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I’m on the second part of the ISLP China trip. The experience has been even more amazing. The great wall was one of the most intense experiences of my life. Both the view and the height of the wall were breath taking. I filmed videos of the wall and the view from one of the higher points, but I think that it’s something that you just have to experience to get. We also saw the Temple of Heaven. It was amazing. The Chinese certainly have some of the most amazing architecture I’ve ever seen. I could spend hours looking at almost anything that they do.

They’ve split us into groups in order to work on our “Collaborative Projects”. My group has decided to look at Strategic relations between America and China. It should be a difficult topic, but applying all of the sources and lectures that we’ve listened to will prove to be easier than it sounds. We’ve received talks at universities, embassies and conference centers on Diplomatic relations between China and various countries around the world. Diplomacy is turning out to be a very interesting field and many of the students are already studying it at their Universities. I may be one of the younger attendees, but most of the students are so open and eager that meeting people is not difficult at all. The nature of our sessions and trips facilitate friendship and our Faculty advisors encourage networking. I think that many of my new friends plan to come down to the Virgin Islands in the future. If not I’ll certainly be visiting them in the States and hopefully other parts of the world. Travel has been tiring but exciting. We will be going on an overnight train to Xi’an tomorrow night. I’m very excited. I’ve never slept on a train. It sounds like another great bonding opportunity, or at least a great story.

I am Esteban Smith and I am attending the International Scholar Laureate Program (ISLP) in China. Our group is studying International Relations and Diplomacy and after my second day I can say that it is amazing!! I got a chance to get very acquainted with a lot of the other students during the 20-hour flight from JFK. There are a lot of American students but there is a high level of diversity within the groups. There are students from South Africa, Canada, Trinidad and Tobago, Spain, Columbia and Australia. There is even another student from the Virgin Islands besides me. On Wednesday we visited Tiananmen Square and walked through the Forbidden City. And on Thursday we got to hear about Chinese and American relations at one of the Universities in Beijing. All of the groups got assigned to different embassies to hear from different diplomats. My group heard from the Mexican Ambassador to China. It provided us with more opportunities to hear of the relationships that other countries have with China. In my opinion, diplomacy is the perfect thing to study in a country like China. In the educational sessions, we hear about the culture and then get to view it from a very close lens during our cultural outings.

It has been quite difficult for me to adjust to currency and the time zone difference. I can only call home very late at night or early in the morning because of the 12-hour delay. The food has also been quite different. I had Pecking Duck for the first time yesterday. I loved it although some of my new friends were not as impressed. It has been quite nice to experience the new meals. Many of them are delicious and very different from the Chinese meals I’ve had back home. At first I was afraid that the people might not be very receptive to our group but, to the contrary, they are very kind and often curious. There is definitely a mutual fascination between the Chinese and Scholars. This is definitely an amazing experience and I feel like I’ve already gained so much by being here. I haven’t met a single person out of this large group who has had something negative to say about the experience, although some of the students are not looking forward to all of the walking we have to do tomorrow at the Great Wall. I’m very excited and I can’t wait to take tons of pictures! It’s been a lot of fun so far and it only promises to get better in Xi’an and Shanghai!