Field School Finale

The bitter-sweet last day is here as a full free day. It felt a little odd for me knowing I got to stay longer, but what I was going to miss the most was the group, and at the same time I looked forward to having the mobility of not being in a big group.

We spent the entire day at the Summer Palace. The only potential Vancouver equivalent would have to be Stanley Park. The size of this place! We spent all day there and only saw a small portion of it. When we finally found the East exit is was over 2km to the South exit. China does both big and small very well. Big population, massive skyscrapers, endless dishes of food, sprawling tombs, snaking walls, large scale projects and statistics with big numbers. The small would be tiny cups of tea, little desserts, minimal space hotel rooms, showers the spray onto the toilet to make use of space, and little bowls to eat food from.

The beginning was clogged with people and I couldn't imagine us staying as it seemed there was always someone yelling at me to get out of the picture. However, this method of breaking up the masses by providing different directions tunnels and distractions actually led to many secret spots where one could be alone and the further we ventured in the more people spaced out and the Summer Palace appeared just as spectacular as it should.

The original Summer Palace was destroyed by the French and British forces and this one is not in the original spot, so this the Disneyland of history is actually a complete re-creation.

We raced back to the Hu Tong to catch our debrief meeting at 5:00, before our last family style dinner including delicious Peking duck. I wish I could eat some of that duck now.

We shared the big moments we were going to take away from this Field School and I couldn't agree more with some of the thoughts. The significance of China in the world today should not be undermined, or seen as a threat, or a burden. Chinese culture is all about making real relationships, and it is also a culture in transition to a more individualistic nature. The same goes for international students, they should not be viewed as a burden to your group project, they offer an edge from what may be -globally- the majority view. Chinese students who speak with an accent or with poor grammar are not necessarily bad student, Chinese language has little grammar so it would make sense that learning English would be very difficult.

The China Field School will go down as a turning point in my life, it has definitely changed the way I see the world for the better. Thank you so much for this experience!