Geoffrey: Awards Ceremony and Visiting the Forbidden City

March 26, 2019

The general public visited the Maker Fair this morning which meant much more presenting than yesterday. I was surprised by how many people visited the Fair, especially considering that it was a school day. Communicating my research was especially difficult today because of all the jargon associated with my project. Julia, one of our wonderful volunteers, was very helpful with translations so I was able to have some very meaningful conversations with others about my project. I really enjoyed taking pictures with and giving out small gifts to the Chinese elementary school students!

After we presented to the public and ate lunch, we attended the Awards Ceremony in the evening. The ceremony was great and everyone in our delegation received an award. Jenny played a lovely violin piece for the USA’s “cultural act” during the awards ceremony. The ceremony was a great opportunity to take photos with other delegations; I will surely cherish all of these photos more and more as the years pass from this event. Following the ceremony, Emile and I went to the coffee shop down the street to play card games with the Italian and Australian students. Ultimately, this experience has provided me with the opportunity to engage in conversations which have broadened my perspective more than ever before. Moreover, I have learned that education is the most important asset which we have at our disposal and the liberal education afforded in America is not to be taken for granted.

Today, a day after the Awards Ceremony, we were able to relax and visit the famous Forbidden City. It was nice to be able to wear casual clothes, but we had an early morning and a long car ride into Beijing. Our tour guide was great at explaining the history of the Forbidden City and I surely gained a lot of knowledge about an integral part of China’s history. At the Forbidden City, I had the chance to pick up some gifts for some of my instructors and mentors who made this opportunity possible for me. I’m definitely looking forward to visiting the Great Wall tomorrow, but I will surely miss the volunteers who I’ve grown so close to.