During spring break, some students went to the beach and some to the mountains; but some members of the AHS Chinese classes went to China.

Among these students were sophomore Abby Griepentrog and junior Abby Fickel.

Every two to three years, students and teachers affiliated with the Chinese program travel to China to learn about the culture, food, and the environment.  The trip lasts for around 10-11 days.

AHS takes these kinds of trips so that the students in the class can experience the culture, says Griepentrog. “We can’t experience much of it here, like the students in spanish because Chinese is not as prevalent.”

Griepentrog says she decided to go on this trip because her older brother went two years ago and was going again. He encouraged her to go this year.

Fickel says the reason she went is because she “loves traveling” and “loves learning the language. I was super excited to experience the culture firsthand.”

She says she could never choose what her favorite part about the trip would be. It all was “absolutely incredible,” and she says she can’t wait to go again someday.

Griepentrog says her favorite part of the trip was when the group visited an art school. At the school, there were a bunch of ballerinas who were so excited to see them.

“People in China are not used to seeing American people, so they came up to us and starting taking pictures of us, without asking if they could. They were just so happy to see us,” she says.

One thing that Fickel says she wishes she could have changed was saying longer, because the country was “so incredible.”

Griepentrog said she thought it would have been cool to spend more time at the Great Wall of China, because she found that fascinating.

One thing she learned while in China was the word “quesi” is what you say when you want people to smile for pictures, exactly like how we say “cheese.”