We had nothing planned until 12:45pm, so most stayed in their rooms and slept in until the late hours of the morning. We met in the downstairs lobby at 12:45pm to grab a bus and head to the 798 Art District. This is a great area where a lot of art galleries, street art, coffee shops, bookstores and restaurants reside. Some students had a great time walking around and looking at all this area had to offer, while others took it easy and meandered around for a few hours. I will say though, that I think the group as a whole has lost its steam, as we are all pretty tired. This was reflected in our last group excursion – the 798 Art Zone.
Honestly, I’m not sure I would recommend that students do this as an organized excursion, but perhaps in future years as a ‘self-guided tour’. I’ll have to think about it a bit more.
After returning to campus around 6pm most students went their own way. However, a few gathered in our dorm room and we tried to figure out how to order pizza from Pizza Hut – an impossible task even for a person who speaks Mandarin fluently. We ended up ordering from the Italian Restaurant near campus and had it delivered to our dorm. Four of us devoured four entire pizzas and were still hungry. Granted, they were thin crust pizza’s, but after a day walking around in the hot sun, we were famished. The day ended with a mini-Big Bang Theory marathon in our room, and we finally ended the evening around 10pm or so. We all slept pretty well, thankfully!
Here is a post from Jeanette Martinez
The most important thing I wanted to see while in China was The Great Wall of China. We just saw it last Thursday and it was an absolutely amazing experience. Climbing The Great Wall was very fun, scary, and exhausting at the same time. There were tall steps, short steps, wide steps, narrow steps. It was a little scary the higher we got and the narrower the steps got, because I'm a little scared of heights, but I pushed those thoughts away and focused on the beautiful landscape surrounding the wall. It was a beautiful summer day, and we could actually see the blue sky, which made for a very nice view. But it also meant that we got our share of sun as we went up. Luckily, the sun wasn't beating down too hard on us. It was hot enough to make us sweat, but not so hot that it made us want to stop and leave. I'm not gonna lie, we almost didn't make it all the way to the top because it looked so steep and far away, but we figured, when are we ever going to ever have this chance again? Like Nike says, "Just do it!" So we went ahead and pushed our way to the top.
Climbing to the top was an adventure. Going back down was more of a relaxing walk with a sense of accomplishment. This is when we were really able to appreciate the beauty of The Great Wall, the blue sky, and the green mountains. There was still a little haze from the smog, which made the experience seem even more surreal than it already was. I can't even describe it anymore because it was so beautiful.
After seeing The Great Wall, I feel like I have accomplished what I came on this trip for. If I had to leave today, I would be happy with what I have done so far. Of course I am excited to enjoy the rest of our time here visiting more places and enjoying the nightlife, but The Great Wall was the most important part of the trip and I’m so happy that I made it.
Until tomorrow…….
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