On Friday 12 July, three St Bede’s students (Reuben Cawood Y9, and Ethan Ellis and Matthew Hemphill, both Y10) along with four students from Aidenfield Christian School, departed Christchurch for Hangzhou, China.

These seven students travelled to China to participate in a Global Youth Ambassador Programme as International Students on a Chinese Summer Camp. This year’s destination was Hangzhou, a city not far from Shanghai but boasts an impressive population of over 22 million (metro). After the overnight flights and transfers, the group found itself out and about on a not so ordinary Saturday morning. Immersed in the bustling business city surround by people everywhere, the popular Chinese saying of “people mountain, people sea” was quickly adopted. This would be a common theme throughout the week, as we would constantly find ourselves in crowds bigger than seen in Aotearoa.

With no time to adjust to the summer heat, or the crowds, the intensity of the experience was a little overwhelming. By evening, the group was happy to be heading to the school that were hosting the camp. RDFZ Kings College is a new International School built to accommodate 3200 students and 1000 boarders. Exploring the school, the students found the facilities impressive with an Olympic size swimming pool, gyms, performing arts centres and dining halls larger than many facilities back home in Christchurch. Although a large facility, our Hangzhou camp would be a pleasantly small group of around 50 Chinese and 20 international students.

After a quiet night and an outing on Sunday, our camp began with an opening ceremony introducing the week to come. We quickly settled into a routine of classes, activities, cultural experiences and the occasional recreation time. Our St Bede’s boys became instant superstars with the Chinese’s students, who were keen to hear about life and school back in N.Z.

With the weeklong camp quickly progressing, our minds turned to the history and cultural experience that our Beijing weekend would bring. A quick transfer in the 350km/h bullet train found us in China’s massive capital city. In temperatures hitting almost 40 degrees, we melted through a bustling Tiananmen Square, National Museum and Forbidden City complex. This would be a day of overwhelming heat, history and crowds; day unlike any of us had experienced before.

The next morning was an early start to try and beat the crowds and heat to walk up a section of the Great Wall. This would be a highlight for our students who almost ran the entire way up a very steep staircase in a quest to find the top. Returning to Beijing city we experienced what the locals called heavy traffic, basically hours of being stuck in gridlock with no clear road to anywhere. A quick stop and the historical ‘Temple of Heaven’ and a market before more traffic on the way back to our hotel. The weekend finished with a quick morning visit to the zoo to see the famous giant panda before heading to the airport for the long transit home.

While flying south to our little corner of the world, we struggled to believe how much we squeezed into 10 days before landing back home to winter. With memories of the heat, incredible sights, astounding history and multitudes of people, China made for an unforgettable experience.