A Vacay across the States

by Hamza Ali (Pakistan)

I didn't expect to find USA

My one year exchange in the United States had been great so far. January was fast approaching, and in the small town of Hixton, Wisconsin, my American host family had provided me with memories to last a lifetime. I personally had tried experiences and made friends a continent apart from my home in Karachi, Pakistan, believeing things cannot get better. And how might they even get better? In these lovely months I had discovered and enjoyed a climate miles apart to what had been the case in hot Karachi, and when my host family finally announced they were taking a road trip across USA in the next month, me, partially due to the love already generated for Wisconsin, partially because my inner nerd did not wanted to miss two weeks of high school, was lukewarm to the idea of a vacation, that would enable a hollistic transformation within me. For the enlightenment of our readers, Wisconsin, in December abd throughout January, experiences continual drops in temprature well below zero, and this, combined with the picture painted through watching several New York based shows in Karachi, gave me the impression that wherever we will drive, the scenery will be enveloped with thick, white snow. Imagine, the horror of this fifteen year novice at this period, when upon crossing the south of Illnois, he woke up and found the background more akin to autumn then winter, with the sun illuminating the deep yellow, crop less fields. Crossing Illnois and venturing forth Georgia, the atmosphere had changed drastically. Yes, the cold was still a touch higher then it would have been in Karachi, but the pavement, untouched by snow, providing access to some of the most famous spots of Atlanta, with individuals from all walks of life hustling and bustling in the megapolis, was a world apart from Wisconsin, or so I discovered all the while divulging in the pleasures of Chick Filet. As we reached Florida, I realized I had an active desire in anticipating the climate of this lively state, perhaps more so then anjoying the many delights of Universal Studios, which I will proclaim is an adventure to be tried at least once. I linked the locality of Orlando to be similar to Karachi, which was partially true, because Karachi has never been quite as pleasantly windy, as incredibly clean, or as unbelieveably, multicultural, multifaceted as Florida. As we drove away from the party state, I thought I had experienced all sceneries, a misconception acutely broken by Texas, on our way to Arkansas. I can only imagine the weather in summer, but the arid, sandy, yet unimaginably beautiful areas out in the arid, sandy, yet unimaginably beautiful areas in both the southern cities and resorts made me embellish this as an incredible gateway for those truly sick of the snow and cold, as I imagined my host parents and sister would have been. And it was not just the tempratures adding beauty to a certain location, now that I think about it. It was the people that made an area unique. How they dressed, from the thick coats of northern Minnesota to the light jean shorts of Texas. How they sounded, what they liked, what they accomplished and built, and some differences very subtle yet still irreplaceable, the ones you can only envision by taking a long road trip from the north to the south yourself. One thing was for sure, when I packed my bags in June to return to my place of birth, I had decided to eventually find out what distinguishes the localities in my own country, and in a larger picture, how is it different from this country, an ocean apart.