Journal #28

I have never really left the country (its debatable if we drove through Canada on my family's trip to New York when I was four years old) so I have not been in a place with a very different culture or status then what we have where we live. I have been to New Orleans and Las Vegas, both places are quite different than little Pleasant Plains and Springfield. We went to New Orleans when I had just turned ten, and some of the people who live in the South really surprised me. For one, it took me a long time to figure out what they were saying because their accents are so thick. They also eat food that is very very different from here, alligator, gumbo, and other very strange dishes are served all the time in New Orleans. They say words differently and use completely different words sometimes then I am used to. In New Orleans in just a few minutes you can walk from the very pretty French Quarter, with nice buildings (Cafe Du-Monte!), to a very scary neighborhood where you do not want your car to break down (Our car had a flat there, very scary situation). This same layout of the city is also prevalent in Las Vegas. It is not everyday when you are walking down the street, and creepy people try and hand you cards of naked women. Also Vegas is called the city that never sleeps, and that is definitely true, something is always happening! There is such a mix of people who visit Vegas at any given time, so you never really know what culture you are around. Rich people, and poor people all come to Vegas to try and win money or just to have a good time. When you are under twenty-one, like myself, there are still quite a few shows, shops, and other things too see. Both New Orleans and Las Vegas are very different place from Illinois, but I enjoyed going to each place.