Today was absolutely incredible. Hiking the Great Wall was without a doubt my favorite part of the trip so far, not to mention one of the best experiences of my life. There was something about climbing all those stairs to reach the top that gave me an incredible feeling of accomplishment. When we first started up, I was pretty sure I would make it to the top with no problem, but three fourths of the way up I had to stop. I was so exhausted. Matt and Harrison were already at the top cheering Charlie and me on. I didn’t think I would make it, but I knew that if I didn’t, I would regret it for the rest of the trip or even the rest of my life. Finally, when I did make it to the top (fifth), I could not believe my eyes. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my entire life.

Hiking back to the starting point where we had taken a cable car to the top, I assumed we would take a cable car to get down. Oh no! We hiked further down the wall where the alpine slides were and went down the mountainside on a metallic track. At first I was completely petrified, but once we got going it was so fun! Hopefully someday I will be able to revisit the Great Wall so I can experience all of this again. What a day!

After making a few purchases from the kiosks at the bottom of the Great Wall, we departed to visit our first school, Niu Lan Shan Middle School. We were taken on a tour of the campus where we saw some students exercising outdoors and later were given the opportunity to see a chemistry classroom. The campus had numerous dormitories for students and teachers, as well as other buildings for classrooms. The cafeteria was three levels of one building to accommodate the number of students and faculty at the school. It was so big!

The stairs at the great wall were quite steep. Here the AACE
students descend from their climb. They walked several miles of the wall.

Harrison and Stephanie prepare to go back to the parking area from the wall via the slide.

We received a tour of Niu Lan Shan Middle School beginning with the old buildings of the original school.

At the Niu Lan Shan Middle School they are very proud of their history and have busts of former principals in the lobby.

We were shown the model of the Niu Lan Shan Middle School, the campus is mostly complete, with some new dorms with solar panels.