Journal Excerpt: Justin Nir

        We’ve just left our EFZ partners after a day of bonding through musical chairs and basketball capped by a spectacular goodbye dinner.  It is unlikely we will see them again until they visit Peddie next year.  There were many sad goodbyes, hugs between the girls, awkward half-hug half-handshakes between the guys, and exchanging of email addresses all around.  
Not only have the Peddie students really grown together as a group, but we have formed a serious bond with the students here in Shanghai.  My view of uncreative, boring, super genius students has been shattered, replaced by an image not unlike that of Peddie students.  Kids here do most of the things we do: hang out with friends, play basketball, flirt, break rules and then brag about it behind the teachers’ backs (not that we ever do that Mr. Nicholson ☺).  
I think I can speak for most of the group when I say I can’t wait to host our friends at Peddie so I can show them as good a time as they’ve shown us.  I want to show both important things, like how open our community is about things like treating women as equals (did you know no girls in Shanghai play basketball?), relationships, and current issues at Peddie and the world abroad, but also less important things, like what real pizza tastes like, as opposed to Papa Johns or Pizza Hut, and why American football is such a great sport.
Our time in Shanghai is nearly up, and I’m left with one lasting impression: I am not done here.  This trip makes me want to visit China again to see the things I’ve missed, of which I get the sense there are a lot.  If you’ll pardon another cliché, this trip has really opened my eyes to a greater world.  Through EFZ’s help, we have really been able to get a taste what Shanghai is like (Another cliché?  Mr. Campbell will not be happy.) and has left us wanting more.

[Editor's Note: The picture depicts Justin and his scandalously co-ed basketball team in a hotly-contested game against their EFZ partners; it took a         great deal of effort to convince the EFZ boys to play with Kara and Hope.  The headline: "Peddie School Brings Title IX to the PRC"]