This photo was taken at the top of Tiger Hill, on one of the last days in Suzhou. By this time, there was a great group dynamic, as we had all spent a week living, eating and photographing together.
One day we ordered KFC delivered to our hotel rooms, and everybody ate together out on the corridor floor. We occupied almost the entire fourth level of the hotel in Suzhou, so students would often leave their room doors open and wander between the different rooms. We even started a practice where each student would stick photos of themselves on their door so people could identify who stayed where.
When we started making collages, we would usually lay out all our photos on our beds and search for inspiration. This process was later refined and took about 1/8 the time it took originally. Making the collages turned out to be quite fun, as people would often group together in rooms and help each other. Chris Malouf and James Martin singing Disney theme songs as they worked had to be the most interesting approach though.
The very motherly Lyna Lao was constantly buying us food. Here she had just bought a packet of nuts, and we are all trying our best to get the outer shell off (which was harder than it looks).
I found this area of Suzhou to be really interesting. It seemed to be a halfway point between the 'old town' areas and the 'new town' areas.
The group lunches that we had were a great way for students from all different years to meet. In this photo there are students from 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th year architecture. I think everybody left this trip having made friends from other years they never would have met otherwise.
This photo was taken in one of the first gardens we visited, called the Master of Nets garden. Everybody always came together for group photos.
One night a group of us decided to play bowling in the corridors, using coconuts and water bottles. It is amazing how a simple game brought everyone together.
Helen Lai (4th year) teaching Chris Malouf (1st year) how to use chopsticks. Many of the older Chinese students were really helpful to some of the younger students, including myself, teaching us about Chinese customs, or helping to translate things for us.
This is a shot of the backstreets of Suzhou. Some of the buildings are hundreds of years old, with no running water. I found it fascinating that these areas existed within 100 metres of a busy shopping district.
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