Dairy for the US journey

Thomas刘宗灵

Today I'm leaving for the United States of America. We'll depart from Hong Kong this morning and arrive in San Francisco after 13 hours' flight. It seems a long trip. But I'm so excited about it. I just can't wait to go to the US. USA, I am coming!!

Day 1

Today I got up at five o’clock and I was so sleepy. I didn’t have enough sleep. I didn’t have breakfast. I was so hungry. I took a break on the bus to HK. The time on the schedule says that the plane would take off at half past eleven. Because of the weather, the plane couldn’t depart for USA on time. But I thought the weather was fine. The sun was shining, the sky is blue. I was so much hungry because I didn’t have lunch, either. It will take us 13 hours to go to San Francisco by air. What a long journey! At last, the plane took off three hours after the proper time. I should sleep well and eat well. On the plane, I did many things during my trip. I spent my time watching the movie, listening to music and talking to the foreign friends and so on. During the trip, I met some new friends, they are all air hostesses. I asked their nationalities one by one and I knew that they all come from different parts of the world. One is from Thailand, another is from Korea, another is from Germany, another is from HK, and the other is from Singapore. Although they come from different countries, they speak to each other in English fluently and work together friendly and happily. From them I know that the life of a person consists of many different things. But if you arrange it well, your life will be happy and colorful. As time goes by, I felt more and more tired. I thought the time goes like a turtle. It went earlier and earlier. And I felt more and more hungry. I ate a lot on the plane. In the thirteen hours, I didn’t know how many songs I had listened, how many times I drank sprite, how many times I stood up and sat down. The only thing I knew that is I couldn’t bear it for thirty more minutes. At last, I left the plane with unhappiness. We arrived at San Francisco at noon (local time). (In USA)Then we went straightly to the Stanford University. It is such a huge school. There are many teaching areas, parking places and many libraries…The students all work hard here. So they all got good marks, good jobs and salaries. So I should work harder to achieve my dream. After visiting all of the views, we were taken to the Stanford bookstore. I bought some books. Tomorrow we will go to University of California, Berkeley campus. It must be beautiful… It is the first day in USA, so, best wishes to my trip!

Day 2

My second day in San Francisco was nice too. It is said that there are three beautiful islands; we were taken to the Treasure Island. The US Naval Station is located on the Treasure Island. I think it is a kind of base. The Treasure Island is big and beautiful so I took a lot of photos there. Maybe the other two islands (Alcatraz Island and Angel Island) are also beautiful. Hope to see it one day. After a few hours, we arrived at the University of California, Berkeley campus. Someone told us that the study and the life in Berkeley are happy and colorful. There are shops, bars around the school. The school is big and the buildings are classical. I think Berkeley is also a good school for further our studies. We went to see the Golden Gate Bridge after lunch. It is one of the most important symbols of San Francisco. I went to go through the bridge with my friends. When we reached the middle of the bridge, all my friends went back. The teacher had told us not to reach the end, we didn’t have enough time and the day was foggy. It’s a little dangerous for us to do it. However, I didn’t go back with my friends. I decided to reach the end because I just wanted to know that what the end was like. I walked slowly. As the teacher said, the wind blowed hard and I couldn’t see the view clearly because of the foggy day. I insisted going until the end. When I reached the end, I was happy and proud of myself. Seconds later, I found that I would be back late. So I had to run back quickly. On my way back, the wind blowed harder and I still couldn’t see the roads clearly. I slowed down for my study. How I wish to go back in a car! As the time got close, I felt more tired. At last, I went back to meet my team. I just did it! I felt proud and happy. One of my friends called me superman. They didn’t believe I could come back in such a short time. Suddenly I remembered the advertisement of Nike——Just do it! I felt tired and couldn’t breathe normally. I felt on top of the world. After this event, we visited the palace of fine arts. The color and the shapes of the construction are both wonderful! City hall is the final place. It’s beautiful too. I do like it. Unfortunately, we will depart for Los Angeles tomorrow afternoon. Tomorrow we will have to say goodbye to San Francisco. What a pity!

