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I have been staying in Newport News for almost three years now. The residence kind of feels like a home now. When I first came to Newport News, I was still complaining about this city is too small without much to do, but I do feel close and connected to the city now. It is kind of weird to think about that I am going to leave this place in two months and probably won’t have too many opportunities to come back again.

Newport News contains too much of my memory. Actually, this peninsula contains a lot of memory.

The residence:

This is the place where I spend most of my time in. I get to meet and interact with so many nice and great people here. The residence is like a small community in which I am grateful to be part of.

I always like to take pictures when there is gorgeous sky in the background.

City Center:

Our residence is very close to the city center, so I am pretty familiar with city center now. At first I thought the city center was pretty fancy with so many stores, and now I realize that city center is just such a small place. But it is still a beautiful small place with a lot of details to discover.

 

The shoppes at Oyster Point:

We always like to walk here to have a meal in Pho 83 and do a little shopping at food lion because we cannot drive. Pho is a really great Vietnamese restaurant. The views on the road are sometimes wonderful.

Grandview Island:

It is located at the upper tip of the peninsula. It is a very quiet beach with few people around.

Yorktown Beach:

The bridge is right across the view. The restaurant and the ice cream shops are really good.

Sandy Bottom Nature Park:

A great park for walking and relaxing.

Fort Monroe National Monument:

It used to be a military base to guard the navigation channel between the Chesapeake Bay and Hampton Roads. It is a pretty big base with many interesting constructions to see.

And right by the base is the sea with gorgeous view.

Our school sailing team has the practice on the other side of Fort Monroe, and I really enjoy the scenes when I was sailing.

Kayaking at Waller Mill Park:

The residential students have a tradition of kayaking in the Mill Park for two years now. It is a pretty cool activity with beautiful views.

 

I went to Guangzhou during this winter break. I arrived in Guangzhou at noon on December 29th, and Neky picked me up at the train station since it was his hometown.

After I checked in the hotel, we went to have lunch together with Nikko and Stanley, who is Neky’s friend. We had boiled fish with pickled cabbage and chili for lunch, and it was actually my first time to have this. It tasted really really good. (It looked spicy, but to be honest it was not so hot)

In the afternoon, Nikko and I hanged around in Zhengjia Square, which was right in the downtown and was very busy. It was a really big shopping mall with tons of stores, restaurants, and entertainments.

We spent a lot of money to try some entertainment in order to get a prize, but we failed every single one of them. It was fun and frustrating at the same time.

I had to mention when I was trying to take the metro to go back. It was insane.

I was surrounded and pushed by people, and it was even hard for me to breath. The station was full of people, as well as every metro passed by. It was evening peak, and the metro stop happened to be in the center of the city. I waited for about 20 minutes when I finally got inside the metro. But I was still pushed by the crowd. I felt lucky that I was only two stops away from my hotel, and I swore I would never take the metro like this anymore.

On the next day, Neky and I went to have dimsum with tea, which was a very Cantonese-style brunch. I loved it so much that I could not wait to try the authentic food here in Guangzhou.

There are so many food choices, and I tried to eat as much as I can. After brunch, we went to iceskating because Neky was crazy about ice skating.

 

 

Later we took the APM, which stands for automatic people mover systems, to Flower City Square. The APM was really cool(The picture could not really show how cool it was)  because it was a driveless metro with windows on both ends. We can literally saw everything outside the window. I did not get the front rows since it was always occupied by children.

Guangzhou looked amazing in the night with lights on. Flower City Square was mind blowing when I saw it. It was so beautiful that I almost lost myself in these lights.

I immediately fell in love with this city, and words could not describe the beauty of it.

On the third day, I went toSun Yat-Sen University to visit two of my old classmates. We had dimsum with tea again and milk tea.

It was a really beautiful campus by the river, and they were the best tour guides. They told me about the stories, histories, buildings, and their own college experiences.

Then in the night, I went to meet Neky again because it was December 31st, and we planned to wait for the new year together. We had barbecue around 10:30pm with Stanley and Jack, and then we were walking on the streets while Stanley shouting random stuff because he was really excited.

