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My American Journal…
Well, as usual, I was late to the airport and
Mr. Sharma and Jaissal’s family were giving
me those ‘interrogative looks’. I however
quickly kept my stuff in the trolley and the
three of us headed for check-in. We flew
from Delhi to Vienna, it was quite a tiring
flight (11 hours). We landed in Vienna and
trust me it was the best thing that could’ve
happened to us that time. It was ‘scheduled’
to be a four hour stay at the airport, but
turned out that we got two extra hours.
Whoever said that planning is essential for
success! We ate, slept, rested and did some
shopping too! Finally we got into the flight
for New York (NY). We didn’t realize how
quickly the time passed in the second flight
(9 hours). It was amazing!
We reached NY. Thanks to the uncertainty
of US visas, we couldn’t book the youth
hostels, but stayed in a 4-star hotel near
Times Square. Well it was awesome! But
not to forget, “money doesn’t grow on
trees”. However, we didn’t have a choice.
Well that evening we didn’t know a thing
about NY, credits: Indian way of ‘planning’
things ;) . But however we know how to
improvise don’t we? We talked to the hotel
manager who was from Lahore; he treated
us with great respect and courtesy. We took
a map and decided to go for a ship ride
around Manhattan but as I said our way
of ‘planning’ is just you know. We took a
bus instead, the bus took us all around the
‘Big Apple’ (Manhattan). It was a doubledecker
bus and our guide kept telling us the
history of buildings and landmarks. Well
we didn’t actually see anything except the
Statue of Liberty that day. We planned to
see a museum, Broadway and have pizza at
the world’s best pizzeria. And guess what?
We did it! It all went according to the plan
(probably the most overrated word!) . We
got up in the morning had breakfast etc.
Then we boarded our bus and went to see
the American museum of Natural History,
it was amazing and it was huge! We saw
African, Asian, North-American mammals
and saw the history of man. How the
world evolved. We also saw the astronomy
section, with all the models of planets and
real asteroids, comets, meteorites, etc. It
was quite a different experience. Then we
rushed to Broadway to get the tickets for
Spiderman, the musical. After getting the
tickets, we did a lot of shopping ;). Well
after sometime we were sitting in the
Foxwoods theatre waiting for the play to
start. The play was just out of the world!
It was awesome! The best thing in NY!
Trust me, even Mr. Sharma said, “I haven’t
seen anything like this before.” We kept
thinking about the play for a long time that
night. We packed our stuff and were ready
for Florida. In the morning, the regular car
broke down, so we got the luxury of going to
the airport in a Limousine. (the best things
in life are always unplanned!)
My experience with the host families was the one
which made the exchange different and awesome I
just don’t have the right word for it. I stayed with
two families; first were the Brenners. They were
Jews, extremely respectful and gentle people. I
stayed in their son’s room who was studying in
Phillip’s Exeter which is the best school in USA
and is considered one of the best in the world. I’d
now like to describe an ordinary American student
because I’ve been here every year since I was four
so I know quite a lot about the country and its
culture. A kid starts learning an instrument when
he or she is four and learns to read music when
they turn ten. So, they learn an instrument, they
have three seasons for different sports, they have
on going scholarships within the public and the
private schools for those who excel in academics
and sports. American kids like to enjoy themselves
but at the end of the day they know what their
goals are. In America the majority studies in
public schools. Education is free there till twelfth
grade (exception: private schools). The Brenners
were nice people; they asked me a lot of questions
regarding India. But, unfortunately all the
Americans think of India as land of poverty ! (The
movie Slumdog Millionaire has only confirmed
their belief). Anyway, we did go karting, went
around seeing the city, and went on a boat ride
twice. I went to see the everglades too with my
second host family. They were from England. But
I liked the first family more because they actually
made me feel at home and you know it was like as
if I was a part of their family now. Finally we went
to Disney World and the Universal Studios, which
was of course a once in a lifetime experience. The
whole Disney world is two times bigger than the
entire Manhattan Island! It’s not only a place for
small kids as we think it is. We did tons of stuff
there and my advice would be if you’re going to
Disney World (not Disney Land) then at least
plan a ten day trip! I had a great experience! It
was something different, exciting and you know I
learnt a lot about the different culture, behavior
and society by living with another family…
Rhitik Jassar
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