Volunteer's Story: Katie, United Kingdom  

I really enjoyed participating in the University camp. It was my first time in China and I felt very welcome when I arrived. I was not sure what to expect from the University camp, so I was a bit nervous but still excited on my first day. Our co-ordinator Peggy was very helpful and friendly and made me feel comfortable as did the other volunteer Rebecca. The idea of the University camp is very beneficial for the Chinese students as they get the opportunity to use the English they study in class and for the English speaking volunteers, the camp is also very beneficial. As it is a great opportunity for us to interact with Chinese university students and most importantly it enabled us to share our culture and for them to introduce us to Chinese culture. I found the Chinese students were very interested in our lives in Europe and they asked many questions.

We planned the activities for each week at the beginning of the week, so we were clear what are aims for the days were. I think this was important as the volunteers were clear what was expected of them and working as a team you were able to think of more interesting things to do with the students. We also had a budget each week which we had to work to, so this involved some planning and we had to make sure we had enough money to cover lunches and activities for the volunteers.

I got to take part in many fun activities such as karaoke, bowling, BBQ, table tennis and going to an amusement arcade. At the beginning of the week, we would have ice breaker games which involved chatting with the students and answering their questions and also asking them questions too!! On Wednesdays, we would have the BBQ, which involved going to the local Supermarket and buying some food. It was good to go round the supermarket with the Chinese students as they kindly explained what some things were to us. We would then return to the flat and cook the food. This was lots of fun as we had to work together to prepare the food and then to cook it.

I would say that the University camp was not what I was expecting but it turned out to be so much fun, I made many good friends and would gladly take part again!!!!