From Brittany Master

May 27, 2010

I cannot believe that our trip is over in two more days. The time flew by without anyone noticing. We have all had a great time so far and have learned so much. Since my last blog we have done so much. A place we traveled to was the Dazu stone carvings. It was a bit of a drive but it was well worth it. It took us almost an hour to walk around the entire place. Each of the carvings was different and unique in their own way. They each made up a large mural, which not only showed the Chinese characters that you could read but the carvings told a story. The stories were of the culture and their beliefs, which I found extremely interesting. It must have taken the artists that made them a long time because there were a lot of small carvings that made up the large ones. Another great place we got to experience was the teahouse with the tea demonstration. We learned five different types of teas and what made them up, such as roots and herbs. They not only are refreshing but each had their own meaning such as healing or relaxing. We learned all the equipment it took to make these teas and the proper ways to drink them. We all enjoyed the demonstration and even though I don’t like tea I still tried it and enjoyed what we learned. We experienced so much on this trip such as the different foods, culture and the Chinese way of life. It has taught me a lot about the people of China and also myself. I am going to take everything I have learned from here home with me and always remember this awesome experience for the rest of my life. I am grateful I got picked to come on this trip because it was a life changing experience.