As the last days of ALP approaching, I would like to look back and sum up how i feel over the entire course of the trip. Before coming over to Hangzhou, I was excited but slightly nervous at the same time, as it will be the longest I will ever be away from home. When we came over the Hangzhou, it was a test to our adaptability- the food was so different, speaking and reading so much Chinese took a little while to get used to, finding where everything was (arriving close to evening and the late spring cold did not help much either) etc. Despite all, settling down was still quite manageable, our friends were always there to help, the people in hangzhou were all so friendly and easy to talk to, and the staff and professors were very understanding.
As the rainy and cold weather died down ( we kinda miss the cold now despite complaining a lot initially), we started getting use to the place and travelling further away in search of good food and scenic places to explore. The most memorable trip for me is trip to Huangshan. I was very excited looking at all the photos of Yunhai, mountains, sunrises and sunsets, and listening to all our seniors’ stories about how you ‘have to go there at least once in your life’, but I was paranoid at the same time, because all the other groups that went to Huangshan during the same period as us (7-9 July) met with horrendous weather. Okay, pause this Huangshan story for one sec. Did I mention how I was terribly unlucky that week? I lost my school card, my AI files I was working on crashed, etc were just a few to name the least. I guess this was all the karma debt to pay because we met with the best weather we could every ask for, like it literally stopped raining for the two days we were at Huangshan, even though we couldn’t catch the sunsets because it was too cloudy. I was very thankful:’), in my opinion, the sunrises had to be the best part.
As last month came, the weather started getting really really hot, and a bit unbearable, and so did the approach of the final product launch. Things started getting real and we had to come up with the final design of our building and quick. Would we be able to finish all our posters and models on time? The theme would stay back together and waimai-ed lunch and dinner together while working on our designs and prototypes, it was hectic, but definitely a good memory to share. Although most of us are new at the whole process of preparing for Laoshi’s crib, getting lost in all the softwares and things to do and helping each other out definitely made the process more fun then draining. I’m glad we were all in that together :D! (see y’all in the studio soon!)
We will be back in 2 days! it feels so so so surreal!! Although we are all worried that we’ve too much things to bring back and we would exceed the weight limit all, I’m soo looking forward to going back to the land of all the yummy food we’ve been missing, to the Ultimate trainings and team I’ve been missing and most importantly, seeing my family again!! Wheee~
Thanks Hangzhou! You’ve been great!! Till next time~
Clara Chow
