Here are some accounts from Sixth Form students who attended this year's experience trip to Beijing:

In March, I decided to go on the business trip to Beijing China. Although I was the only girl on the trip I didn’t feel lonely. It did feel at bit intimidating at first, being the only girl, but it quickly turned into a really empowering experience. Navigating such a busy and different environment pushed me out of my comfort zone and I found myself becoming more confident each day. From exploring the city’s culture to taking part in business related activities I realised I could handle challenges independently. There were so many different sites that we saw and that was a different architecture to what I know. It was truly an amazing experience and would love to do it again. By the end of the trip, I wasn’t just proud of what I’d learned about business but also how much I have grown as a person.

 

Louise Duffy 12L

Travelling to China was breeze as far as security went there was no issues and it left us waiting at the airports for much longer than expected – but better early than late. My only issue was forgetting to put my deodorant into my hold luggage rather than carry-on. Before our trip we had to acquire a visa, which should no longer be an issue, and other than that there was an entry declaration that had to be filled in before entering the country. China runs very differently to England with payments occurring purely on phones with WeChat and Alipay (Alipay is easier to set up and offers purchasable e-sims for the trip), alongside these apps you can opt for a VPN, and I recommend taking some spare cash in case your phone doesn't work. 

 

All meals were hassle free and enjoyable for me but I’m not sure I could say the same for non-chopsticks users. The meals were all pre-bought and served in a communal way – leading to feuds between the table controlling the lazy-susan, maybe being a sign that the food was too delicious. Each meal was roughly the same with multiple meat dishes, a rice bowl, noodles but you could tell which one was the firm favourite because it would last about one round of the table and be gone by the second. My favourite meal is a tough decision between the duck banquet, with the chef carving in front of the table, or the first meal we had which we bought ourselves – which highlighted the cheap prices of China. The first meal I had I shared with Seb and Alfie, cost about £12 between us for a massive bowl of rice, gargantuan plate of prawns, mountain of noodles and hefty plate of meat.

 

The array of activities in our itinerary was more than enough to keep me and the rest of the group entertained and engaged for the whole trip. Varying from visiting the historical pillars of China like the Great Wall, Forbidden City and Tiananmen square to showing the economic power of China with the Coca-Cola factory and the Yanjing beer factory – I'll admit the samples were the best part. But this trip could not have run so smoothly despite the itinerary shifts without our brilliant and lovely tour guide, Lily. Lily was with us from the beginning to the end of our time in China, giving fun facts, historical stories and overall bringing the group together like “sticky rice”. Even with the packed itinerary we still had time to enjoy our meals and at the end of the day find time to relax in either our room’s private hot spring or the hotel’s assortment of public hot springs and spa facilities. But a highlight for me was haggling down from 2160 yuan down to 675 yuan for my mahjong set – granted it was overpriced in the first place.

 

Would I recommend this trip to my friends or anyone reading this? Yes, of course, I would it was made exceptional by the fact I was with my friends and nice teachers – I am not sure I could improve the trip in any way.

 

Ned Harding 12F