Biking, Climbing, Hiking… But No Camping for Freshmen

Destination? Qingyuan. The freshmen are preparing for their first China Trips as high schoolers. For some of us, it will be our first trip at AISG. What will the trip be like?

China Trips is part of AISG’s “extended circular program”, and all students are expected to attend it. For as long as most students can remember, the agenda of these trips have been arranged by an organization called Dragonfly. From personal experience with this group in other schools, I think that Dragonfly is pretty good at planning trips. Every day is packed with activities, and any missing gaps of energy are filled up by the bubbly personalities of the group leaders from Dragonfly. There are occasional complaints about getting the same dishes every day, but nothing is perfect. But what does Dragonfly have in store for this year’s freshmen?

Since the trip for freshmen has been pretty similar for the past few years, I interviewed a few older students about the trip. Sophomore student Emily A. said that the trip was her favorite trip so far. Caving was her favorite part of the trip because it was something that she had never done before. On the other end of the spectrum, senior student Carrie L. recalled her freshman year trip to Qingyuan, which she did not enjoy: “I turned 15 in a tent that was made by five sticks…and a tarp”. The trip left her with recurring allergies, but it was mainly because of the night spent camping. Luckily for this year’s freshmen, the camping has been canceled because of the shortened trip length. Carrie also mentioned that she spent a lot of the trip dehydrated, so this year’s 9th graders should keep that in mind.

Mrs. Renfrow will not be going to the 9th-grade trip this year, but she attended the 9th-grade trip last year. She expressed similar sentiments toward camping as the students. “[For the 9th-grade trip,] its more of students don’t have to go camping than students don’t get to go camping”, because last year’s camping was done in harsh weather that made it memorable in less pleasant ways. However, she did say that she had lots of fun in the other parts of the trip.

Mrs. Owen is one of the main planners for the trip this year: “9th Grade China Trips is all about getting out doors[,] seeing a rural part of China and investigating a place where we can be in nature, away from the normal things that are in our comfort zones…a place where we can stretch ourselves to do something different from the academic life we live here”