We have an amazing group of interns working with us this summer. Jennifer Studer is the latest intern to join us. She got a later start for a very good reason. She was in CHINA!  So the first thing we did, was ask her to share some of her amazing journey with the rest of us!

We will start at the end of her trip. Mostly because this photo of Jenn and the Great Wall is pretty spectacular!

-         This was my last day in China.  It was 105 degrees, blue skies, and the picture does not do justice for capturing the moment of this.  When they said we would “climb the Great Wall of China,” they weren’t joking.  To get to the wall itself we climbed about 1,000 steps of stairs.  As you can kind of see in the picture, the steps do not stop.  The wall is constantly going up and down on its path to the ocean.  It runs east to west and was built to protect the Chinese Empire against intrusions by military forces or various nomadic groups.

Jennifer Studer
Jennifer Studer
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-          This is a photo from Xi’an University. They had a group of college students take us under their wing and show us how to write calligraphy.  Calligraphy takes time and concentration to be able to fully capture each Chinese character.  It was harder than I thought!

Jennifer Studer
Jennifer Studer
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-          The first emperor of China, Qui Shi Haung, built these warriors and horses to protect him in the afterlife.  In the three pits they dug up, there are about 8,000 warriors and they all surround the emperor’s tomb.  The warriors were found by a farmer digging a well. One of the farmers that helped dig was at the museum signing books about the warriors.

Jennifer Studer
Jennifer Studer
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-          The food there was incredible!  It was not like American Chinese food you get at the mall.  It was a lot of meat, vegetables, and rice/noodles.  China is famous for the roasted duck which we had for many of the meals.  The dumplings in Xi’an are also famous.  At one restaurant, we tried 18 different types of dumplings!  I also got very good at using chop-sticks!  Another fun fact is that ice water is not common in China.  They mostly drink hot water because they have to boil it for it to be safe to drink. 

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