Student Name
|
Yasmyn Ntege
|
Activity Name / Description
|
China Expedition with National
Geographic
|
Location
|
China
|
Was it C, A, S or a combination?
|
CAS
|
Hours of CAS
|
21 days (500 hours)
|
Over the summer, I was able to venture on a
3-week trip to China with National Geographic, student expeditions. It was
really a tremendous experience as over the 21 days, there was always an
adventure of sorts. Whether it was spending a whole day travelling to get to
one place, or discovering the ancient rich history of China and it’s people,
there was always something going on.
In preparation for the trip, I begun a crowd
fund account with the help of Mr. Gulam as the fee to attend the trip was, in
total, just less than $10000. I was able to raise around $3000 which was quite
a lot and was luck to have my parents pay the rest of the amount. Since we were
going to do a lot of travelling, we were advised on the best bags to bring and
so searching and shopping for these bags and items was also part of the
preparation for the 3-week trip.
Landing in Shanghai, I already felt so far
from home with people who looked nothing like me pouring from everywhere. It was
overwhelming as usually when I travel alone, I am going to Kenya or the UK
where I know I will find people of at least a similar culture to mine. I met
with the supervisor, Colleen who was American but fluent in Mandarin. I learnt
so much from our taxi ride to the hotel and became even more excited for the
trip. When we got to the hotel, I met with people who were from the US, Switzerland
and Columbia, all of whom had distinct characteristics thus enriching the whole
expedition experience. I made plenty of new friends and lots of memories.
Part of why I ventured on this trip was for
the photography aspect of it all. As National Geographic is known worldwide for
it’s photography, I thought there would be no better way to learn tips from the
experts themselves. We were lucky to have Ricky Qi, an official NatGeo
photographer as one of our supervisors that took us around China. He was
Chinese-American and so was very useful to have around. I learnt a lot of new
things about photography and was able to gain a lot of insight about what the
audience feels when they see my pictures through the various workshops we had.
One of the challenges I had was being able to
adjust to the food. Food is a huge aspect of any country’s culture and I was
personally not accustomed to the food eaten in China. I did learn to overcome
my hesitance with this regard and actually begun to love Chinese cuisine. On that
note, I also learnt that there is not just “Chinese” food but there are so many
different sub-cultures within China that there are dozens of specific cuisines.
Another challenge I faced was getting used to all the attention that tourists
get in China. A lot of the Chinese have never seen black people in real life
and so seeing me, they were quick to pull out their cameras to try and get a
snap of me to share with their friends and family. At first it was funny and I felt
like a celebrity but after a while, it got pretty annoying and I felt like it
was such an invasion of privacy. I felt this way especially when it was old
Chinese men doing it and staring at not only me but the whole group as well. It
was kind of hard being away from home and it was even harder when the means of
communication was limited due to China’s strict censorship laws. Getting a VPN
was one of the solutions however, it did still have problems working, especially
on my phone. But this was not so bad as I was able to fully immerse myself in
the trip rather than being distracted by constant communication with family at
home.
Hiking was a huge part of our trip and I feel
that I was able to greatly improve my physical fitness. Whether it were up
large hills or getting around the various cities that we visited.
All in all, the trip was an amazing
experience that I am so privileged to have embarked on. I learnt a lot about
myself and was able to make new friends who could be of use in the future. I also
perfected on a skill and hobby I am passionate about (photography) under the
mentorship of professionals in the industry. I hope to be able to embark on
more trips like this as it really improves self-awareness and maturity.
A FEW PICTURES I TOOK ON THE TRIP:
SUPERVISORS:
Ricky Qi & Colleen
No comments:
Post a Comment