Today was a busy but awesome day. We left our hotel at 8:30 a.m. and headed to the Great Wall. It was about an hour away so it wasn't too bad. By the time we got there, parked, and got tickets it was close to 10:45. Our tour guide, Zhong (who we love!), gave us a meeting spot and told us to meet back there at 12:30. Two other girls and I and one of our professors climbed on the side that had less people, but was the harder side. I have no words to describe the Great Wall! I could say phenomenal or captivating but that does not do it justice. I knew it was one of the wonders of the world but I now truly know why. Talk about a tiring climb! It was a mixture of stairs and just stones but it was so steep. There were a couple of spots that were VERY close to a 90 degree angle of stairs. Most of the other sections were probably somewhere around 60 degrees. It took much longer to climb up than it took to go down but the way down was actually a little bit harder! It was very nerve racking looking down and seeing the sharp angles so it was a little scary. It was the experience of a lifetime and I hope I can make another visit someday because it's truly amazing. After that we went out for a group lunch then headed to the Bird's Nest and Water Cube. We didn't have a whole lot of time there but it was really fun to see that. The Water Cube was actually a lot smaller than we were expecting. It couldn't have held even a thousand people. There is a section of the Water Cube that is a water park. We have a free day on Tuesday so we might try and go back! We left there and headed to a small dinner then the Peking Opera. I am happy to have experienced it but am also happy knowing that I probably won't see it again. It was more of a skit without props or words because there wasn't really any singing. Some of the stunts they did were awesome though. We finally got back to the hotel at 9:15 and everyone is very tired. Tomorrow we are headed to the Summer Palace! Won't be as long as today so we are looking forward to some rest!