High School visit

Day 2- Great Wall of China and Branch High School

Getting up today was no easy task.  According to many reports I heard, most people had trouble staying asleep at night despite their best efforts.  Though some of us woke up with tired eyes, we started the day off at breakfast with scrambled eggs and toast.  My roommate and I decided to go out with Xue Lao Shi’s permission to practice our Chinese and buy some “bao zi” (steamed buns with various fillings).  They were delicious!  After breakfast, we boarded the bus to head off to Branch High School, one of Beijing’s elite high schools.  There we met many Chinese students and learned a lot about Beijing’s school system.   Their school day seems so much more difficult than ours with a 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. schedule.  The vice principal informed us how a ninth grader must pass an entry exam into the tenth grade or else they must go out and find work, and unlike the American system, a Chinese student must pick their major in high school and stick to it.  During our visit, the Chinese students were kind enough to speak to us with their almost perfect English on topics ranging from music, arts, and sports to questions about life as a Chinese or American student.  It was a very interesting and enlightening experience.  After visiting the high school, we had about an hour bus ride to a restaurant near the Great Wall.  The restaurant was quite scenic filled with tall, green plants everywhere.  Some people seemed to like this restaurant better since it tailored to more American style Chinese food while some appreciated more of the authentic Chinese taste.  We boarded the bus to the much anticipated Great Wall with excitement in our eyes.  When we got there, there were vendors all around us, begging us to buy their merchandise.  We calmly passed by them for the time being and headed up the long staircase.  We probably climbed the stairs for about twenty minutes; our legs were aching, but it was the best workout.  When we got up to a gazebo, everyone whipped out their cameras and snapped pictures of the landscape and each other.  After, we climbed more stairs to the Great Wall itself.  It was absolutely surreal that we were on the Great Wall of China.  The view was spectacular; once again, we whipped out the camera and took an uncountable number of pictures.  Looking out on the beautiful mountains was an unforgettable sight.  We headed up to a toboggan sight where we had a choice of taking a toboggan back down and walking it.  I decided to take the toboggan, and it was a blast! While we were waiting for everyone to come down, some of us decided to reply in Spanish to the vendors.  I imagine they had no idea what we said, but they continued to shout prices at us.  Once everyone was together, we then split up and did some shopping.  We practiced our bartering skills, and some of us got some really excellent bargains.  With contentment, we walked down to the bus with a two hour ride off to Wangjujing, a big shopping district in Beijing.  We ordered some food from the outdoor market as well as going to our beloved McDonald’s and ordering some unhealthy but delicious American food.    We then went shopping for some Beijing souvenirs as it is our last night here and once again bought some nice bargains.  One of us even persuaded a vendor to lower the price of an item a considerable amount by convincing her he loved her.  We then headed the bus back to our hotel, and we are now getting packed and ready to a big day tomorrow!  Thank you for reading, and have a wonderful day! 

Thank you so much! J

Angelica Young