In summer 2017, I had the opportunity to travel to Beijing, China for the International Summer Camp. Since I had been taking Chinese lessons for about a year, it was part of our curriculum. It was the first time ever that I was travelling out of the country without my parents. And let me tell you, it was probably one of the best experiences of my life to this day.

The camp took place in Beijing, China for 10 days. We all stayed in the Beijing Royal School campus, located in the outskirts of Beijing.

This blog post is all about my experience at the Beijing International Summer Camp, so keep on reading to know more! *since this took place 3 years ago, I had to take out the scrapbook I made to remember all the details lol*

The flight

Our group was composed of 10 people (including me). We all arrived at Geneva Airport and were ready to go! Our flight was scheduled for 8:30 pm but unlucky for us, it was delayed. It didn’t matter though, as we entertained ourselves by getting to know each other and talking about how excited we were for the trip! After an hour or two of waiting we were ready to board!

The flight was a direct flight from Geneva to Beijing with Air China and was about 10 hours. On the flight, we were served some delicious beef curry and vegetables for dinner. I drifted off to sleep and before I knew it, we were approaching our destination.

The arrival

We landed at around 3 pm Beijing time (7 hours ahead). As I stepped out of the airport, the warm and humid air hit me and it felt like I was walking right into a sauna. Our guide came to get us to drive us to our campus and on the way, he explained all about our upcoming week. As I looked out of the window, I got my first glimpse of the busy city of Beijing and I couldn’t be more excited.

The campus was huge, bigger than I expected. There were already plenty of people there. Since it’s an international camp, it includes people from around 20 countries. We installed ourselves in our dorms and went to eat our first Chinese dinner. We each received our camp t-shirts and the plan for the week. By the look of it, it was going to be so much fun.

Day 1

On the plan for the first day, was the Opening Ceremony of the camp. We all drove to a big theatre and watched the show. Each country had to have one representative who would carry the flag on the stage wearing typical national clothes. The show ended with some Chinese dancing and opera.

Where we had lunch was impressive. It was a big hall full of round tables and a stage. We were each seated at a table full of delicious food such as different types of curry, fish, vegetables etc..As we were eating a show took place on stage.

Since Beijing hosted the Olympic games in 2008, we got to see the famous Bird’s Nest stadium and the Olympic Park in the afternoon. The stadium is huge and since there was about 400-500 hundred of us, it was the perfect place to take a group photo.

Day 2

Day 2 was spent on campus during which we could choose 4 activities amongst plenty. I spent the morning designing, printing 3D objects and building car models and in the afternoon, I tried out Virtual Reality and got in touch with my creative side by doing some clay sculptures!

Day 3

The day finally came. Day 3 was when we climbed the Great Wall Of China (Ju Yong Guan). The temperature was above 30°C and the stairs were so steep. I still managed to get to the middle but it was so humid, hot and I was sweating so much that it got hard for me to continue.

We headed back to the bus and could finally cool off. Then, we ate a well-deserved lunch before heading to the LIVAT shopping centre. We had the afternoon to ourselves to shop! In the evening for dinner, we decided to get some Burger King for a change. On the way back to campus we passed the Tian’anmen Gate all lit up at night! It was magical.

Day 4

Our morning started with a Kung Fu show, during which a dozen of Kung Fu masters showed us their moves. At the end of the show, we could even go on stage to learn it for ourselves!

Did you know that Beijing has an old town? It’s full of old typical houses and it’s called Hutong. After the show, we walk through them and it was as if we went back in time.

It was now time to visit the famous Tian’anmen square! As we were walking around the square it started to rain. A relief, since it was boiling hot that day again. Luckily, it cleared up quickly and we could visit the Forbidden City with its numerous gates that seem to go on and on!

Day 5

Day 5 was another day spent doing activities at the campus. That day, I decided to learn Chinese calligraphy. It was actually super interesting to learn how they hold the brush and perfect the movements. I even learnt how to spell my name in pinyin. Then, I got to try out tie-dying and solve the famous Chinese wooden mind puzzles!

Doing such activities at the camp full of international students really help me meet new people from around the world with whom I am still in contact with now!

Day 6

We spent the morning visiting the Summer Palace, which is actually so beautiful in real life. It is surrounded by lovely parks full of lotus flowers and a lake on which you can take boat tours. It is also home to one of the longest corridor of paintings! Super impressive!

The afternoon was one of my favourite! First, we went to the Silk Market. It is basically a shopping centre full of little shops and market stands. The best place to buy souvenirs and bits and bobs! But, hear me out, this is where you absoluetly need good bargaining skills. Often the prices that are marked on the objects are over 10x more than what they are actually worth.

Even if I had never really bargained before myself, I tried to do it and I was successful! I managed to buy several souvenirs for a fraction of their original price. One funny things the shop owner told me as I was negociating the price with her was. “Oh you are so young yet you are already bargaining?” haha! I was proud to have done that all by myslef to be honest.

Then we went to a tea house to try out some Chinese tea! We tried some Oolong tea and green tea, etc.. They showed and explain to us how they make it and what makes each tea so special and good for you.

Day 7

Day 7 was definitely one of the hardest days for me since I happened to have eaten something bad the day before so I felt sick the whole day. That didn’t stop me from having a good day though! We got to visit the Temple of Heaven and walk through its numerous gates.

For lunch, we had the best food ever! We ate at this exclusive roast duck restaurant called Quanje Roast Duck Restaurant Beijing. They cut a whole roasted duck in front of us and we ate it in pancakes with plum sauce. It was so delicious!

The afternoon was spent indoors at the Capital Museum. It exhibits all ancient porcelains, paintings from imperial China and explains all about China’s history.

Day 8

The last full day at the camp! I felt super sad for it to end. I had met so many amazing people and had such and great time. To end it, they organized the international friendship carnival during which every country has a stand with souvenirs, objects and foods from their own country. You can go arond and collect stuff from every country all while exchanging stuff from your own. It was a great way to learn and discover each countries culture.

The Closing Ceremony took place after that, to officially say goodbye. Every country that wanted to show more of their culture could perform a dance or a song on stage.

Day 9

Everyone left campus that day. We each received a certificate and a panda plushie as a souvenir. Our flight was only late in the evening so our group still had a whole day to visit more of Beijing. We decided to explore Beihai park which is home to a white pagoda, a park, temples and a nine dragon wall. we took a boat on the river and got to experience Beijing for the last time. We then took the metro back to the airport. (it was my first time taking public transport in China). It was actually more modern and clean than I expected!

Before we knew it, we were boarding our 10hour flight back to Geneva (via Vienna).

Needless to say, I had the most amazing time during the Beijing International Summer Camp. I met loads of people from Canada, Indonesia to Pakistan and it was an experience of a lifetime that I will never forget Everyone was so nice and welcoming and it felt like a whole big family.

You can watch the Youtube Video made about the camp by clicking here

I hope you enjoyed reading all about my experience. This blog post is more of a journal type post. Let me know in the comments if you want more of these type of posts in the future!