“It’s not about how high you climb, it’s not about how far you climb. It’s about you first steps, the experience you have, and the feeling you receive.” These were words from my tour guide before we began our trek up the Great Wall of China.
I recently traveled to Shanghai and Beijing in China with the Lycoming College Tour Choir. This trip was a once in a lifetime experience and was unimaginable from the eyes of a college sophomore. My life has been full of wanderlust, and this was the moment it locked in.
The sights that I experienced in China were out of this world, and no amount of research could have prepared me for the change I was about to experience. The daily life of the people, the city style, the food and every aspect in between was different than I imagined it would be. When we first began our journey, I was absolutely terrified, but once I relaxed a bit, I could truly enjoy what was going on around me.
Although we saw many different places and experienced new cultural aspects, nothing truly sat with me until we reached one of our main stops in Beijing, the Great Wall of China. Our tour guide briefed us as we approached, and the thought of climbing made me anxious. There were two different sides that could be climbed with different difficulties and different views. The choice was completely up to us.
It was a rainy and foggy day, but nothing was going to stand in our way of doing what we came to do. As we began our climb, my asthma kicked in extremely hard, which made my climb shorter than others. But as I reached the first tower and caught my breath, something switched on for me: the reality that I was halfway across the world, climbing something that had such a presence in history. As much as I felt horrid for only going as far as I could, I still felt accomplished. As our tour guide had said, it is more about the experience and the feeling you receive. As I stood to take a picture, I glanced at all the people climbing up and passing by. These people were all from different places, all dressed differently and all trekking up the same area. But not once did I run into a person who wasn’t friendly and curious as to where I was from, every person experienced the same thing in their own way.
This is when it actually set in that the Great Wall of China is one of the Seven Wonders of the World, and I was standing upon it. Not every person can say that they’ve experienced one of the Seven Wonders, and being able to do so is such an inspiring and life changing event. For a second, you get out of this little world you live in and feel proud and in the moment. Maybe some people aren’t so impressed by the idea because they think about tourism, but you are, you experienced something brand new to you. I came all that way to have an experience, and the feeling that I received was overwhelming and beautiful. I was there with people I love, and I was wrapped up in thoughts not only of my own, but also of others. Everyone's reaction was different, but we still all experienced a beautiful and gigantic piece of history together.
I wasn’t conscious of the fact that I would check off one of the Seven Wonders of the World until I was standing upon it. I experienced it, and it still seems out of this world to me. If you have the chance to travel and see this and experience it your own way, do so--check it off of your list too. It was a mind-blowing, unforgettable experience, and for the other six Wonders: I’m coming for you.
