Today was our first of two full days in Xi’an. We started by having breakfast in the hotel which, in my opinion, was even better than the breakfast we were served by the hotel in Beijing. After breakfast, we got on the bus and took a long ride to the villages on the edge of Xi’an to go to a children’s village for underprivileged kids. The village houses children who have one or both parents currently in prison. The children are educated and fed here due to the absence of parental figures. This visit was eye opening as we got to see how lucky and fortunate we are to have the opportunity to go to college and have parents that are there to care and look out for us. We brought gifts for the children and were even given time to play and do various activities with them. I was surprised to find myself in an extremely competitive game of basketball with some of the children that lived there. It was a blast. After this, we ate a lunch with the children consisting of rice and noodles that was surprisingly delicious. When we finally had to say goodbye to everyone in the village, we returned to the bus to make our way to the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda. This pagoda is one of the oldest in China and is an area of worship for many people of the Buddhist religion. After touring the area of the pagoda, we were given a lesson on the calligraphy of the ancient Chinese language. The instructor even wrote my name in ancient Chines characters and gave it to me to keep for free. Finally, after the lesson, we made our way back to the hotel to rest up for a visit to the Terra Cotta Warriors tomorrow!