Welcome to Shreveport.

AT LAST! I'M HERE!!

Finally, after months and months of anticipation, the Brit is at last in the USA (in the likely case some of you didn't get it, my URL address is a play on the Bruce Springsteen song- BORN in the USA, funny right? Right? Aahhh never mind).
So I'm finally here in Bossier City (which it turns out I've been pronouncing wrong- it's actually pronounced 'Boushia' as opposed to 'Boss- ia' which is what I've been calling it). My connecting flight from Dallas Fort Worth (which is a cool-as-hell name for an airport) got in at roughly 19:10 local time- which is about 3 in the morning back in Blighty, so I was crazy tired. The Piraino's were waiting for me at the airport, and gave me an awesome welcoming! I even had my own sign!

(that photo was so hard to take!! I gave up trying to hold the sign with both hands and pressing the button with my foot as my knee kept blocking the sign! >.<)

I was somewhat worried on the plane that, because I was so tired, I would lack the energy to be my usual chatty self, and the conversation would often enter an awkward lull. But this wasn't the case! The Piraino's are such friendly people that we were talking constantly, and I seemed to almost forget about my very long, busy day and I was very excited when they said we were going to a restaurant called 'iHop' to meet Rick Gates from the Benton Rotary club. iHop stands for 'International House of Pancakes' and it seems to be a chain of restaurants across the US that specialise in, well, pancakes (shocker, right?) Rick told me a bit more about my first placement at Allegra Marketing- and it's sounding more and more awesome by the minute! Rick also told me to expect to put on at least 20lbs while I was there, and I could see why! Chocolate chip pancakes?!?! That's crazy. Delicious- sounding, but crazy (in a good way). Putting on weight back home isn't exactly the hardest thing to do- just have a kebab and a beer every night, but over here it's on a whole other level. The amount of awesome food that would make Jamie Oliver cry in a corner is insane. But don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, this morning I had peanut butter and chocolate cereal for crying out loud! I'm loving it! (to quote the slogan of a company that has quite a lot of relevance to this). Louisiana is famous for it's food- especially it's sea food, and my mouth was watering all Pavlov's dog style when Rick, Krista, and Steve were telling me about the BBQ ribs and cray fish meals I'd be having over the coming weeks- I cannot wait to wholeheartedly indulge my taste buds while I'm here.

 

Speaking of food, isn't it normal for food on planes to suck? Like, it's tradition, right? Well, I thought that was the case up until my British Airways flight yesterday- they served a delicious chicken tikka masala and an AMAZING chicken coronation sandwich. I was in two minds while eating that food: on one hand, I was in love with the food itself, but on the other, it was so out of the ordinary for me to enjoy the food on the plane, that I thought it was an omen for the plane to crash! So I was terrified when we went into some heavy turbulence over the south of Greenland, so terrified in fact, that I actually 'went to my happy place'- something I then realised I hadn't yet decided on- so my mind darted from one though to the other, and the technique failed. Oh well, I'm still here, so I didn't need it anyway.

Upon entry to the Piraino's home, the main thought going through my mind was: 'size'. Their house is huge, they don't have an upstairs, so I guess the house compensates by making all the rooms gigantic- and Krista said that their house is actually kinda average compared to some of the houses here!

I got very excited about two things my first night here, the first was that Ross was a fan of one of my favourite Animes- Shingeki no Kyojin (or Attack on Titan, as it is sometimes called). I found this out when he was showing me his bedroom and I spotted his rucksack, which had the scouting legion (something from the anime) logo on it. I then proceeded to jump around in sheer elation- I never would have thought that Ross would be a fan of Anime- I thought that I'd be alone in my sad, loserness and get funny looks if I was open about it. BUT IT WASN'T SO! How cool.
The second thing was quite simply- M&M's ice cream. It's ice cream (awesome), with M&M's in it. What does the scooter say about it's tastiness levels, Vegeta?

Soooo....
My work experience doesn't start until next week, so this first week is just for hanging out with my host family- which is great! Today Krista was at work and Ross was at school and Steve was on the phone a lot, so I took the opportunity to... well.. do what I usually do at home; browse the web, watch anime and listen to nightcore. But all the time I'm thinking:
'This is America'
'I'm sitting on an American chair'
'I'm using American Wi- fi'
I still find it too cool to believe. But I'd better start believing it soon- cos it's REAL :D

Anyways, look at the time!

I've been at this blog for a while now, so I'd better sign off, or 'power down' as they say over here.
I'll be updating the blog weekly- although I haven't decided on a day yet....

Jya ne
James x

And so it begins...

Greetings all!
(by all, I expect I'll be addressing my parents, and a few of my friends.... But if you don't fall into these categories, thanks for checking out my blog!)

In the likely event that you don't speak Japanese, I should clarify that the title says 'I am James'. I don't speak Japanese fluently, I just felt somewhat inclined to make the title what it is. Now that I think about it, it makes no sense putting the title in Japanese, as this is going to be a travel blog about America- guess I've been watching too much Anime. Oh well, 'Watashi wa James desu' it shall stay!

ANYWAYS

As aforementioned, I am starting this blog as an account for my trip to the USA, more specifically, Louisiana, even more specifically, Shreveport, EVEN more specifically, Bossier City (that's as specific as I can get without giving away my host families actual address!). I'm going as part of the Rotary club's Youth Exchange programme, and I am sooo looking forward to it! This is going to be the most exciting part of my gap year so far, not that my gap year so far has been uneventful, it's just that what I've done so far (resit some exams, have limited success at finding a job, and act incredibly unsociable when visiting unis) aren't anywhere near as exciting as this!
As excited as I am for this trip, I am also pretty scared. I'm sure that once I'm there, everything will be fine- I'm proud to be an ambassador for my country, and from the Email contact I've had with them my host family, the Piraino's, seem like incredibly friendly people! But I've always had a somewhat irrational fear of going through airport security. I know I've got nothing to hide (what threat is a skinny English kid anyways?), but I always find myself getting stressed out by the whole 'metal detectors and men with guns' thing, which leads me to think that the security staff will think that I'm up to no good, and I'll end up backed into a corner screaming...

(forgive the grammatical error- it should be 'Please I am too young to die'. But who really cares when it comes to memes anyway?)

I've always wanted to visit America- mainly because my Dad has been watching American films (particularly Westerns) his whole life, and so he has sort of passed the 'tradition' (if you can call it that) onto me. Most of my favourite films are American, and set in America (I'll refrain from listing them to save myself from any possible judgement!), so the US of A has always been this kind of, fairy tale land of amazing scenery, kick- ass cops, and loud, raunchy muscle cars.

But not just that.

Whenever I've seen real life footage of American life; whether it be in busy city streets, friendly suburban areas, or even striking desert ranches, I got the sense that that is somewhere I wanted to be, or at least explore. And now's my chance! HOORAHH!!
All I can say is a great, big, MASSIVE thank you to both my sponsoring and hosting Rotary clubs!

I expect this particular blog has been incredibly boring thus far, in which case I apologise- I'm really trying my best! I swear my blogs will become infinitely more interesting once I'm actually in America, documenting my trip, so please, PLEASE keep reading them. Perhaps some puppy dog eyes will help persuade you...

Well, I think that is a decent enough introduction, I'll be signing off for now- I shall resume once I'm in Louisiana! :D

Jya ne!! (see ya)
James x