We walked towards Flower City Square because a lot of people chose to come here to welcome the new year, and it felt great to wait for the new year together with so many strangers.

When we walked back to the hotel, it was already around 1:00 am. This was such a fun experience.

Guangzhou is a really pretty and happy city with delicious food and lots of entertainment. Having a friend during visit is much more fun and excited than I thought. I would definitely come back to Guangzhou to enjoy its beauty.

Thanksgiving break is coming again. We are planning to go to Boston again this year because Boston is a really fascinating and beautiful city. I book the same apartment I stayed in last year because it is in the China Town.

 

 

Our first dinner is Hot Eastern. It is a really good Chinese restaurant. The staff members are very friendly and nice. The food is very very authentic and spicy. We really miss the real Chinese-style spicy food.

 

On the second day, we just walk around the hotel in the morning and have lunch in another Chinese restaurant. Then in the afternoon, we walk to Boston Common. It is a park very close to our apartment and also the starting point of the freedom trial.

It is really cold during Thanksgiving in Boston, but the weather is so good and clear. It is a very peaceful and quiet park. People are running, walking dogs, feeding squirrels, sitting on the bench. Even though the people in the city are very busy, they seem to enter a slow and relaxed life style here.

We start to follow the freedom trial. The cold wind keeps us awake. There are many historical buildings along the road.

We walk past the government center, Boston City Hall, and Old State House, then we cross the street and arrive at Quincy Market.

 

 

It is a really interesting huge market contains so many shops. It’s like a much more casual mall. Customers walk in and out. The market brings more vitality to the city. 

 

 

In the night, we have our dinner at Hokkaido Santouka Ramen. It is a very popular ramen place on the Newbury street. We wait in outside for about fifty minutes before we get in, and it is freezing outside. But the ramen is really good, which makes me feel better about the waiting.

 

It is around 8:30 after dinner, and we decide to go ice skating in Boston Commons. It is an outside ice rink, and we are kind of excited about it.

The city looks beautiful with lights on. It is much colder in the night, but it is fun to skate in the park that seems to be surrounded buildings. We skate until the ice rink closes, and we walk back to the apartment.

The next day we rest in the apartment for most of the time because it is way too cold outside. We play some group games, and somehow we start to have debates over different topics. We order milk tea and relax. It feels really warm and cozy. We are not hungry at all when it is around six, then we decide to skip dinner and go to Karaoke.

 

Karaoke is a pretty popular entertainment in China. It is not just about how well you can sing, but a group of people having fun together. Time flies in the karaoke, and it is almost 10 when we leave. And now we are hungry. Most restaurants have closed, but we still find a Korean restaurant which interestingly is owned by Chinese. We are the only customers in the restaurant, and it feels great to have a large meal after singing and screaming for a while.

 

 

 

Then it comes to Black Friday.We have been waiting for the shopping day eagerly. We walk through the busy streets and march all the way to the Newbury streets. But to be honest we only bought a few things because the prices are still high. I think the best thing we get is the Lady M Black Forest cake.

 

 

 

We really love Lady M cakes, especially the crepes. Then in the night, we go to have hot pot right under our apartment.

 

 

 

 

The next day, we take a subway to Northeastern University. After hanging around in the campus for a while, we take a bus to Boston University right by the Charles River.

When I am walking around in Boston University, I keep wondering how great it is to study right by the Charles River in the city of Boston. Except the fact that it is very cold in winter, everything else of Boston is very fascinating.

Then we start our long walk along the Charles River. It is peaceful and quiet.

There is still ice floating on the river. The river is deep blue and shiny. It kind of reminds me of the river by my house in my hometown. I enjoy walking by the river with only the sound of the wind. We walk all the way to Newbury street and take a metro back.

I have to mention the last meal we had in Boston. We do not want to miss seafood and lobster in Boston, and we go to a very authentic seafood restaurant nearby. The restaurant is pretty busy, and we luckily get to sit in the governor’s room. However, when we get the menu, the price is way higher than expected. We are a little panic. In the end, eight of us only order five dishes with a lobster. The lobster is really really good with the sauce. I would love another one if the price is not so high.

