Orland Park resident Kyle Labak spent several days on the other side of the world.
Labak, 21, was among 12 Lawrence University students who visited China for 18 days in January. Labak participated in “Sustainable China: Integrating Culture, Conservation and Commerce,” which was funded by a grant from the New York City-based Henry Luce Foundation, according to Lawrence University in Appleton, Wis.
Labak said he believes his dual major in Chinese and Spanish as well as his minor in linguistics played a role in him being selected for the trip.
“We had students on the trip who had majors in everything from biology to religious studies to violin,” said Labak, a junior. “I think everyone had a strong connection to either the environment or China, but in general it also was about having this diverse academic classroom that would truly be able to engage with this topic from a lot of angles.”
Labak said his favorite site was the city of Guiyang. Unlike many of the other cities, he said, it maintained its “local flavor” instead of attempting to appeal to Western visitors.
While in Guyaing, the group visited a Buddhist temple where monkeys covered the steps of the mountain site and Hongfeng Lake, which Labak said was “stunning.”
A visit to a local school run by a group of teachers who believed studies should be less stressful for students than the typical Chinese education seemed “almost revolutionary,” Labak said.
Their own education was spontaneous and mobile, he said.
“We very much were a traveling classroom, just discussing wherever we were,” Labak said.
Even their accommodations became a classroom. Labak said the college students observed that the Yi ethnic minority who operated their hotel used modern methods to maintain their ancient customs.
“It was interesting to see how the Yi people were able to monetize their traditions in order to keep them alive,” Labak said.
There was one disappointment, Labak said.
A planned trip to an “Eco village” in the city of Wuxi did not materialize. Labak said their guide told them funding for the five-year project had fallen through.
Nevertheless, Labak’s general assessment was that “the trip was so amazing.”
The up-close-and-personal experiences enhanced Labak’s love of learning the Chinese language, which began in elementary school when two of his Chinese-American friends began teaching him Mandarin, resulting in “something of a seed that got planted,” Labak said.
Labak said he believes language may be the key to understanding among people.
“It’s absolutely vital if you want to understand someone from another place to learn their language, and you can’t truly understand someone else’s culture or words or even someone else’s world view if you don’t know their language,” Labak said.
But it was the experience itself that taught the most valuable lesson, Labak said, as his and the other students’ opinions of what they would encounter on the trip changed through the reality of living among people of a different culture.
“What was so cool about the trip was that… [the students] were definitely viewing China as this super different…place,” he said. “Then you realize, there’s something so fundamental about who people are.”
Ginger Brashinger is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
