Today was our last full day of Microcampus. We spent most of the day doing a final wrap up things, such as checking through our inquiry projects and saying goodbyes. Mia and I visited (and bought some rose buns) from Ms. He, and I was really sad to say goodbye to her. We also said goodbye to Mr. Yang, but he was not there so we asked his wife to pass on the message. Afterward, we went with Audrey to drink and chat with Mr. Huang, the owner of a tea shop.

In December 2014, Charlotte K and the rest of the Ignite group came back from their trip to Microcampus. As Charlotte's little brother, I was treated to a firsthand account about all the good parts and bad parts about her trip. Fixated on the bad parts, I could only think of Microcampus as this scary trip that only the hardcore, disciplined people would really go to. I was worried about not being able to work well with others, about missing out on my social life in Shanghai.

When someone like me saw an opportunity like Microcampus, I overlooked it. I had a couple of friends who attended the Winter Microcampus Trip as the Revival group (i.e Jerry X., Kevin G.) and they said that I should go. I, however, could not decide. Originally, I was planning on not going to Microcampus. There are several reasons for why I had this choice, the main one being I did not want to get out of my comfort zone.

Before the arrival in Xizhou, I had come to Microcampus simply because my sister had told me that it was "incredible". I did not realize the extent of just how incredible it is. Microcampus taught me things that I would have never learnt in school, showing me how to explore, take risks, self-discipline. If not for all three of those categories, there would be no Service Learning project or Inquiry Project to upload. 

It was incredible to have the chance and share our Service Learning video with Mr. Yang. On the way here, we learnt even more about him, and heard that he had lived through three deadly diseases. As a child, there was no medicine for his conditions, so it is almost unbelievable how strong he must have had to be at that time. When you think about it, he was not only going through his personal issues of health, but the cultural revolution was occuring at the same time. 

After the completion of our Service Learning video, it was time for it to be shown to our audience as well as our partner: Yang Ye Ye. Luckily he was in good shape when we asked him if he would come. This is because when Mr. Yang's children are with him, it typically means that he is suffering health issues (Cerebral Insufficiency), and his children were with him.

It was a big day today! We had our "pearls of wisdom" for our Service Learning project from Mr. T. at 10am, meaning that we had to complete the draft of our video by that time. After the pearls of wisdom, our group ended up having to make a whole new video, as my iMovie crashed and we had been editing on my laptop. We switched to Debbie's laptop, and rushed to have a new video done by 2:30pm, for our check in with Ms. Song.

As the third week of Microcampus comes to an end, we all rush to complete our Inquiry Project and begin our Service Learning. It was a stressful day, all of us with our noses in our laptops. In the morning, we had to meet with Mr. T for the pearls of wisdom on our final product. The goal of this was to get feedback on our inquiry video. I ended up with an abundant amount of feedback for my video since my product lacked personal journey.