Dear gods, someone sent you an Excel file as XML? That's simply evil. Excel is bad enough as it is.
I didn't notice a code sample to be able to assist you in determine what went wrong in your code. Accessing the XML is simple enough, it's just using XQuery. What are you trying to do with it?
Never stop learning, even if it hurts. Ego bruises are practically mandatory as you learn unless you've never risked enough to make a mistake.
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