Diandra Wilmot

Myself and 18 other Southampton University students travelled to Xiamen, China to spend 2 weeks at Xiamen University.

We took part in several activities and travelling while staying in Xiamen. Personally the highlights of the Summer School were visiting Gulang Island, taking part in the martial arts workshop, Beijing opera appreciation and facial mask making and visiting Zengcuoan.

Gulang Island is a pedestrian-only island hence we took a ferry from the Xiagu Pier. On the island the streets were filled with several fruit vendors, dried seafood shops and jewellery shops. With low prices we were all very tempted by the jewellery shops. A few of the girls and myself ended up buying a lot of pearls on the trip.

Although it was very hard to communicate with the locals due to the language barriers, a few Xiamen University students accompanied us to provide assistance.

During our day off, a few of us climbed up a mountain just outside the university gates. The climb was definitely worth the view of Xiamen city. We then climbed down the other side for the mountain to the botanical garden. By the time we walked back to campus it was still early, so we then decided to go to the driving range on campus. This was a particularly fun day and we ended the day watching Incredibles 2 at the cinema.    

 

Diandra Wilmot