Hello! My name is Jake Xu. I’m writing this in the summer break between my sophomore and junior year of high school. Whether you’re a student interested in being a part of the Thousand Mile Initiative team, a parent wondering about the experiences your child will face, or just a person who stumbled upon our website, I hope the memories I will share will give a comprehensive understanding of the benefits of this initiative.

Now, before I begin, I would like to thank my mom, Mrs. Yang, for putting in the hard work months before we landed in China, coordinating the teaching schedule, dinner, dorms, etc., and making sure that our trip was smooth and successful. I thank the chaperones, Mr. Li and Mr. Xu, for keeping the kids out of trouble and being a support pillar for the students in the 2025 program. Finally, I want to thank the wonderful teachers and students at Zhuzhou No. 2 High School for hosting us and making us feel welcome. This trip wouldn’t have been as amazing without the extensive support we’ve received.

In the beginning, I didn’t have high expectations. Things looked rough, as we were a team of 11 random high schoolers from across Wake County. We were complete strangers, only seeing each other at three practice meetings. However, during the two weeks at Zhuzhou No. 2 High School, we grew into a family, helping each other navigate a country with completely different cultures and customs. As I reflect on my time at Zhuzhou, I’m glad that I was a part of such a hectic but beautiful team. The chemistry we built drew us together, each member adding their own spice into the melting pot we call a team. And this is what I want you to take away: your network will expand exponentially, not only with high schoolers in America, but also with students in China, which I’ll elaborate on later.

Stepping foot into a Chinese high school was a huge culture shock. Almost everything was different, from the student lifestyle to the characteristics of the school. The student lifestyle seemed insane to me. A bell woke them up at 7:00 AM, and from then until 10:00 PM, they were in class except for meal breaks and a break from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM. To top it off, their lights-out automatically went out at 11:00 PM. You know what’s even crazier? This is their lifestyle for six days a week. That’s crazy! I’m impressed by how resilient they are. Almost every night, during a rare moment of free time, after their classes finished, students would play badminton/volleyball from 10:00 PM to 11:00 PM. Nathan and I joined them, playing until the dorm lights shut off, and we had to shower in the dark. It was totally worth it. Their togetherness amazed me and was something I haven’t seen to a great extent in the US.

The school itself was impressive. Their campus was huge; it consisted of dorms for both students and staff, a 3-story cafeteria, and a comprehensive athletic complex. I shared a dorm room with four other guys on our team. The most difficult part about it was dealing with the mosquitoes and preventing the stench of five teenage boys from causing another pandemic. Let me tell you, the bathroom could kill a person with one whiff. But the thing is, from helping each other set up their mosquito nets to Nathan falling off the top bunk in the dead of night on the first day, all my memories about my temporary home were nothing but happy. Moving on to their cafeteria, it had lots of aunties serving up delicious breakfast, lunch, and dinner. There was also a boba shop, where there had to be like 100 different types of drinks. There was a small store, which had snacks, drinks, school materials, and living items. Furthermore, everything was so cheap; their cafeteria meals were 2 USD, and I swear you could buy the entire store for 100 USD. Lastly, their athletic complex blew me away the most. It consisted of a 3-story gym, tons of basketball, volleyball, table tennis, and badminton courts, and a huge stadium with a track and a turf soccer field. The coolest part was that Nathan, Jacob, and I got to train with their soccer team. They were the best team in the province, and they lived up to that title. Their training was intense, and Nathan, Jacob, and I were all gassed by the time they ended the session. But it sure as heck was fun.

The teaching experience itself was something else. The classrooms were completely different, from their physical structure to the atmosphere. Each class was packed with 50+ students, and each student’s desk was piled high with a mountain of textbooks. Just looking at the classroom made me feel overwhelmed. But the atmosphere inside the classroom was completely different. Even though the students had long school days, they were so energetic. In every classroom I went to, they were so welcoming and curious about us. And at the end of every class, we were mobbed by the students asking for WeChats or help on their English/Math Homework. This attention was unexpected; we were treated as celebrities in the school. We were constantly asked for selfies, and this is when I realized that the students there were genuinely interested in who we were as humans who lived across the world. I learned here to embrace every moment of life. Think about it – how many times in your life are you going to be able to talk to a student your age who was raised in a completely different way from you? The students I met each had their unique traits. Whether they were cracked at math, physics, soccer, badminton, or Brawl Stars, they all had one thing in common: they were all genuine people.

My network has expanded so much. My WeChat contacts went from 3 or 4 people to 50+. But I made a special, special connection with one person. His name is Joey, a 2nd-year high schooler, badminton lover, and father of two cats. In two weeks, we went from complete strangers to brothers. He will forever be remembered in my heart. The memories I’ve shared with Joey, from eating at a BBQ buffet to setting off fireworks in the middle of the road to going into his classroom to deliver him a Pizza Hut pizza, made this trip so worth it.

The lore that I had the blessing of living on this trip is something everyone should experience in their lives, too. This is why I will be here next year, for the unforgettable memories, for the amazing people I will meet, for the search for another Joey. I will always be appreciative of the things this journey taught me: about the lives of other people, about their world, and about myself. I want to thank all the wonderful people I had the pleasure of spending these two weeks with, as my experience wouldn’t have been as memorable without them.