 

 

Boston is truly a great city to live and enjoy. The city has everything i desire, and it can always surprise me in different ways. I would love to visit Boston in summer because I really cannot bear cold weather. But the city is so attractive that I miss my time there as soon as I leave.

 

During Columbus weekend, Mrs. Holloway planned a trip for all of the residential students to go down to Myrtle Beach to spend the four-day weekend. It was so nice of her to organize such a great trip for us.

However, a lot of seniors needed to take SAT on Saturday in HRA. As a result, we could only go there after the SAT, meaning we lost almost two days of the break.

When we finally arrived in Myrtle Beach, it was already Saturday evening. The six-hour driving had made me very tired. But it felt so good that everyone in the residence stayed in a big apartment together without curfew. We were playing board games in the living room. To be honest, it was really crowded, but I loved the feeling of home here. 

On the next day, I went to the beach with a few others. The beach was only thirty feet away from our apartment. It was beautiful. However, since no one was able to guard our phones, we did not bring our phones. So I do not have photos of the sea. 

 We played in the sea. The huge waves were pretty fun. The seawater was as salty as I expected. 

In the afternoon, we went to the Broadway in Myrtle Beach. It is an entertainment center with restaurants, stores, and a lot of attractions.

We went to ride the sky wheel, and the view from above was pretty cool.

Later in the afternoon, we went to play go cart nearby.

Once again, we did not take pictures while driving. But it was really fun to drive with high speed and hit each other sometimes.

Besides the go cart place, there was a wax museum. Some of the wax were pretty cool and real. 

Before I even realized, the Columbus weekend almost came to the end. To be honest, I only had Sunday to have fun because of SAT and time driving on the road. But Myrtle Beach was a pretty cool coastal city. But more importantly, I would never forget the feeling that every residential student lives together in a big apartment and creates a sense of home.

At the end of the summer break, Joy and I went to Miami because we were going to see Taylor Swift’s Reputation Tour on August 18th.

I guess it was something special to start my senior year. Actually I had never been to a concert, and I was excited to see Taylor because I really like her songs.

In the morning of 18th, we went to walk around in the downtown Miami. The streets here were totally different from the streets in other places. There were palm trees on the sidewalk. I really enjoyed the tropical climate with hot weather and crystal blue sky.

There were not many people on the streets since it was in the morning. We walked around aimlessly and we got to Brickell City Centre. It was a big shopping mall, and to my surprise, most of the staff in the stores could speak Spanish. It seemed that Spanish was more popular than English here.

City view in Miami was gorgeous. Every building looks kind of bluish under the sky. Then we went to a Mexican restaurant, hoping to get some authentic Mexican food.

While we were walking, we were attracted by the metro moving on the tracks above the roads. Then we decided to try the metro because it was quite interesting.

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The metro was very short, and it was FREE. It was so fascinating because we were above the city. We took the metro to the Bayfront park, and we began to walk by the sea.

We kept walking, and we got to the Bayside Marketplace.

To be honest, I had already fallen in love with the weather in the city. The beautiful views only made me want to stay in Miami longer.

We kept walking, and we ran into the Philip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science. Since we had noting to do, we decided to go in the museum. It was a huge museum with so many rooms of different themes.

Then in the afternoon, we were so ready for the concert.

We arrived at the Hard Rock Stadium around 5:30 pm. There were Taylor Swift’s songs everywhere in the parking lot.

Our seats were kind of far away from the stage because the tickets were pretty expensive. The stadium was huge, much bigger than I expected. Everyone was so hyped for the concert.

                           

The guest singers were Charlie XCX and Camila Cabello. They were both amazing artists who were absolute incredible during their performances.

Then around 9:00 pm, Taylor finally came to the stage. The scream was insane in the stadium. I was so excited and happy to see Taylor in person, even the stage was still far away from me.

The tour was amazing, and I did not realize how fast the time had passed.

I would never forget about this experience. The entire stadium was screaming, singing, and dancing.

Both of us were tired on the next day. We planned to go to South Beach and we almost fell asleep on the Uber.

But as soon as we arrived at South Beach, the views immediately caught our attention.

I loved sea. South Beach had met every desire of mine towards the sea. We did not bring any beach wears, but I really wanted to jump into the sea.

