3
Location: Beijing
Today was such a crazy day. We did so much it was unbelievable! We went to the Great Wall of China, took a painting class, and went on our first overnight train ride. Around 10 am, we started our day and went to the Great Wall. The views were amazing. The mountains were so tall, nothing I have seen before. There was so much walking involved; the steps were so steep there. Walking to the top was equal to 44 flights of stairs. Which as you can tell is a lot. We had to drink so much water to stay hydrated. Even though it was so hot out, it will be something I will never forget. After the Great Wall, we went back to our bus. As we were driving, we passed a store called “Wumart.” Everyone lost it. Everyone wanted to go because it reminded us of the store “Walmart” at home. We talked about the store for hours…literally.
After a while, we arrived at the painting class. It was so interesting to learn about traditional Chinese painting. We had a choice to paint either mountains or a flower. All the paintings came out so amazing. After painting, they gave us tea and biscuits. When we left the painting class, we passed by Wumart again, and yes we all freaked out again over it. We stopped by a local market to grab snacks for the overnight train ride. We found really cool stuff like cucumber chips and pineapple Fanta. It was so different from American foods. We arrived at the train station shortly after, it took a while to get through all the lines, but after we went to Starbucks and a gift shop. As we boarded the train, we went to our different compartments to sleep. The train was so hot, a lot of us got little fans to keep us cool. Even though the ride was a struggle at first, bonding and laughing with everyone was worth the struggle.