My visit to China as part of the Experiment in International Living - Eriel Holloway

 The Experiment in International Living (EIL) really had a big impact on me. I took a trip to China for four weeks and it was so amazing! When I first got to Los Angeles, I was a little scared to meet my group because they were all from different states and I was worried that I would not get along with the other students. My prediction was way off because my group got along very well and there weren't any problems.

When I first met my group, it was weird talking to them because they all said that I sounded like I was from the South because I had a southern accent (which I had never heard before!). Before we went off to live with our host families, I got to know my group a little more and I learned that we all had something unique about us.

 My first day in China was a lot of fun because I got to climb the Great Wall of China, something that I never thought I would do in a million years. The steps were so steep and it was scary going up and coming down. I was worried that I would not like the food in China but the food was not that bad. It was different but it was good to me.

One thing that stuck out to me was the long train ride from city to city. The first train ride was 16 hours and all of that time on the train brought the group even closer together, which was a wonderful thing.

After the train ride from Beijing to Xian, we went our separate ways and lived with our urban host families for six days. It turned out to be a great experience because I got to share my family with another student in my group. We each had our own rooms and our sisters were very nice to us.

The first day spending time with my sister was interesting because I was helping her with her English and she was helping me with my Chinese. While spending time with my sister, I learned that I have to work on my patience, especially when it came to helping my sister with her English. I had to keep reminding myself that while my sister spoke English, she was not fluent at it so I had to take my time when we talked.

My host mother was great cook and she always asked what we wanted to eat and my sister always made sure that I had enough food to eat. I had a great time with my host family and I was a little sad to leave them.

When we arrived to our rural home stay, there were fire crackers going off and the people were so excited to see us! I loved the rural home stay because our group became close to one another. We saw each other every day and spent time over each others houses.

One of the last activities that we did before we went home was to go swimming in a cave with mud in it. It was so much fun because I was not used to swimming in mud it was so cold and thick. After swimming in mud, we rinsed off and got in a hot spring that was in the cave – 

talk about relaxing!

When the last day in China finally came and we went back to America, I was a little sad because I had such a great time in China. But, I also missed my family and friends back in DC and couldn’t wait to tell them about my trip. China was a lot of fun and I would definitely come back to visit!