City of Xi'an

The city of Xi’an is definitely a beautiful one. The city has thousands of years of ancient history. The two days we stayed in this city we visited a few different attractions. In our free day we visited the Great Mosque. I really enjoyed visiting this pace because it opened my eyes about the world. Honestly, I really didn’t know there were Chinese Muslims Their mosque was really beautiful, and their architecture had many flowers which shows the impact Islam had. We walked along the markets in the mosque, where some of the poor were begging for money or the people trying to make a few yuan in their small shops, bargaining with the locals and the tourists.

Also in the this day, we visited the ancient drum and bell towers. After we visited Xi’an’s City Wall, the wall that once protected the city like the Great Wall. This wall w rode bicycles on for a while, which was really fun. All of us were racing or helping Michael with his bike. I really felt like I was in China then because bicycling is definitely one of the most essential sources to the Chinese people. They either ride it to get to their job, to school, for leisure, or for whatever reason.

The next day in Xi’an, we visited the terracotta soldiers, which I was really excited for because it’s something in our history books. A farmer found these thousands of soldiers in the 1970s. And ever since then, the city build a museum around it. It is believed to have protected a king in the first dynasty, because his mausoleum wasn’t so far from these soldiers. It was supposed to protect him in the “afterlife.” I couldn’t believe that this was an onsite museum, and the restoration of the soldiers looked well done. The idea of what happened to the soldiers and the secrecy of them really interested me. Archeologists determined that someone tried to burn the soldiers because of the ash found, and they were once protected because of the roof pillars. I really enjoyed seeing the soldiers, something also astonishing was how fast the once “countryside’ of Xi’an where the soldiers were found evolved so fast and became more city-like and touristy.

Overall, I had a lot of fun visiting the historical sites, and the five star hotel was great. The train ride from Xi’an to Nanjing really opened my eyes also because I was able to see the countryside, and people with small houses that were crumbling and abandoned, lots of garbage, many crops, and people working really hard far away from the city. 

Alex

Xi'an

We went to the drum tower and saw a performance. Then Jose bought an ancient Chinese instrument (which I quickly learned to  play). We walked around then to the bell tower. It was kind of the same. Afterwards we went to the City Wall gates. It was pretty long, so we rented some bikes. At first I was kind of nervous, because it’s been about 6-7 years since I last tried it, and I wasn’t even that good back then. But thanks to the little pride I had left (it was mostly destroyed by Alex and the other girls), I didn’t tell anyone, so I struggled for the first 5 minutes. Alex came back to laugh and make sure I was ok. Then I got it. I felt super awesome. But almost ¾ of the way going, the chain came loose. Thanks to my cousins in Ecuador I remembered something about bicycles chains so I fixed it. But coming back the chain broke twice more. So I found out the chain had a small dent which made it stick, then loose. Alex waited with me while Ms. McMurdo went with the others to drop them off. Ms. Lo then left to tell Ms. McMurdo to pick me up on the tandem bike. She finally returned, but with the passenger seat too small for me to even put my food on the pedals. So Alex had me borrow her bike, and we got back no problem. This was pretty fun. Then we returned to our 5-star hotel until the next day.

We went to see the terracotta soldiers, and how people make their own new ones to sell. We made our own but couldn’t take it since it takes a week to harden. We then went to the train, and arrived after taking a nap (my picture was taken so I lost the sleep-photo war). Jose and I finished our drafts of our powerpoint so we went to crash with the girls. We had fun and decided to mingle with the locals. That was a failure, so we went back. We laughed some more and then watched a movie, but we all fell asleep, the 6 of us. The way we slept was pretty much organizedish. I had laughed at what some people did at the middle of the night, like calling for some verbs. Next morning we found out our teachers had woken up thinking about breakfast, then Jose and my disappearance!

Michael

Ancient Capital of China

During m time in Xi’an I remember visiting a few interesting places. The first day in Xi’an the group and myself went to visit a museum in which I learned a lot about Chinese history. One thing I remember learning is the rule of the first emperor of China, who became emperor at the age of 13. Something very important that this emperor achieved was the unification of China.

The second day in Xi’an the group and I went to visit the city walls of Xi’an, where we all rode bikes. During this time, I decided to try to teach Monica how to ride a bike because she didn’t know how to ride one. Before we all went to the Xi’an wall, we first went to visit a bell tower and a drum tower where I heard a lot of beautiful music. One interesting thing that I saw there was that drums come in different sizes and shapes.

The last day in Xi’an we went to visit a pottery museum where we were taught how to make miniature terracotta soldiers. After we learned how to make a mini-terracotta soldier we explored the museum and we looked at many sculptures. After the museum we went to visit the actual terracotta soldier museum, which was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen in my life. 

Jose

A Ride Around Xi'an

After leaving Beijing we arrived at Xi’an. Xi’an is rich in history and culture. Xi’an is one of the four Great Ancient capitals of China. In Xi’an I learned that China was unified under the Qin Dynasty. The first emperor of China, Qin Shihuang, ordered the construction of the terracotta soldiers. The terracotta soldiers were discovered in the spring of 1974 by farmers diggeing a well. These terracotta soldiers were meant to protect the emperor’s spirit after death.

At the site of the terracotta soldiers, we also ate lunch. We had handmade noodles for the first time. Personally, I think handmade noodles are the best. It was interesting to view how they are made.

The most memorable moment in Xi’an was our free day, where we explored the city. It is in Xi’an that I saw Muslim Chinese. I always knew there were all types of religions all over the world. However, it was difficult to picture Muslim Chinese until I saw them in the flesh. We went to a mosque which was beautifully constructed. 

After visiting the mosque we rode bikes around the walls of the city. This was the highlight of my trip to Xi’an, because I’d never ridden a bike before. Who else can say they learned how to ride a bike in China?

Monica