Day 3

We visited the last famous view in San Francisco. It’s fisherman’s wharf. I thought that it was a kind of harbor, maybe not the same meaning. The wharf and the ships were really beautiful. I bought something and left for Los Angeles. Bye San Francisco…In the evening, we arrived there late at night. The students were all very tired, so was I. We will go to Disneyland tomorrow! It must be exciting and tired!

Day 4

Everybody got up early. We were all looking forward to playing in Disneyland. It’s my first time to play in Disneyland. The Disneyland was really huge and beautiful. I love the beautiful constructions. It’s crowded with people from all around the world. I love the atmosphere. I really enjoyed it. There were lots of exciting games in Disneyland. There were also many lovely cartoon characters. I took photos with them. I was really happy. As the tour guide said, there were too many items in Disneyland. I didn’t have enough time to play them one by one. I played all day but actually I had been tired all day. I enjoyed myself. I left a really good memory in Disneyland. Though all of us (my friends and I) felt exhausted, we didn’t want to leave Disneyland…Tomorrow we will go to Universal Studios Hollywood to watch movies, especially the wonderful action movies. It must be tired too. So I have to sleep well. Have a good night!

Day 5

Today we visited the Universal Studios Hollywood with great interest. We were all surprisingly happy. I have seen so many wonderful films in Hollywood. We first visited the scenes of the Hollywood. There are so many scenes and places. The stages were huge, the people were hard-working, the directors were experts, and the famous actors were experienced. Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan have ever been here. They are the stars of china; they are the stars of Hollywood, too. All the Chinese are proud of them. I also watched some 3D movies, even several 4D movies. I saw many wonderful special effects too. We played games and took photos. I was happy all day.

Day 6

Plane: Los Angeles---Denver  Denver---Boston

Day 7

Today we visited Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). We went into the building of the school. We visited most of the classrooms, laboratories and even the toilet! There were so many laboratories for the students to do experiments. The students who love science have enough time to do experiments and they do like it. They must feel on top of the world. The mission of MIT is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century. It is really good. The second place we visited is Harvard University. It is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League. Seven presidents of the United States--John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Theodore and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Rutherford B. Hayes, John Fitzgerald Kennedy and George W. Bush were graduated from Harvard. More than 40 Nobel laureates have been produced from Harvard. The tour guide led us to visit the school. At the beginning we were taken to the statue of John Harvard. It’s said that there are three lies about the statue. First, Harvard University wasn’t founded in 1638, it was founded in 1636. Second, John Harvard wasn’t the man who founded Harvard University. Harvard University was called Cambridge academy before. One day, John Harvard donated much money and many books to Harvard University, so the name of the university was changed into Harvard University. Third, the statue of man was real John Harvard. The school didn’t have the picture of him, so they chose a handsome student and made the statue. So nobody knows what Mr. Harvard is like, but I think he would be really pleased with Harvard University if he is still alive. I took pictures standing beside the statue with my hand on it. Then we visited the church, restaurant and the libraries. We bought some as gifts (souvenirs). After that, we went to Boston University. I went around the school and took pictures with my friend. In the end, we finished visiting three excellent universities and went back to the hotel. I was happy and excited. It was quite some time before I calmed down. I should study hard and take actions for my dreams here.

Day 8

In the morning, we visit Harvard University again. A Chinese student from Harvard gave us a lecture. She told us much about Harvard University, such as the everyday life, the intense competition, the culture of Harvard, the university application and so on. We were happy because we got to know much information. The second place we visited was Yale University. It is one of the members of the Ivy League. We visited its library first. It is huge and splendid. When I went into the library, I saw millions of books being laid on the bookshelves. I was shocked. I wish I can read books there every day. We only visited the library and the buildings surrounding the university. After that, we went to New Jersey by bus. It was late, we slept on the bus. We had already checked in the hotel and were ready to have a good night. Today we didn’t go to many scenic spots, so we didn’t enjoy much. Tomorrow we will go to New York！

