Here we are, my last week at the school. As a 20-year-old boy from the Netherlands I wanted to escape Europe after finishing high school. I wanted to take a gap year to China.

The idea of me going to China began when I was 8 years old and my father showed me the show from the seventies “kung fu”. After seeing that I told my father I will also join a kung fu school, my dad simply nodded. As years went by the idea of me learning martial arts was still a priority for me after my school. Time passed and not only the Martial arts sounded interesting to me, but the whole country in general. A country where mostly bad things were said about, and I just couldn’t believe it. 

So on the 14th of July, 2023 I left. I said goodbye to my family, friends and my girlfriend. It was really beginning. No one actually believed I was going to do it , because I had been talking about it for years, but I showed them otherwise. 

My start in China was terrible, I didn’t do enough research and i ended up in the north of China to start my kung fu journey. When I arrived, I was the only student, the showers didn’t work, there was no running water and after my first night I woke up because the cockroaches were crawling over my face. 

This is where regret started to kick in but luckily, I have a very supporting father that helped me through the process. We tried to search for a new school and I clicked the first link I could find. I scrolled all the way down without looking at any pictures or reviews and that’s how I got in contact with Joy. I just wanted to leave this terrible place I was and move to a better place. Joy helped me from the start through the whole process. Without her I would’ve probably gone home by then. 

After arriving in Qufu and meeting Headmaster Wei, seeing tons of Chinese children and a few foreigners. I knew my journey had finally started. 

The start was difficult for me, even though I thought I spoke English fluently I still had a lot to learn. Being 8500 kilometers from home meant that I was truly alone, and sometimes it also felt like that. Nevertheless, when training started again, I loved it. Sundays were boring because there was no training but it was also good to have a day rest. 

In my time here I learnt a lot. I haven’t only learned kung fu but I learned a lot about myself, I grew as a person, physically and mentally. In this year I had once or twice the feeling that I wanted to go home, when your friend you just made left, and you are still here for a few more months. But I always found a way, master Wei helped me through that process and he was there for me. 

With the school we went to the Shaolin temple 3 times. That was a dream come true. We met the Abbot and got to see some kung fu shows for free. 

Seeing my time here come to an end is truly sad. It’s double-sided because i want to see my family and friends again. But it’s also very difficult to say goodbye to the people here. 

I want to thank Master Wei and Joy for giving me the best year of my life. You made me fall in love with this country and I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life here. 

You truly made me feel at home and I couldn’t thank you enough for this.