were

led on a school tour around the school. The school did not have many

facilities as compared to our school, however, the students and

teachers still made us feel at home. We got to talk to some of the

students and they taught us to do some art and craft. I observed that

they do not have a canteen and all of them eat the same food in their

classrooms. They did not have the privilege to choose what they eat

everyday, unlike us. This teaches them to not be picky with their

food. My buddy that I talked to, also told me that majority of the

people ride their bicycles to school. In Singapore, most of us take

our parent’s cars, or trains and buses. Also, they take eight minutes

breaks after every forty-five minutes of lessons. We went to the urban

planning exhibition hall next and I felt very fortunate to be able to

witness the amazing and detailed models on the exhibition. I also got

to gain new knowledge of China which was very interesting.

28/5(wednesday)

We went to the Oriental Dreamworks studio and saw many cool scenes of

the new movies that are not out yet. We saw how hard the people there

work, no matter what kind of editing they were each in charge of. It

was a really cool experience. We then headed to Fudan University. We

were again being led on a school tour by our Rv Senior that was

currently studying there. We then had a question and answer session,

getting a rough idea of how hard the people studying in that

university work. The school was huge compared to Rv and had many nice

gardens and the learning environment is very conducive. We were very

lucky to have a senior in the school so we get a rough idea of what to

expect when we get to university anywhere, be it Singapore or China.

We still have to work very hard and this had motivated me a little. I

really respect our seniors who went from to China from Singapore as

they have to travel such a long distance and have to work so hard,

being very far away from their family.

29/5 (thursday)

At Zhejiang university, it was very different as there were more

facilities and the place was much bigger compared to Fudan university.

The field there was so huge and I got to witness the baseball people

training on the field. The facilities there were incredible. There was

a huge building and when I asked what that building was for, the

teacher that was giving us a tour told us that that was the staff

building. In our school, we have a staff room but theirs was ten times

bigger. We were very amazed and awed at the beauty of the school.

30/5 (friday)

On this day, we visited the yuefei mausoleum, a boat ride and leifeng

pagoda. The first stop was the yuefei mausoleum and we were told about

how yuefei and his army the southern Song dynasty from the Jin dynasty

up north. However, he was then wrongfully charged with a death

sentence at the end. Next we went on a boat ride on the famous West

Lake. It was a breathtaking ride as we got to see the beautiful

scenery of the lake. It is said that if u fall into the lake, you will

not be able to be found and saved as the bottom of the lake is mud and

you would be stuck and would be left to die. Lastly, we went to the

Leifeng pagoda. The pagoda was incredible and we got to make our

wishes there as well. We then climbed up to the highest level of the

pagoda and were mesmerised by the spectacular view of the west lake.

Even though we were quite far away from the ground, we still could see

the west lake very clearly and got to appreciate its beauty.

31/5

It was our last day in China and we headed back to Shanghai from

Hangzhou to go to the airport to catch how flight. However, we stopped

at the qi bao ancient town before going to the airport. That place had

been present for many years and has turned into a tourist attraction.

It was very crowded and we did not get to buy a lot of things as we

were in a rush and could not stop for too long. The prices over there

was also not very cheap and the things being sold there were very

average. After our short shopping trip, we headed for the airport. I

was very saddened to walk into the airport, knowing that it would be

the end of the Oelp trip with my fellow classmates. We have bonded

incredibly throughout the trip and I just did not want it to end. I am

very thankful to be given the opportunity to go overseas with my

friends and teachers, to experience and learn new things together. It

was truly a memorable trip and I would never trade it for anything

else. Thank you 2J 2014 and our awesome teachers for this great trip!