San Francisco is a memorable place for me, and it was my first time traveling such far away from my home.
Two years ago, I became one of the Tung Wah student ambassadors and participated in a study tour to San Francisco. And this tour lasted for 10 days, it made me feel very excited about this trip. Most importantly, the purpose of this study tour was to learn about the life of Chinese immigrants in San Francisco and how to become a global citizen as well. Still remembered the first day of the tour, especially when I alighted from the plane, I was extremely nervous since I heard that customs officers in the United States are very serious and every person should answer their questions carefully. Of course, I successfully passed the customs and then my study tour truly started.
Through these 10 days, I was very grateful that I could visit many famous places and tourist attractions in San Francisco. And the Golden Gate Bridge is one of my favorite places among all of the tourist attractions. Since I had never imagined that a place I had only seen in photos and now I was walking on it. It seemed to me that everything in San Francisco was really nice and, of course, I did take plenty of pictures of it. Moreover, I truly appreciated the design of the city hall and it was a really rare opportunity to have a meeting with one of the city councilors there. Certainly, we were not only visiting most of the tourist attractions, but we also visited some places which were related to Chinese laborers and immigrants such as Locke, China Camp, and Angle Island. And the place that impressed me most was Angle Island since it was an immigration station for people who wanted to enter the United States. Unfortunately, there was a Chinese exclusion. The government won’t easily allow the Chinese to enter their states. Many Chinese were requested to stay there for one week or even one year until they approved they could enter. Still remembered when I visited there, I saw many bunk beds were put really closely spaced, and some words were written on the wall, some of them were even poems. From that environment and those words on the wall, it showed that the life of the Chinese was very harsh. I felt hopeless and how missed their home as well.
In the blink of an eye, these 10 days ended so quickly, but still, I have learned a lot from it. This tour helped me to step away from my comfort zone and it was one of the biggest achievements of the trip. Since I needed to meet many important people and sometimes also needed to have dinner with them. I had to always be prepared for someone who would suddenly ask me to have a sharing or answer their question. I had to remember what I had done or visited each day, therefore I could answer their questions as well as I can. To a certain extent, it also helped me to improve my English. It gave me more chances to communicate with a foreigner. On the other hand, this tour inspired me to use a different way to explore a place and its culture. Before I participated in this study tour, I was really a tourist, because every time I traveled to a place and I seldom tried to visit some cultural attractions. What I focused on was shopping, eating, and relaxing. I know that there is no true definition of traveling, still, I understand that relaxation is not the only purpose of traveling. But after this tour, I realized that cultural or history exploration was also a typical way to recognize a place. Sometimes, some cultures or even history will be commercialized. I think Christmas is one of them. When I reviewed the memories of the study tour and once again took a look at those photos I had taken in San Francisco, I figured out that their culture was not commercialized yet. Like Locke, everything there still kept its authenticity and history. The government really preserving and maintaining these cultural attractions for people. I was really grateful that I could visit many cultural attractions in those 10 days, I understand more about the life of Chinese immigrants and the cultural changes through these years. I believed that if I visit there on my own, I think I would only know which place has the most delicious food. It was really an eye-opening experience for me and it widened my global perspective. I strongly believed that travel is the best way to recognize a place since you are the one experiencing everything by yourself. Not from others telling their travel experience or books. Now, maybe I am still not a truly responsible global citizen. However, it helped me to develop the quality of being a global citizen.