Day 4 - Differences

I have noticed some interesting things about America so far. They are in a weird time zone which is quite different from New Zealand, which makes it hard to phone home sometimes. They drink a lot of cold tea, which I like if it is sweetened. They have lots of tornado shelters - the airport in Denver and the building we are in at the University of Wisconsin have signs to their tornado shelters. They drive on the other side of the road from us and they have strange ascents. We have also found weird food, like some of the bread is sweet, there are LOTS of different types of ice-cream and they have cheap chocolate (Hersheys and M&Ms). They also have a weird money system like quarters (25 cents) and pennys (1 cent).

Day 3 - Getty Center

On Tuesday last week while on holiday in Los Angeles we went to the Getty Center which is a huge art center with multiple buildings all equally huge with art from around 2000 years ago to quite recent art. The Getty Center building was designed by architect Richard Meier and it has lots of curves and terraces and very good views of the city and surroundings. To get there we drove about twenty minutes to get to a parking building, then we took a computer-controlled tram up the mountain. When we first got there we watched a film about the how the Getty Center was made, then we looked in the art rooms until we got bored. I got bored quickly but the others liked some of the art. There was an outside garden including a stream and waterfall which was nice to walk around. My favourite things were the moving sculpture and lunch (pizza and lemonade).

Day 2 - Jurassic Parking

On Monday last week, we went to Universal Studios, Hollywood. So when we went to Los Angeles we stayed there for about four days on holiday before continuing our journey. When we got to Universal Studios we got there early. We parked in the "Jurassic Park"ing lot. We went to furtherest rides and worked our way to the entrance. The first ride we went on was the Transformers 4D-ride, which was one of the best rides ever! Then we went on the Jurassic Park water ride, which had a big drop into water at the end. Then Leah and Dad went on "The Mummy" roller coaster and me and Mum went on Transformers again. Then we went on the Simpsons virtual roller coaster which was funny. We went on one of the Studio Tours in a tram, which took about an hour. They showed all sorts of special effects and sets, like Jaws, a flash flood, an earthquake, Jurassic Park sets, War of the Worlds sets, and also we went through the 3D King Kong movie ride which was really cool. After the tour we went to the Despicable Me Minion Mayhem ride and then the Shrek-4D cinema and then the Water World stunt show - the best part was when a flying boat-plane caught fire and crashed into the set. It was a fun day. I bought two hats and we had drinks at the souvenir shop.

Day 1 - Starting A New Adventure

On Wednesday night we arrived in Madison, Wisconsin. To get to Madison we flew to Auckland which took 1:20 hours, then we flew to Los Angeles which took 12 hours, after that we took another flight to Denver which took 2 hours and finally we flew to Madison, Wisconsin which also took 2 hours. We are staying in a 2 story apartment and I have the whole basement to myself. It has a bed, a TV and couches, a bathroom and the laundry. On Saturday we went to a BBQ at my Mum's colleague's place. I played minecraft with Ellie and her friend. They let us borrow their Wii and more importantly they gave us delicious cookies. On Monday it was Memorial Day holiday (like ANZAC day in New Zealand). It was hot and we went for a walk in the forest. There are lots of American flags here.

A New Adventure

Our intrepid explorer, Patrick, returns in a new enthralling series of food, fashion and fun.Undaunted by his experiences negotiating kimchi, Korean characters and very friendly Korean people, he has travelled many miles to uncover the hidden world of the USA; Wisconsin to be exact. Stay tuned as Patrick discovers what it means to live and study in "cow country" America... famous for cheese, apparently.