The Lycée Français de New York’s Cultural and Language Exchange program with High School of Fudan University in Shanghai has been up and running for six years now. We hope you’ll enjoy daily these letters from several of our eighth graders, and Mr. Quéru, who accompanied them on their 16-day adventure in April, to catch a glimpse of how the exchange brings classroom knowledge to life. Our exchange program is truly interdisciplinary, preparing these young people for global competencies, and most of all understanding and appreciating perspectives and world views of others.
Day One – Beijing
“…Ni hao, it’s Gita here, in Beijing! The trip has been very exciting so far, jetlag still on the radar, causing some of us to feel very tired and at times fall asleep! Today, at around eight, we set off to explore Tiananmen Square, with temperatures over 70° Fahrenheit, 21° celsius, and then The Forbidden City, both famous political and cultural landmarks. We learned about the architecture of the buildings, such as the intelligent ways the The Forbidden City was built to protect China’s emperors and later empress from enemies, by building fifteen layers of brick under the top layer of ground inside the first gate, and not planting any trees or plants where enemies would be able to hide behind. Then, we took the bus to lunch at Hefu Noodle, a noodle restaurant which we all enjoyed and regained some energy to continue our day. The Summer Palace, the summer retreat built for the empress, was our next stop. It is said to be four times the size of The Forbidden City. We walked thr
ough a long corridor decorated by unique paintings, took a boat across the lake that is the centerpiece of the landmark, and then made our way back to our bus, which took us to a very traditional dinner, and the xiao long bao (a type of steamed bun from Shanghai), were a success! After a long day of sightseeing, we drove back to our hotel for the night. Tomorrow, we will be visiting The Great Wall Of China!”
Day Three – Beijing
“…We headed towards the Temple of Heaven where the emperor used to go worship the God of Heaven twice a year for good harvest. A Tai Chi master initiated us into this martial art, and we all enjoyed practicing basic moves surrounded by the peacefulness of nature. Around us were also retired locals who meet up in the park to exercise together.
We continued our tour of the Temple of Heaven by visiting the buildings where the emperor prayed, which were all beautifully decorated. Our tour guide thoroughly explained the history, culture, and other interesting facts about the Temple. The buildings were all shaped as circles since Heaven was believed to be circular and were surrounded by rectangles which was believed to be the shape of Earth. We all stopped everywhere to take pictures as souvenirs.
Lunch was special today because it took place in a local family’s house as opposed to a restaurant, and we learned to make vegetable dumplings. To get to the local family’s house, we enjoyed a rickshaw tour and Hutong visit (weaving our way through ancient narrow street) .The dumpling-making process was both entertaining and interesting. Seeing our final result made of all feel proud.
After a delicious lunch, we returned to the hotel to rest for a while before our last dinner in the capital city. We all met up in one room to hangout and play card games together which was a lot of fun…”
Day Five – Hangzhou
“…We started the day with a wonderful breakfast as usual, a good start for this amazing day in Hangzhou! We then headed to walk in the ancient pedestrian streets, where many traditional shops were located. We also visited the pharmacy museum created by the first billionaire in China in 1842. He used his fortune to create healing herbs for soldiers in need. Following our visit was 30 minutes of free time for souvenir shopping. To conclude our morning, we drove to the tea plantations 40 minutes outside of Hangzhou. We enjoyed the beautiful sight of all the mountains and greenery surrounding us. Once there, we learned how to pick the green tea leaves from the bushes and how to differentiate them from the rest of the plants. We went in a room where a tea expert explained how beneficial a cup of tea could be for our body to cleanse it. We also had the option of buying some of the freshly picked green tea to bring back to our home.
We then took the bus to a nearby village and had a wonderful lunch consisting of some rice, broccoli, and other delicious vegetables.
Once finished, we headed to the Xi Xi Wetland National Park, a site where we enjoyed a very peaceful boat ride. Following this ride was a walk in the quiet streets such as Huzhu that date back to the Ming Dynasty, where we found some very traditional boutiques.
We exited the wetland in a golf cart that allowed us to see even more of its beautiful scenery.