Day 9

Today we got up early in the morning; we went to New York by bus. We would see the Statue of Liberty. When we got to the harbor, we waited until the ferry came. The sun was burning. We felt terribly hot. The sweat rolled off in great drops. We had waited nearly two hours since we arrived there. As time went by, finally we got it. The ferry took us to the sea around the Statue of Liberty. The Statue of Liberty is huge and spectacular. It stands on the island in the middle of the sea. We took many photos of it. We went back in the same way. Then we went to the United Nations Headquarter. The tour guide in the building introduced UN totally. We have learnt that the United Nations is an international organization which was founded in 1945 after the Second World War committed to maintaining international peace and security, developing friendly relations among nations and promoting social progress, better living standards and human rights. The tour guide explained each room and its function clearly. We visited the place where the officers have meetings which was called UN assembly hall. It’s resplendent and magnificent. There are thousands of seats there. Amazing! I used my camera and I found China. I took some photos and then left. Then we went to the Fifth Avenue. I bought some T-shirts from Nike exclusive store. After having dinner in McDonald's, we went to New York Times Square. Oh! The night scenes of the New York Times Square were so beautiful. There was also a Fashion show. The music was loud and there was a mass of bobbing heads. New York, awesome!

Day 10

In the morning we visited the West Point School by bus. It is said many excellent soldiers come from it. Their lives were hard. They studied hard at West Point School. So they were successful after graduating from school. In the afternoon, we went to Woodberry and bought many things. I bought some clothes and a pair of shoes. Some of my friends also bought so many clothes and trousers, even the underwear. All of us thought the price compared with Chinese was so low. We all enjoyed ourselves in Woodberry and then we drove to the university which was 3 hours away, Columbia University. It’s also an excellent university in the US. We got there and took a photo together. Since we didn't have enough time, we didn't visit much about the Columbia University. In the evening, we went to Wall Street. It was wonderful, too. All of us were exhausted. We returned to our hotel early.

Day 11

At the beginning of the day, we went to Princeton University. Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey. Princeton has been associated with 33 Nobel Laureates, 17 National Medal of Science winners, and three National Humanities Medal winners. In the school, there is an old clock and many classical buildings. We took some photos and left for the next place, University of Pennsylvania. The University of Pennsylvania as well as Princeton University is also one of the eight universities of the Ivy League. Both of them are excellent for all the students to further their study. The most famous college of Pennsylvania is called The University of Pennsylvania Wharton School. It is known by every student who likes to study business. There were lots of successful businessmen coming from Wharton School. They studied well and worked hard. Finally, they succeeded. I like business too. I hope I can study well and be a great businessman to earn money for my family and the world. We finally ended the trip of the universities. What’s more, we then visited the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall and former (US) Capitol. After that, we went to Washington DC in the evening. We checked in the hotel early. Looking forward the last day!

Day 12

It was the last day; we spent the whole day in Washington DC. We went to see the White House in the morning. The president Obama works in the White House. All the tourists mustn’t visit the front of it. So we had to go to the back side of the White House. We stood 500 hundred meter away and took photos. I couldn’t visit the front side and have a look, what a pity! Then we visited the Capitol, National Air and Space Museum, and the National Art Museum. We spent most of our time in the National Air and Space Museum. The National Air and Space Museum holds the largest collection of historic aircraft and spacecraft in the world. I saw so many things that I had never heard or seen before in the museum such as a piece of the moon, the things in Apollo aircraft, the US rackets, the model of the first plane in the world which was made by the Wright brothers and so on. I learnt a lot and I felt excited. After that, I went to the other museum, the National Art Museum. I saw many famous paintings in it. I also saw a young woman drawing in front of a picture. She was trying to paint the picture; she was learning to improve her painting level. In the Art Museum, I took many photos of many famous pictures and statues. After that we went to see the memorial hall of Abraham Lincoln’s and Thomas Jefferson’s. Both of the memorial halls were huge and we spent a long time on them. It was late in the afternoon. We had a big dinner in Tyson Buffet & Restaurant. It was our last meal in America, we all ate a lot. Hours later, we would go to the airport. Goodbye, US! Goodbye, my dear America! On the way to the airport, I was so sad and cried. At last, I made a wish. I hoped my beautiful dreams would come true in the future…

Day 13

Plane: Washington DC---Chicago  Chicago---Hong Kong, China

Day 14

(In China)Hi, I'm finally backed to China and right now I feel really tired. Feel pretty happy and exhausted after the long trip. I do miss my parents and friends a lot. One more, my comfortable bed…^_^

The End

In memory of 7.14—7.28 the US journey. My memory, my brothers, my dreams…