by Bella Chen,
Welcome to Xi’An! With our only full day in Xi’An ahead of us our class woke up early ready to tackle the day, but first breakfast!
As each student descended down the elevators to Floor 4, our excitement grew as the doors opened to reveal a huge variety of food. From filled steam buns, made to order noodles, fruit, heart shaped eggs, fried rice, and even chicken nuggets this hotel had it all. My favorite were the filled steam buns and eggs.
With our bellies full, our class embarked towards our next stop. The early morning rain threw a curveball at our schedule so first we stopped at a DIY Terracotta Warrior Shop. There we were given a tutorial on how to sculpt our very own terracotta warriors, and shortly after the clay and tools were in our hands. Our class split into two groups and raced against the clock and each other to create the winning sculpture.
After one short hour, our two sculptures were complete! Each group created a back story for their soldiers and the instructor selected a winner. The winning title went to Ping Guo or Group 1 (Congrats to Adrian, Ashley, Bella (Me), Grant, Nathan, Lorelai, and Sophia)!
Next we stopped at a local restaurant for lunch. Along with many dishes we got to try to the famous 𰻝𰻝面 (Biang Biang Noodles) and Rou Jia Mo which were both equally delicious.
Afterwards, filled with anticipation and through the full and bustling crowds our class finally made it to the jaw dropping Terra-cotta Warriors – 兵马俑 (bīng mǎ yǒng).
From looking at the mini terra-cotta warrior statue in our Chinese classroom for two years to finally seeing hundreds of the real life soldiers was surreal. We finished the visit by shopping at the local shop and then we were off to…the bikes!
We went to bike on the beautiful Ancient Wall. A great trip down the wall and down memory lane. Personally, my bike ride was filled with much trial and error but eventually so much fun!
Finally, the day finished with dinner at a small but well known local restaurant which had many dishes, including the chinese version of potato chips.
And with that, a seemingly endless and exciting trip only had two days remaining.
