New and Exciting Experiences

I've had a lot of adventures recently, and tomorrow marks the beginning of another. At 4 a.m. tomorrow morning I'm headed to Indianapolis, Indiana, for orientation to the National FFA Convention news room. I'm nervous and excited all at the same time. 

I'm not sure I'll have much time to post about any of my experiences while I'm there, but I'll be sure to catch you up when I get back. 

In the mean time, I've had the opportunity to experience a lot of really fun and exciting things. 

Here's a little picture run down of what I've been up to:

My sister, a high school freshman, is in band so she's been busy every weekend competing at different band festivals. One weekend when I went home, she marched in Carrolton's Band Days, so I went to watch. She's the clarinet player in the center above.

Last weekend, I went to visit the Coons. The fall colors were beautiful so Kathryn and I decided to take pictures of the cows and their calves. Precious moments out in the field were everywhere to be captured. 

And last weekend Kathryn and my two friends who are international students from China came home with me. Missouri Days was going on, so I thought it'd be a great opportunity to show them the exciting times in a small town. 

We also introduced them to several American foods such as donuts, as seen below, fried chicken and mashed potatoes, meatballs and macaroni and cheese, curly fries, bar-b-qued turkey legs and quesadillas. 

Missouri Days is all about the band festival, vendors and food. Below, Julie and Sophie look at Americana crafts and decorations.

Dad hitched up the wagon to the tractor and we took a little hay-less ride around the farm. It was fun to show and explain the typical American agriculture system, and it was interesting to learn about how things are similar and different in China.

It's interesting to view your home culture through the eyes of someone who didn't grow up with that culture. I had never realized how much Americans love fried and sweet foods, nor our obsession over wanting to be royal! 

Sunday afternoon we sat around the table and discussed our cultures, how they are similar and what makes them different. It was great to get an international perspective- and to have that perspective come directly from someone rather than just reading or hearing about it. Each group realized how much movies play a role in how we view other cultures, and sometimes the movie portrayals are right but often they are exaggerated. 

It's been a great couple of weeks, but the busyness is just getting going. 

I'm off to my last class for the week. It's multimedia and our guest speakers are explaining what the next few years will look like as we choose a journalistic focus area. It should be enlightening for sure!