Samulcelisiwe Ngwenya, 21, from Zimbabwe, enjoyed her first Spring Festival experience in China. She says the celebration highlights the country's long history and rich culture. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Ngwenya, who arrived in Beijing in January, is enrolled in a one-semester exchange program at Chinese Studies Institute, Peking University. She is a full-time student at Lake Forest College in Chicago, majoring in international relations, anthropology and sociology.

In the US, she joined Spring Festival activities organized by a student organization and participated in Chinese-themed activities such as a lunch and lantern making. That experience made her want to observe the festival in China.

Ngwenya and several classmates on the exchange program celebrated Spring Festival in Tianjin and Shanghai this year. They visited Tianjin because one of the students is half Chinese and has relatives there.

During the day, they toured Tianjin, taking in the city's various architectural monuments. At night, they watched the CCTV Spring Festival gala, which is what most Chinese families do.

"Even if my Chinese language is very basic, I found myself laughing at some of the things that the audience also found funny," Ngwenya says.

To celebrate the holiday, her friend's mother prepared special Chinese dishes. As a vegetarian, Ngwenya was happy to find that there were many good options in the hearty dinner, such as broccoli, eggplant in sesame sauce, fungi and pickled cabbages.

"I noticed that the meat eaters had every type of meat on the table and my friend's mother explained that all options must be laid out for people during the Chinese Lunar New Year because it's such a big celebration," she says.

"I realized how special this holiday was because it was all about family and being together. That's why everybody travels home to spend this time with the people they love."

At midnight, they went outside to set off firecrackers and sparklers, and found other families were also lighting firecrackers. Watching all the fireworks go off in different directions was amazing, Ngwenya says.

From Tianjin, they took a bullet train to Shanghai, and stayed in the city for five days. They participated in cultural activities, got a closer look at the city's famous skyscrapers, visited museums and the French concession.

In Zimbabwe, most traditions, such as slaughtering cows, can only be seen during weddings. Ngwenya was exposed to Chinese culture before coming to the country, as there are many Chinese businesspeople in Zimbabwe.

She has always been curious about the country and what Chinese businesspeople in Zimbabwe do when they return home for Spring Festival. "Being a student in Beijing has really opened me up to various cultural experiences. I hope to explore more parts of China during my stay," Ngwenya says.

"Many people in Beijing are actually from other parts of China, which I think is nice because I can get different perspectives and experiences about China."