Written by Alice Chen (Wofford College), Student Correspondent for Middlebury in Beijing, Spring 2025
Reconnecting After Spring Break
After everyone separated and traveled all around China for spring break, we all found ourselves reconnected for Middlebury in Beijing’s Traveling Seminar in Hangzhou. Our Travelling Seminar in Hangzhou consisted of group activities, and our own free time where we had to research our own selected topic in relation to Hangzhou. Fun fact—Middlebury’s first Chinese program was in Hangzhou, so some of our teachers had the chance to reconnect with other teachers from the old program as well.
Hangzhou’s West Lake and Longjing Tea!
We started off our first day in Hangzhou with a walk along Hangzhou’s famous West Lake. The West Lake truly is a beautiful experience altogether. Despite the heavy wind, the mesmerizing beauty of the lake made up for it. If you have a chance to go to Hangzhou, definitely check out their West Lake!
As a class, we had a chance to go to MeiJiaWu Tea Mountain (梅家坞茶山). There, we hand-picked Longjing leaves (Hangzhou’s Specialty) and they showed us the two methods that they use to cook the leaves. The newest and most efficient way is currently by machine; the more traditional way to cook the leaves is by hand. They let us try cooking the leaves by hand and we had to be careful not to burn our hands!
Hiking The Great Wall in Hebei
After wrapping up a week in Hangzhou and heading back to Beijing, the following weekend we had a chance to hike The Great Wall of China (长城). It was a two-day trip and we stayed in an area just outside Beijing, located in Hebei, called ChenJiaPu (陈家铺).
Our first day, we hiked for about an hour and a half to see the sunset. Hiking just this one bit already was strenuous, but the view from the top made forget all about the struggles I went through to get to there.
The next day we headed out around 9:30AM for a 4-hour hike. Hiking The Great Wall is definitely not an easy task. There were many steep parts of the wall where we had to be incredibly careful as to where we stepped, and we were hiking in areas that had not been fixed since it first had been built.
Despite this tiring journey, I can say that it was worth it. There were many times where I rested for a bit and took in the view of endless mountains. I could not believe my eyes each time. After we reached our destination and all ate lunch together on The Great Wall, I still could not believe that I had a chance to experience all this with my friends!