Trip to China cancelled

A trip to France was recently cancelled when not enough students signed up, and now another trip—this one to China—has met the same fate.

Although teachers and students were optimistic about the trip to China, it could not happen because only eight students signed up to go, two fewer than the number of students required. Most of the students who signed up are taking Chinese 1 or 2.

The trip planned for April 11 to 21 included visits to Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou, Wuxi, Suzhou and Xi’an.

Many students expressed their disappointment at the trip’s cancellation.

“I have been out of the country only once in my lifetime, so I figured that this would be an excellent chance to explore and see what’s out there beyond the seas,” freshman Matthew Stark said. “I feel unbelievably disappointed, but I know that we can always try again next year.”

Freshman Anne Witkowski echoed his sentiments, saying she had been looking forward to the trip since it was announced earlier this year.

“Although it would have been the third time I’ve been China,” Witkowski said, “I’m kind of sad, but it’s all right because I’m planning to go next year.”

Chinese teacher Sara Tseng thinks the trip was cancelled because they started planning too late.

“Many people were interested in the trip,” Tseng said. “But we planned it a bit late, so many students had already made plans for spring break and would not have been able to come.”

Nevertheless, Tseng thinks that with the right planning, a trip could be possible next year.

“We don’t really have any definite plans for next year,” Tseng said. “But if we do have a trip next year, we’ll try to start planning it earlier.”