Our last day in China was a free day in Hong Kong. As a class, we decided we wanted to take a long cable car ride that went over the water and took us to the Big Buddha statue. One semi-scary thing that happened was that the cable car system stopped for a bit as our car was over the water. Big Buddha was just as big as its name, and was yet another landmark in China that was amazing to behold and left me wondering how it was even built.
Most of the students split up from our professors and a few others so we could go to a beach. The beach we found was pretty secluded, and was very peaceful. There was a cool area with rocks that me and my friend were climbing on, and we saw a family getting their professional photos taken, as well as an engaged couple. We also found a string of really nice restaurants along the beach, which I found very interesting as this beach was kind of in the middle of nowhere.

Afterward, since we were without our professors, we had to figure out how to get back to our hotel. Myself and another students spent a long time studying the bus stop schedule near the beach, and even though it was in English, the idea of scheduling was much different than America. The bus that finally picked us up ended up getting full, so our group got split up. We were then able to figure out the subway system and got back to the hotel safely.  
While many people go on vacation to relax, I felt that the bus and subway situation is part of what makes international travel and vacations so fun to me. I have loved the idea of completely immersing myself in another culture, a culture that I am not familiar with nor 100% comfortable with. I may not understand the language fully, or know what the food is, or even how to get from point A to point B, but figuring all of this out is completely part of the experience. I have grown from going to Europe last year and now spending two weeks in China by learning how to thrive and appreciate another completely different culture. I will forever be grateful for this experience, and I can’t wait to see where my travels take me next.