Julie Guan cleans up the panda's cage. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Never having dreamed of being in such close proximity to a panda, I was delighted by the action and after listening to it munch on the food hurriedly offered a second piece.

Next, we watched a documentary on China's goal to rehabilitate giant pandas back into the wild. It explained China's efforts to breed them to increase the population, and detailed measures taken to train the pandas to enter their natural habitat once again.

It was wonderful to see a country so dedicated to saving a species, and I was inspired to keep working hard to accomplish my goals.