Blue and green are two of my favorite colors, and I felt so comfortable just by looking at the sea. It really could cure a person’s soul.

We went to a Cuban restaurant for lunch, though it was already afternoon. It was a small and crowded restaurant by the sea. Sea wind was blowing into the restaurant with the hot summer air. It was so relaxing and comfortable.

We only had a few days in Miami because the school was going to start, but I had fallen in love with the passion of the city. I am the type of the person who loves water and hot weather, and Miami was just like a dream city for me.

 

 

 

The second city of our graduation trip is Xian. We are taking a plane from Xiamen to Xian. It is quite interesting for me because it is actually my first time to take a domestic flight. As for my friends, it is probably like the second or the third time of taking planes. So we all are quite excited about the experience.

 

Again, we are living in an airbnb in Xian. The location of our apartment is quite convenient for us because it is right at downtown with shopping malls all around. And the metro is just five minutes of walk.

The next morning we go the Fireflies Light Art Gallery. It has a lot of different settings of lights, and it is a great place for pictures.

          

                         

It is a really fun place, and we take tons of pictures inside. Then we have a steak buffet for lunch, and we go to a trampoline place called Double One. There are so many kinds of trampolines inside.

Then in the night, we go to Muslim Snack Street for dinner, but we do not expect the street to be so crowded that we can barely move.

We try a lot of local food, such as cruded pancake in mutton soup, Biangbiang noodles, sheep’s haslet soup, and rougamo.

These food taste pretty special, very different from the food in the east of China. I do not really like eating haslets, so I guess it is hard for me to live in this city.

After dinner, we walk to the Drum Tower first. It was built in 1380, and it was used to give the time to the entire city by beating the drum.

Then we walk to the Bell Tower. It was also built to remind the people of time and emergency by ringing the huge bell inside.

It is very close to the Drum Tower. It is quite shocking to see both buildings and how carefully they were built with so many details.

Then on the last day, we go to Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor. It contains a collection of terracotta sculptures of the armies of the first emperor of China: Qin Shi Huang of Qin Dynasty. It is such a huge construction that it is so hard to imagine it was built in around B.C. 200.

However, it is very interesting that no sculpture has a weapon on their hands. There are many theories behind this, and one of them is that others stole the weapons and used them to rebel at the end of Qin Dynasty.

Xian is a very interesting city with lots of history. It is an ancient capital of many dynasties. There are a lot more to see and explore, but we only have three days. I would never forget this graduation trip with my best friends, and I am so grateful that we met and have taken care of each other since first grade.

 

I have a group of friends who I have known for most of my life. We met in the lower school and have been contacting with each other ever since. Twelve years of friendship has bonded six of us so closely and intimately that we feel like a big family right now.

We always planned to have a graduation trip. We hanged out a lot in our own city, but we never travel as a group to somewhere else.

In the summer of 2018, we had our first chance to travel together because everyone graduates from high school (except me).

 

The first city we go to is Xiamen. It is a famous coastal city in the southeast of China. It takes us four hours to get there by train, and we all are very excited because it has always been our dream! We bought the same shoes for everyone to wear during our trip!

 

 

After we arrive in Xiamen, we take the metro to get to our Airbnb. The metro in Xiamen is very colorful and bright.

 

 

It is raining heavily when we get to the Airbnb, so we stay in the house for two hours and organize our clothes and other stuff. Then we go to Mingfa Square which is a shopping mall nearby for dinner.

 

We can never miss seafood when we are in a coastal city. We order a huge seafood platter for our first meal. Even though I am not a big fan of seafood, I am impressed by the looking and taste of the food.

After dinner, we walk around the Mingfa Square and look for entertainment. We discover an Escape The Room and decide to try. We pick a horror theme room, and the story is set at a school. The picture is taken before we start to play. It is used as the last key of the game. I can still remember before the staff closes the entrance door, she asks us which level of difficulty we want, easy, medium, or hard. “Easy.” We answer simultaneously. Then the staff begins to laugh in a weird way and closes the door heavily, leaving us screaming inside. I did play escape the room a few times before, but I never tried the room with NPCs inside the room. When we are in the third room, a Japanese style “ghost” lady with white dress and hair hanging in her face crawls into our room. One of us starts screaming, and then all of us are screaming. This is the loudest scream I have ever experienced, and I always laugh whenever I think of the moment. Luckily, after asking for help for several times, we get out of the room, but everyone is still in horror and scared. This is the experience that I would never forget. 

