The Great Wall Toboggan - July 4

For the first time since being in Beijing, we finally got to experience the city a little bit.  I had a chance to speak Chinese with some natives, and it was absolutely exhilarating.  I am so ready to go all in once I reach Chengdu and stop speaking English!  We ate our first authentic Chinese meal today too  It was served family style on a lazy Susan and was only moderately spicy.



We struggled up thousands of brutal steps to reach the Great Wall, which I had seen before but was impressive none the less.  Instead of facing the torture-device steps on the way down, some other students and I opted to ride the toboggan.  With absolutely no safety features (or speed restrictions), it would have never been allowed in the United States and therefore was super fun.




The weirdest thing I ate today: cucumber-flavored Lay's.  (Chinese people seem to love cucumbers; I ate three servings today in three different forms.)  The weirdest thing I did today (apart from high-speed sledding down the Great Wall): explaining YOLO to the really awesome AFS China volunteers, who in turn taught me Chinese slang.