Towards the end of the day, we went for dinner in another local restaurant. We enjoyed eating the usual dishes.
To conclude this amazing and busy day, we headed to the West Lake for a magical light show. The colorful lights lit up the lake, with dancers and singers performing. It all created a magical picture.”
Day Ten – Shanghai and Host Families
“…We woke up this morning, after a first night of rest at our exchange students’ houses, and got ready to go to our first day at the Chinese school. Most of the classes were way too advanced in language for us, and we just felt inferior to the other students. Some of my classmates were lucky enough to have PE in their morning schedule. They said that they were the best and impressed Chinese students, making us New Yorkers look good!
We ate a quick lunch at the school, then we were off to the Oriental Pearl Radio and TV Tower, the world’s sixth tallest Radio and TV tower with a height of 468 meters. On the bus, we met some fellow Americans that were on the same tour as we were. They were all very nice, and we became friends with several of them. Once we arrived there, we waited in line, thank goodness we arrived early, or else we would have been stuck in line forever. Once we got into the elevator, our first stop was the observatory at 262 meters into the air. After that we went for a thrilling walk on the transparent Observatory at 259 meters of altitude. We took pictures there that would scare most of our mothers, for we were suspended 259m above the ground! All we had to prevent us from falling, was several inches of plexiglass. We found out that someone shattered one of the side panels, and there were several men that climbed outside of the building to fix it. We were all very excited to see how they would repair the damage. Once we were finished with taking super cool Instagram-worthy pics, we took the elevator back down… Once we arrived on the main floor, we went on a scavenger hunt at the Shanghai History Museum. We split up into groups, boys against girls (not my idea), and we looked for clues to answer a large sheet of questions. Everyone thought we were crazy because we were running everywhere frantically, trying to find the answers to the questions. We all wanted to win the competition really badly, it ended up being a tie, we all congratulated each other and left the beautiful Pearl Tower.
Today was very exciting for all of us, we experienced a lot of new things. Although we are having tons of fun in China, we will always miss our loved ones back in New York…”
Première journée des classes, Lycée de l’université de Fudan
”…Après une bonne nuit de sommeil et un petit déjeuner fortifiant, nous avons retrouvés nos guides et professeurs pour une nouvelle aventure. En route à travers l’éblouissante ville de Shanghai, un petit trajet en bus vers notre destination : Qingpu et une école associée à Fu Dan. Ce grand espace permet à plus de 800 élèves de se loger, s’instruire (bibliothèque et salles de classes) et se maintenir en forme ( piscine, volley-ball, basket-ball, football..etc)
Nous avons également pu profiter de leur professeur d’art en gravant nos propres créations sur des gommes qui serviront plus tard de tampons d’encre. Le déjeuner fut dans la cafétéria de cette école, dont la nourriture était goûteuse. Après cette expérience, nous nous somme dirigés vers « le Venise chinois », Zhu jia jiao, un ancien village chinois. De gracieuses petites maisons disposées sur les bords d’une rivière profonde. Hé hop la! Dans le bus, Direction Shanghai. En patientant dans l’école de Fu Dan pour nos host families, match de foot et basket pour tout le monde ! C’est la fin de la journée, chaque élève rentre avec leurs correspondants…”
Journée 12 – en famille
Bonjour à tous,
C’était aujourd’hui le dernier des trois jours passés en famille. La richesse et la variété des découvertes de chacun est tout à fait remarquable. Voici quelques photos pour témoigner de ces moments inoubliables :
–M. Quéru
About the Author :
Susan Wei joined the Lycée faculty and started the Chinese program in 2006. She earned a master’s in teaching from the School for International Training Graduate Institute in Brattleboro, Vermont and a bachelor’s in English from Anhui University in China. Before moving to the US, she worked as an associate professor at China’s Shantou University. Prior to the Lycée, Susan worked for a student exchange organization in D.C and taught Chinese at Hope Chinese School in Maryland. She was appointed as AP reader by ETS and College Board in 2013. She has had one book (co-author) published in America and in China, she translated the “James Bond 007” series. When not teaching, Susan enjoys cooking, yoga, and spending time with her family.