Embraced by the soothing grey of the sky, eleventh-grade students and teachers of SHSID arrived on March 31st, 2021, to Chongming Island with great enthusiasm to participate in the 3-day Global Citizen Day event.

The lush greenery hid the white walls of the village houses as the buses zoomed along the tranquil asphalt roads. Then the road began to narrow, and the car slowed to a crawl. And the students were freed from the cage of the busy city to return to the serene countryside.

After they settled down in their dorms, they gathered in the playground and the coach introduced the schedule for their next 3 days. Without animation, cosplay, or games, they were to learn about how to become farmers and know more about the world, which had made everyone excited upon hearing this. The director of School and Student Affairs Office, Ms. Liu Qin, also gave a speech encouraging students to enjoy the 3-day camp.

After lunchtime, they were split into two groups to start their activities.One group of students went into the fields. The hands that had held pens at school now were picking up shovels and plows, weeding and loosening the soil, and planting and watering garlic, onion, celery, corn, and soya bean seedlings. Their legs got sore and necks stiff, but their hearts experienced a joy they had never felt before.

The other students set out to complete a set of tasks to win points for their teams. The activities included fire-starting, archery, racing, and a treasure-hunt.

Still excited and energetic after dinner, the students got to show off their skills with improvisational performances that embodied the themes of the “Leave No Trace” tourism campaign. It made the students even more excited for the days to come.

The students truly enjoyed the first day of their three-day travel experience. Immersed in the beauty of nature, even the weak Wi-Fi signal on the farm became tolerable.

In the morning of April 1st, students and teachers of SHSID were awakened by a pleasant alarm, with the sound of birds chirping peacefully in the sky. Outside, the dewy grasslands were still quite moist from the previous day’s rain. As the students stepped into the wilderness, the waves of delightful cool breeze reminded them to embrace the new day with youthful enthusiasm.

A day cannot be complete without a series of healthy exercises. As soon as they got to the greenfield, they began their set of a morning run. Jogging along the lake, they couldn’t help but be marveled by the beauty of the countryside.

At the same time, students in the cooking group went to the market to gather ingredients. With handheld sauces, vegetables, and meat, they poured their efforts into the busy kitchen. Different dishes’ pleasant aromas radiated out of the colliding pot and pans, and everyone’s faces were covered with smiles of satisfaction.

When some students were busy with fire and dishes, other students were busy with straw. They learned how to braid long ropes with hay and used them for a jump-rope competition. Their hands and muscles were sore from all the rubbing and jumping. Nonetheless, with their competitiveness stirred, they learned to appreciate everyone’s hard work and contribution. Afterwards, they went to the canteen and made dumplings for lunch.

They also went to the Chinese Medicine Museum and were assigned several games to win points for students’ classes. The trip to the museum was arguably the most interesting one of the entire day. Under the direction of the museum instructors, they made their own soaps and sachet bags using traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). The process was creative and taught them greatly about traditional Chinese culture.

Finally, nighttime came, marking the end of the day’s journey. Before going to bed, students watched the microfilms that they had made for this Global Citizen Day event. The videos were extremely inspirational, not just in terms of the impressive editing skill that students demonstrated, but of the content themselves. They were inspired to step out of their circles of fear. They were inspired to pursue their dreams with discipline and perseverance. They were inspired to recognize that whenever they feel depressed, they are never alone.

On the last day, the students walked to a nearby planting spot to pick strawberries after their morning run. It is the season of strawberry harvest. When one enters the greenhouse, the humid air and the unique sweet smell of strawberries will leave him or her with a great impression. Carrying small baskets, students all spread out to carefully select the freshest and fullest strawberries.

Though tired from the eventful three days, what they learned from this time’s GCD trip was encouraging and motivating. Even far away from their accustomed city life, their days in the countryside proved to be meaningful.

(Written by Emma Li Picture by Hao Sun Edited and Supervised by Sijia He)