Week 44: US TRIP STARTS

Week 44:

Day 1&2: Washington DC

So July first, the USA Trip finally started. I was so happy to see all my friends from my district again. And I also met 75 other students from different districts in the USA.
We started driving at 5am in Rochester and were in Washington DC by 4pm. It was soooo hot! Much hotter than anywhere else I've been in the states. First we stopped at the Washington Capitol Building. It was so beautiful! I was so glad to finally see old, ancient buildings again, like there are in Austria.

Some of my best friends this year ♥

On the second day, we went to the Washington Cemetery. It was so impressive. There are graves of over 400.000 soldiers from different countries, who served the USA in wars. We even saw a funeral, where the coffin was on a horse carriage and soldiers in their uniform where standing around the grave.
We also saw the famous Guard Change on top of the hill. We learned that it is very hard to get a job like this and there is a long training time for the soldiers. Every step, every movement in that guard change has a special meaning to american history and is in honor of the fallen soldiers.

In the afternoon, we went to many museums.Luckily, they are all fro free!! Its so nice because you can see so many different museums on one day and can enter and exit without paying anything! Also the museums in Washington are huge and have lots of interesting exhibitions!

Not to forget, we went to the White House that same day. Its a very beautiful house with a huge lawn. We took lots of pictures there and I even got some grass from Obama's backyard ;)

At night we went to see all the important monuments of Washington, DC. We saw the  Lincoln Memorial, Korean War memorial, Vietnam war memorial, Washington Monument and a few more I can't remember.

Lincoln Memorial

 

washington memorial

Day 3: Myrtle Beach

On the third day we had to get up at 5am and drove for 6 hours to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. We were planning to have a beach day there, but unfortunately it was raining and not very warm there. So we went to Broadway on the Beach for the night, which was so much fun! Its like a shopping "street" or "quarter" at the water with tons of little stores and souvenir shops. It was so much fun! At night we went to a typical american diner, which looked like it was from the 70's. 

us infront of the diner

Day 4: Pigeon Forge, Tennessee

On July 4th (Independence Day), there was a big celebration party in Pigeon Forge. There were many stands with food, fake USA tattoos and USA bracelets. I got a little tattoo for my cheek and had some lunch there. Later, a band started playing american country music while we were sitting in the grass listening or dancing and singing to the music. It was one of my favourite nights.

us at the festival

Day 5: Dollywood Themepark, Pigeon Forge, Tennessee

That day was one of the most fun experiences. We went to Dolly Parton's Theme park. Its not like a normal theme park, everything looks old and countryside- like and the whole park looks like a little town in the South United States. They have lots of really fun rollercoasters, souvenir shops, shows and many other things. We rode all rollercoasters (of course) and also saw one of the many shows there. We went to the Bubble Show, where and artist made tricks with bubbles. It was awesome!! 

Day 6: Graceland, Memphis, Tennessee 

We got up early in the morning again, had breakfast and went straight to Memphis, Tennessee. When we came to Memphis we went to Graceland, where Elvis Presley used to live. We saw his beautiful and crazy house, his yard, all his (approx. 30) cars, planes, outfits, awards and alot more. They also had like 10 giftshops there, because America is not America with a gift shop at every street corner. 

At night we went out for dinner. In Memphis, Americans have a really strange accent. It was so hard for me to understand that I had to ask the waitress to repeat herself. It was soo funny! When we ordered dessert, I think I said something wrong and she put my dessert in a box. I love all these southern United States accents!

Elvis's records

Elina and I ♥

Day 7: New Orleans, Louisiana

Unfortunately we didn't get to see the city of Memphis, because we started driving to Louisiana in the morning. But Louisiana was awesome! We stopped after a few hours to go on a Rotary Picnic. The Rotarians were all really nice and welcoming and there was lots of good food. They also took all of us on a boat ride in a river and told us that there were alligators in the river! unfortunately I didn't get to see any. But they had an alligator on land with its mouth taped shut for us to hold and pet. It was actually very small and pretty cute! 

us on the boat

the little alligator

The first week was awesome and so exciting! I met and got to know so many new people. I really enjoyed it! I'll post the second week very soon.