After the game, it is almost nine. Five of us start to plan something because today is also the 18th birthday of the only girl in our group. We try to distract her attention while we are ordering a cake secretly online. We walk around the square for half an hour and then we go back to our home. While the cake is being delivered, we play around in the house like usual and we also have made a plan. When the cake is delivered, we send two people to pick it up and tell her that we just ordered some extra food. They take the cake and open it up outside, and they also light up the candles. Then when they knock on the door, one of us turns off the light, and we start to sing Happy Birthday. Everything goes perfectly, and here is the picture of our birthday girl.

On our second day, we go to the Zhongshan Road, which is the famous shopping street in Xiamen. The weather is very good, but it is already very hot in the morning.

There are so many food choices around. Although it is morning, we start to hunt for food: Barbecue, Stinky Tofu, Icy fruit, dried pork slices, ice cream, etc.

                                                      

 

After lunch, we decide to ride bikes to the cat street. It is a very lovely streets with everything around related with cats. The owners of shops are friendly and welcoming.

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In the late afternoon, we come to the Huandao Road. It is right next to the sea. We walk on the beach with barefoot. Seaside always makes me peaceful, even though there are so many people around.

 

On the third day, which is also our last day in Xiamen, we decide to go to the waterpark of Xiamen Fantawild Dreamland.

All of us had a lot of fun in the park. We tried almost every entertainment. But my friend lost his phone which contained all the photos and videos we took in the park, and everyone got sun burned even though we put on sun screen.

This is my second time in Xiamen, and I always enjoy my time spending in the city. I enjoy the happiness the city brings me. I feel more relaxed and joyful this time with my best friends. And our graduation trip has not ended; We set off for Xi’an the next day.

 

To be honest, I do not like Nanning very much, despite my parents work and live in this city. I have come to Nanning every summer ever since my parents started their business here. I used to take the 24 hours train to get to Nanning when I was young, and thanks to the high-speed railway, it only took me nine hours to get to Nanning.

When I was young, coming to Nanning meant seeing my parents. I was excited and happy every time I boarded the train to go to Nanning. Although I did not know anyone there except my parents in the city, I did not feel bored because my parents would take me to shopping and eat my favorite food almost every day after their work.

However, as I grew up, I gradually got sick of shopping with my parents. I had to go to their store every day, but they were so busy in the daytime that I could not do anything. I sank myself in my homework and video games and I was getting bored and angry. But I had to stay with them. This is the two months I had to suffer every year in order to repair our broken relationship. Besides this reason, I knew no one here in Nanning. I had no friends. The store was a cage I could never get out. As years passed by, I accepted the truth and wasted my time here in Nanning. Now every time I boarded on the train to Nanning, I felt sick and I wanted to go back home as soon as the train moved.

My mission to Nanning started on fourth of July. I had been paralyzed by the nine-hour trip. However, this year things went a little different for me because I actually made some friends in Nanning last year. So I contacted them before I got there, and we decided to hang out more.

We went to have lunch in a shopping mall when we hanged out for the first time. We hadn’t talked to each other a lot since last year, but our topics started to flow more since we both studied in high school in the United States. It was first time that I felt friendly in Nanning because I finally had a peer, a friend.

I have to say Nanning has a lot more than I thought when a local was leading me to explore the city.

We went to Zhongshan Road in the night. It is a street full of food, mainly is barbecue. We choose a random vendor and sit down for food. “We really should hang out more.” I told them. They made me feel Nanning was not as indifferent and colorless as I thought before.

 

To be honest, I still cannot feel excited about Nanning now. My parents have told me that they probably are going to settle down in Nanning because they feel so close and related to the city, but I will never take Nanning as my second hometown. Even though I have friends now in Nanning, the city contains too much boring and bitter memories.