social study trip!!

Hello again,

I'm back in Beijing, and I already miss Huizhou's cool climate, blue skies, and lush bamboo forests. We had a great group go and I'm glad I got a chance to get to know students and teachers from the other levels better. Every time I hear 小幸运 (a song we sang every time we took a bus somewhere) I'll think of this trip.

Here are some of the past week's highlights:

-took the high speed rail

-visited Lover's Valley （情人谷）

-went rafting/swimming in a river

-saw a bamboo factory

-interviewed locals

-went to Hongcun

-hiked Huang Shan

-stayed at mountain-top hotel

-woke up for sunrise (4:30am)

-went to a hot spring

-did a cultural exchange with local students

-had SO much food, including corn shaped icecream

Initially I had been set on going to Inner Mongolia but I'm happy I chose Huizhou. It was nice to disconnect for a little bit, and although we went to a lot of pretty touristy areas, we also had plenty of opportunities to interact and talk with locals who were extremely warm and generous. I imagined Huizhou to be much more underdeveloped but it has already become quite commercialized; the places that now rely on tourism don't fit the traditional image of rural villages.

If you're outdoorsy and don't mind a little rain, I would highly recommend going to Huizhou! I'm currently working with Ryan to finish the video from this trip-- I'll post the link as soon as we're done. That's all for now, gotta get back to the grind!

With love,

Sofia