Texas Trip – Jovan Singh Mann
Day 1:
I woke up at 2:45am and made my way to school to be collected by the coach, ready for the long day ahead. Most of us were talking the whole journey about how amazing the trip was going to be! We checked in at the airport, went through security and had some time to spare, so most of us went to get food and snacks for the plane. The journey was 10 hours long, most of us were watching films or sleeping; we had access to unlimited snacks and drinks during the flight, which was great. Finally, we landed, went through the border and customs guards and were on the coach to the hotel.
Upon arriving at the hotel, we were greeted by Mrs McMahon and Principal Stewart. We were given goodie bags, cookies and our ID cards to enter the school. After that, we unpacked our bags and settled into our huge rooms (2 people per room). We went out for food and some shopping; we bought all the necessities for the week – drinks and sweets, before finally going to bed.
Day 2:
Waking up at around 8:30am, we ate breakfast, and got on the coach to go to the Brazoria County Fair. The fair was definitely one of the best moments of the trip! We went on a few rides and all ate deep fried Oreos – they were delicious. After initially exploring the fair, we all went to the main show, the rodeo. During the rodeo, which they call a ‘sport’, there were little children (5 years old) trying to stay on a sheep the longest. It was brutal! Also, there were adults wrestling bulls and trying to stay on top of a bucking horse the longest, with those staying on the horse for the longest winning prizes.
After the rodeo, we went back into the fair, where we competed on whoever could stay the longest on the mechanical bull the longest would get a prize. Barun ended up winning, by staying on for at least 45 seconds! Eventually, we left the fair and went out to eat at Lupe Tortilla, a Mexican restaurant, where we go to make our own tacos.
Day 3:
For our third day, it was an early start as we had to be at John Foster Dulles High School for 7:30am. We had breakfast and met Major Hawn, our bus driver for the week. We then travelled in style on our private yellow school bus! When we had arrived at school, we were taken to the school’s library to meet our partners, who we would go with to lessons. After meeting them, we went straight to their lessons and I was shocked. Most of the students were not paying attention to the lesson, and were on their phones! When walking around school, we were treated like celebrities as students would ask to take photos and even ask for autographs. It was a very different atmosphere to a British school and felt like the film, High School Musical. Also, their school days are structured differently to ours – they have 7 periods with 1 lunch, which was 30 minutes long.
During lunch, we were warned that the food was not great; however, the chicken nuggets were actually not that bad. Throughout, we were all called over to many lunch tables and asked many questions and took many pictures as many of the student had never seen or spoken to a British kid before. We carried on with our lessons and finished school at 2.45pm. Afterwards, we rushed back to the hotel, got changed and went straight to Main Event Entertainment. At Main Event we had played pool, had a big game of laser tag, and went on the high ropes obstacles course. For the evening meal, we went to eat at a classic American diner; it had good food and was fairly cheap.
Day 4:
It was back to school again, we participated in the same lessons as the previous day. However, we got to spend time with our friends in the sports hall. After the school day, we had a football match against the American students. Despite the final scores, we truly enjoyed the experience of playing with an audience rooting for us!
After the match, we went back to the hotel to shower and change before walking to the First Colony Mall. The mall was huge but not as big as the Houston Galleria Mall, which we would visit later on in the trip. While there, we went to the Cheesecake Factory – the food there was amazing with most of us eating cheesecake for dinner, it was very filling.
Day 5:
Day 5 saw us not wake up as early as the previous 2 days as we were going to the NASA Johnson Space Centre. Firstly, we travelled to the high school to pick up the American students, and then on to the centre. We explored the complex and read about the history of NASA before going on a tour of all the work behind the scenes of employees there.
After that, we went to what felt like the largest gas (petrol) station in the world, Buc-ees. It was like a whole supermarket inside a gas (petrol) station. At Buc-ees, we had lunch as well as bought snacks and souvenirs to take back to the UK. We then left to go back to the hotel and have a pool party for Fabian’s birthday. We had cake and played games in the pool, led by Mr Sanders. Fabian and Josh won the games! For dinner, we went to Pacific Coast Tacos, which was both a sports bar and restaurant. The tacos were very spicy but tasty and there were many baseball fans watching the game with their friends, so we joined in too.
Day 6:
This was our last day at John Foster Dulles High School, so we had to say goodbye to all of our friends in the morning. We were only at school for half the day, so we had to make the most of it. Firstly, we all had a lesson with Major Hawn about the US military services, he showed us the shooting range that the students and staff can use. After this, the drama students showed us their routine of “30 step”, which was very confusing as they all have to be in sync and they have to memorise all of the actions. We had the privilege of watching a rehearsal of a theatre play performed by the students too.
After the last day of school, we made our way to one of the largest malls in the Northern Hemisphere, the Houston Galleria Mall. We all bought souvenirs and gifts to take home including shoes, clothes and basketball jerseys. We ate at either Raising Canes or Chick-Fil-A, which was again very tasty. Food in the USA is much better than food in the UK! Once we finished exploring the mall, we had the opportunity to go to the Houston Police Department. We got to see inside the cop car, the daily roll call and even got the chance to wear a police vest – it was amazing!
After this, we went back to the hotel to get changed to go to the American Football Game. I was very impressed as it was like a professional game, with cheerleaders, a half-time show, and even sponsors, JUST for a high school game. It was a fantastic experience with a great atmosphere created by us. Although I did not understand the rules of American football, it was great to watch people being wrestled to the ground. We grabbed McDonalds on the way back to the hotel as it was very late and we were all very tired.
Day 7:
By Friday, it had dawned on me that this would be the final day in Texas with a full day of activities. We boarded the yellow school bus for the final time to go to the Lone Star Flight Museum. We saw some of the planes and fighter planes as well as played on a flight simulator, which was great. After the museum, we had the opportunity, thanks to Major Hawn, to go to a US Air Force Base. It was amazing as we watched many fighter jets landing and taking off.
Finally, we had travelled to the coast and Galveston Pier, where we had the afternoon/evening to explore the pier and to go on the amusement rides. Galveston was definitely one of the highlights of the trip!
Day 8/9:
This was the day we left, we woke up, packed our suitcases and went down to breakfast. Then, we drove to the airport, boarded the plane, and off we went back to the UK!
Conclusion:
This was the best trip I have ever been on in my life! Massive thank you to Mr Sanders, Mr Thaper and Miss Macilwraith for organising the trip and making it enjoyable for all of us.
Jovan Singh Mann (10H)
