Nina and her friends,
We read your journal entries every night - thank you all for writing. Your words and photos make us feel we are there with you seeing the same beautiful views and hearing the same beautiful sounds. Look forward to more stories:-)

   Hi John,

   I was very happy to hear your voice last night.

I was worried if you would be tired since you joined in Wizard of Oz until last day before you left.

  Xizhou is very beautiful,right?  I hope you will be a Green Energy expert when you come back.

Also enjoy the amazing stars in the night which you don't see a lot in Shanghai.

Troy is jealous he can't go to Xizhou

   Love you and miss you so much~~

Glad to hear just now that the group had a safe and fun long journey to Xizhou. Just had a call with Niko and he sounds like him and his room mates are having a blast! In his own words he described the sights on the way to Xizhou as "breath taking". It is our son's first time to be away from home this long so I know he will remember this adventure all his life. I told him to make the most out of it and more importantly, to enjoy every minute of this unique experience.

What a wonderful way to ponder where you are! I enjoy reading the blogs and the exercise using sense of smell really transported me to where you are. It may have seemed like you couldn't dive more deeply into your experience, but you have shown there is even more territory to mine.  You will carry back home your mental storehouse of sights and sounds and smells of Xizhou.  You will also carry with you the tools to unearth rich experiences wherever you go in life. 

Minutely hand stitched emroidery, the scent from garlic fields wafting through the air, traveling so many miles to an unfamiliar place and hearing an accent like your grandpa.  So many wonderful moments and such rich detail as you dive deeply into your new world.  And then there's laundry and proper hangar spacing in your closets!   I am pondering whether we can pull off hangar spacing in our home...

I've been closely following all of your jounals everyday and most of you had put 'normal' for D4.  I have to disagree with you :).  It's not normal at all.  You guys are great team and you've achieved quite a lot!  WIPPIT or WPIIPT makes work sound much better.  Anyway, I'm so glad you have so much fun and also have been able to work on some SAS essential.  Way to go, Groundbreakers!!   Look forward to reading more of your stories!!  Great day!

Harry-Saturday, after you and your classmates left for microcampus, Mom and i went to the Shanghai Literary Festival.  A number of authors there  talked about writing books based on interesting experiences they or their family had had.   Several authors talked about using letters, journals, notes and photos along with their imagination to create their stories.  You and your friends should keep the photos and journal entries coming....you never know when you might want to write a book based on this trip!

Hi to ALL members of the Groundbreakers.

We just talked to Travis and it seems as if all of you are settling into the village of Xizhou nicely.

We had a quiet day here at home in Minhang and do miss Travis.

Good Luck to ALL of you for tomorrow starting a normal week after the exciting start to your learning journey with the Microcampus.

All the best from Dylan + Mom + Dad Owens

5:30 was definitely early for me but I did not feel sleepy at all.  I knew right away that I should stop worrying when I saw them lining up those suitcases so neatly just in a second.  I'm impressed.   After a farewell with kiss and hug, I felt the day would be a long day to me.  With MH news, it's pretty disturbing.  Not until I received a text message from Jamie saying that she arrived in Kunming airport safe and sound.  I started feeling released and enjoying the rest of my day.