My Time in Xian

And I commend joy, for man has no good thing under the sun but to eat and drink and be joyful, for this will go with him in his toil through the days of his life that God has given him under the sun.  Ecclesiastes 8:15

I spent last summer in Xian with a bunch of American students there at a university doing a cultural exchange with Chinese and was surrounded by tears when I left because of all the people we were leaving behind.  But lucky me, I knew I would be studying abroad in Beijing, just a train ride away from Xian.  So when 清明节Tomb Sweeping Holiday came along, I immediately made plans to hop aboard China's high-speed rail network (the largest one in the world) from the modern capital to the ancient capital.  The whole thing felt like dream retreat from Beijing life.

My train at the Beijing West station.

Traveling at 300+km/hour.  Saw many scenes of development from the train.

Greeted at the Xian North station by my friends Emily and Henry.

Stayed with my friend Miriam and was greeted every morning with wonderful western breakfasts!  Nice change from the banana I normally eat on my way to class.

肉夹模rou jia mo is a pork burger and Xian specialty.  I had one almost every single day last summer.

My friend Linda brought me to the beautiful Qujiang Pool Park on a romantically rainy afternoon.

Linda and me.

Linda and friends.

We stumbled our way across these rocks and managed not to slip in the rain!  Worth the instagram?

Beautiful meal of colored noodles after a day of walking in the rain.

Saw the largest LCD screen in China near the 大雁塔 Wild Goose Pagoda.

Change of scenery.

So happy to see them!

And meet up for lunch :)

Where I stayed last summer.  Felt surreal to go back.

Visited the Bell Tower near Xian's ancient city wall.

And got a really good view.

Celebrated Miriam's birthday in good Chinese fashion with KTV

Lots of reunions :)

My friend brought me to a hipster Chinese cafe where there was DIY jewelry and interesting-flavored drinks.  We sat there for hours being obnoxious and playing cards.

Some evidence:

You could say I didn't really do Xian much justice since I was there to see people more than to visit tourist attractions.  Xian has an extremely rich history as an endpoint of the Silk Road and home of the Terracotta warriors, but I guess I've learned from being abroad for almost three months now that I actually enjoy normal things which happen to me on a day-to-day basis.  Sometimes life is better when I don't need to think about planning a good vacation, so I was really lucky to have had friends in Xian who welcomed me and created the vacation for me.  It's sure a lot easier to get attached to a place when you're acquainted with the people there.  Thank you Xian friends, hope to see you all again soon!