Before our journey to China, Jordan, our adviser for the trip, showed us a graph depicting the average mood level for any international trip. At first, you are extremely excited to be, and what to see and try any new opportunity. Halfway through the trip though, you will hate the country you are visiting and just want to go home. Majority of us hit our low points that day.

The Terra-Cotta Warriors are China’s second most popular tourist attraction, behind the Great Wall. What is so special about these warriors is that fact that the first emperor had them build to be buried with him, and there were so many of them. Another thing too is the level of detail that went into them. Each one had their own unique facial expression, hey even had to own personal palm lines in their hands. No two warriors were alike.  Just as a side note, if you happen to visit them, do not purchase the little warriors the vendors are selling. They were never put through the kiln, so when the day is over you warrior will most likely be a blob of clay.

From our program guide –

“The Terracotta Army is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. Current estimates are that in the three pits containing the Terracotta Army there were over 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots.”

And back to what I was saying about this being everyone’s low point. Throughout the trip locals would take are pictures because we were Westerners. At first everyone was okay with it and others went out of their way to get their pictures taken. Well, we were all sick of it, especially people would try to take our picture secretly.

After visiting the warriors and to spend our finally day in Xi’an, we had an opportunity to go on an 8-mile bike ride of Xi’an’s city wall.  It was definitely nice just to release and take in the views.