As we woke up, we were all very excited to eat the wide assortment of breakfast and bask in the fact that we would be seeing the very renowned Terra Cotta warriors today!! I was so excited to see in person what we have spent so many years learning about. I have realized that China takes so much pride in its history and in preserving the rich architecture, and I was excited to see how well kept the Terra Cotta Warriors would be.
It took a long time to get to the Terra Cotta Warriors, so on the bus ride, I spent a lot of time thinking about the previous day and how much fun we had meeting the students, and wished that we could go to the warriors with them!
As we approached the Terra Cotta Warriors, I was excited to see how it would be. I think that what I had imagined in my head was extremely different than what we saw in real life-I had thought we would have to go into a deep dark alleyway to get to the warriors, but this was quite the opposite! They had it neatly sectioned off into buildings, which made things much easier to see. This place truly brought out the architectural side in me, and it made me wonder how they found the warriors and how they are slowly uncovering the story piece by piece. It was shocking to hear that the emperor forced all of the soldiers to die once the burial tomb was complete as to not let anyone know where he was buried, and that changed my perception on the tomb. As we walked around, it was so impressive to see that this was the place that an emperor was buried and that this thought was so ancient. While we were walking around, we met quite a few tourists from the United States, which was so cool!
After the Terra Cotta Warriors visit, we went to the city wall in order to bike, and this was so much fun! I enjoy biking in places with scenic views, and although I have not done it for a long time, it was so fun to do it again. We all had such a great time biking and exploring the city, and seeing many different places that we would not have otherwise had the chance to see. It was so wonderful to feel the breeze and see so many different couples taking their engagement pictures on the city wall. After we went back to the hotel after a 8 mile bike ride, we decided to do some shopping and explore the Muslim Quarters much more. I bartered a lot and decided to stick to my budget in order to buy all the gifts I needed for my family and friends, and it was such a great experience! I hope to come back to Xi’an again one day.