Traveling to China for spring break was likely a highlight of Natalie Weingartz' senior year at L'Anse Creuse High School North and it's something she certainly recommends to others. Part of a large contingent representing six area school districts, Natalie made the trip with the Macomb Cultural and Economic Partnership, or MCEP, which has organized an annual student and adult trip to China for several years now.

As a student in the Mandarin program at the Fredrick V Pankow Center in the L'Anse Creuse District, Natalie was thrilled to make the trip and her mom Lisa tagged along as a chaperone.

The daughter of Michael and Lisa Weingartz, of Chesterfield Township, Natalie is currently a freshman at Kalamazoo College studying International Relations. The Voice caught up with her by phone to hear about her 2012 spring break trip to China with MCEP.

Voice: So wow, China. Was that your first trip out of the country?

Natalie: Um no, I believe it was my 10th trip actually. I've been to Italy, France, England, Monaco, Vatican City, Jamaica and Australia.

V: You are very well traveled - do you have a parent in the military?

Natalie: No, I just go on lots of trips and really many of them were with the group People to People.

V: I understand you heard about this trip to China because you are in the Mandarin program at school. How many students went and did you do things to raise money for the trip?

Natalie: We had 12 students go and we did lots of fundraisers on game nights and our teacher sold pizza slices in the classroom too. We did raise a lot of money.

Voice: So what were your first impressions of China?

Natalie: It's a very different country, it's a very different culture; I mean that in a nice way and I really enjoyed it a lot.

Voice: What were the accommodations like there?

Natalie: Well, the first week we stayed with host families and spent all our time at the school. The chaperones stayed in a hotel but came to the school everyday.

Voice: What was the most difficult adjustment to make that first week?

Natalie: Probably the language, but my host sister was very good with English too; actually everybody was pretty good with English and they taught us a lot in their language too.

Voice: How about just being in a place that's so different, was that tough?

Natalie: Well, it is a long way from home and nothing - I mean nothing, at all like America: Just a very different atmosphere in every way.

Voice: So the big question, what about the food?

Natalie: I really liked the food and tried most everything. They did have some little eels, shrimp and fish they served but they all still had their eyeballs so I did not eat that.

Voice: What about the culture and history tours, anything standout as really memorable?

Natalie: Well, we saw so a lot of temples; the Great Wall was unforgettable but I think my favorite thing was the Temple of Heaven.

Voice: Would you recommend this trip to other students considering travel with Macomb Cultural and Economic Partnership?

Natalie: Yes, definitely. You get to see so much and everything is taught in Chinese and English so there's no real problem there, and my role at the school was to teach English to the Chinese children so it was a lot of fun.