American Experience

I'm back! My 10-day trip to America ended yesterday when I came back home. As always, this trip went by quite fast but it included some nice memories. 

A bird lost in the terminal. I wonder how it got through the security check...

Mandatory airplane picture.

I went to Disneyworld for the first time in my life and there I met a long time friend who I had never met face-to-face before. Luckily everything went fine with her and we are still friends :D My family and her family had some great time in Epcot and the following day my family visited Magic Kingdom. Magic Kingdom wasn't exactly what I had expected it to be but it didn't disappoint me. It was so amazing to finally see the Disney castle!

There was a flower and garden festival in Epcot while we where there. The one showing Lady and the Tramp was my favourite.

I got my picture taken with Marie from the Aristocats. She's so cute!

On the last day in Florida we visited St. Augustine, a very lovely little town by the Atlantic. St. Augustine is also the nation's oldest town. Ponce de Leon, the first European to land in the land which is now part of the USA, landed in St. Augustine. In St. Augustine we took a cruise (on which we even saw dolphins), visited the beautiful downtown area and the beach. Visiting the beach was definitely one of the highlights of my trip because it's one of the few places that really make me calm and happy :)

After the Florida trip we went back to North Carolina where my sister and brother-in-law live nowadays. In North Carolina there wasn't that much to see so we mostly shopped and walked around the area. It was nice though and I was happy to see my sister again after a long time :)

Some hiking in the woods. 

Finally, I'd like to say a few words about my experience of America and Americans. I have visited the US twice before so it wasn't really that new to me but I was still surprised by couple things. At first was the friendliness and sociality of people. That both pleased me and annoyed me. On the way back home there were two nice American ladies whom I had a great conversation with, which was the good kind of sociality, but whenever I visited the shops the sales people would say "Hi, how are you? Can I help you? We have 20 per cent off....". That was so annoying! In Finland the sales people only say "hi", and sometimes they ask if they could help. Nobody asks "how are you". And it's not only the sales people who ask that, everybody do that. I never know if they expect me to answer or ask the same question or just be silent. It's just so awkward...

My first cheesecake ever. It was even more delicious than I imagined :)

There were many other things that amazed me, too, but I won't get to them right now. On the flight back home those ladies I mentioned asked me about the way I/Finns see Americans. I mentioned the sociality and that "how are you" matter. I hope they didn't get the idea that I thought Americans were annoying. That's not how I see Americans. I guess I could say that my view of Americans is not finished yet. There are so many different kind of Americans that it's sometimes hard to find one aspect that would fit the most. Therefore I hope that in the future I could get to know more about America and Americans so that I can finish my view :)