The Greatest Wall on Earth

Long a symbol of the country's strength, The Great Wall of China has captured the imagination of people worldwide throughout its history. I've always been facinated by the construction of the 4000-mile-long structure and the massive scale--so massive that it's even visible to the human eye from the moon. I often thought about when I get to see this piece of history, and I wondered who I'd be with? Will it live up to my expectation? And what memories will I create during the journey.

The first time I laid my sleepy eyes (cat nap on the bus) on The Great Wall, I was wide awake in seconds. Captivated by the grand scale, I was speechless (for the first time on this trip!) Stretching out in front of us into infinity... It was completely magical, because not often do you get to witness history to such magnitude. And, being with my classmates were simply amazing...

We had to take a cable car up to The Great Wall?! (I seriously thought we were going to hike or climb.) I was scared to death of heights, and Jolene took the only machanical engineer we had to sit with her! I sat very still and noticed Lewman writing/drawing on the cable car wall! Scared of heights and getting arrested (for Lewman not following rule #3), I decided to take pictures of us breaking the rules and marking the little history of our own during the ride up. We laughed a lot along the way, my cable car buddies and the view were simply spectactular.

Once we were up at The Great Wall, it was crazy! So many people... our class got split up right away and we ended up with several small groups walking on the wall. There were several steep sections and several spots smelled incredibly bad! We walked for hours--it seemed like days according to Ron's face. ;) Roos & I ran up a section of The Wall. It was a nice day for a run. I wish I could of done it longer, but there were too many people there. Strolling on the wall, it was the little moments that I had with my classmates/friends that I will cherish for a life time. I know that they will be Great - The Greatest Leaders of our time.

At the highest point, I looked out and The Great Wall stretched as far as I could see. I thought about the 2-3 million Chinese men & women that lost their lives building The Great Wall. . . Then I remembered that - Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals are the only kind of goals to have.