Tampa, Florida

AssalamuAlaikum!

Sorry I went on an unannounced hiatus- it was just that I had to adjust back into med school and get through all the material I had missed as well as give an exam on everything! So I had to refocus my priorities a little and cut blogging down for the moment. But I'm back and that's what counts!

Friday, 14 August (Independence Day for Pakistan!!) started out with going for the Jummah prayer in the masjid. Tampa has a really big Muslim community and there are quite a few masjids there. It was really nice going especially because there is always a specific place for women to pray (which is lacking in most masjids in Pakistan). So we attended the khutbah (sermon) and prayed before heading out to Busch Gardens!

Busch Gardens is basically a combination of theme park and zoo. Or maybe you could say it's a zoo themed park. You have lots of animal and conservation projects and funds going on where visitors can look at animals, watch the trainers interact and maybe get personal with some of the cute creatures too! Apart from that though, there are lots of rides like roller coasters, restaurants and shops too!

The first day was spent mostly roaming around to look at the larger animals like gorillas and elephants. When we went to Myombe Reserve (the section for the gorillas) guess what we saw? Babies!! They were the smallest cutest things, playing in the grass next to their mothers and then the mother picking them up. We also got to see the trainers feed them- by throwing broccoli from above. They didn't seem very interested in eating their veggies though..

When elephants are fed, they get apples and corn! To make things interesting for the audience, the trainers even showed a few tricks that the elephants could do- she would blow her whistle and raise her hands to make a specific gesture and the two elephants would do exactly what she meant at the same time! This picture shows the elephants raising their trunks- apart from that they would raise one foot in the air and swing their trunks.

Sunday, the 17th of August was also spent at Busch Gardens but this time, we went at night to watch the Kinetix: Summer Nights show! It was the last night for the show and I really wanted to watch it so I convinced my parents to head out. We got there late in the evening and my younger siblings went on some Sesame Stret themed rides before it started to rain!

The thing about Florida is that it'll be super sunny in the morning and start raining in the evening with terrific thunder and lightening- and this happens almost every day! We went to Gwazi Park where the show would be held and took cover from the rain. When it finally slowed down a bit, they started the show.

It was basically acrobatics mixed with a concert and the acrobatics were definitely amazing! After the show there were fireworks!

Here are some more pictures of Busch Gardens.

Super cute video of an orangutan swinging around.

Leaving Busch Gardens at night.

The last day in Tampa was spent shopping and we even went to visit our house!

It's still ours but it's up for rent. It doesn't look very blue here, but it's painted blue so we used to call it 'blue home'. It also has a swimming pool which you can't see here. Also, all the plants look dead. :(

Early Tuesday night (18th August) was spent driving to Orlando and spending the night there before heading out to drive all the way up north back to Virginia- a colossal 13 hour drive! I spent most of this time sleeping xD.

Six days left till we returned to Pakistan! To be continued in the next post!

Atlanta, Georgia

Assalamualaikum ^^. I've been meaning to write earlier- but I hadn't really got the time yet! But now that I'm here, I'll get started.

Wednesday, 29th July 2015 was spent entirely on the road. We were driving from Fairfax, Virginia to Atlanta, Georgia and that was around 12 hours by road. We set out early in the morning (around 7 am) and stopped by a couple of places on the way.

Only worthwhile mention of place we stopped: McDonald's. I don't really eat McDonalds in Pakistan because I start off with my Israel Palestine rant where I mention how McDonalds is a multinational company whose earnings are used to support Israel in it's terrorism war against Palestinians and then I force my friends down a guilt trip which is successful only 80% of the time. But I can't use the same argument here because there's no food outlet that doesn't pay the American government. 

(The other stops were mostly at rest areas for bathroom breaks and a little leg exercise)

And then we finally arrived at Atlanta! Atlanta is a huge city, seriously. It takes half an hour to go anywhere- but I guess that's because we were staying in the suburbs. 

The first day at Atlanta (the next day after we arrived) was spent swimming! After that, we went to watch Minions!

I liked the concept of the movie. I really liked Scarlet Overkill because she seemed like a really interesting character- especially how most of her actions really did seem villainous (despite how nice she looks most of the time). I really enjoyed the whole take on villains in general too- they weren't a bunch of radical people who thought they were evil- they seemed like ordinary people, just with different hobbies. And the minions themselves were surprisingly easy to 'get along' with- I didn't feel annoyed at them at all!

After the movie, we went to eat ice cream at Coldstone and then roam the mall for a while.

One thing I learned so far is that people in America are obsessed with Bath and Body Works. I don't know what it is that hits them- is it the pretty colors in the bottles? The fragrances? Colors AND fragrances? I suppose this is all very interesting, but I really couldn't sit around browsing hand soaps for even a minute. And that one minute is thanks to the colors.

But I DID get myself stuck in Barnes and Nobles (the book store). I just really like being around books- even if I don't get time to read them that much anymore. Walking around the aisles and looking at the covers and authors and book merchandise and everything makes me feel like I should just pitch a tent right there and consume everything my hands can reach. Did I mention that there was a small shelf for Doctor Who too?

The next day (Friday, 31st July 2015) was spent at the Georgia Aquarium!! It's a really great place- except it's indoors so it was really stuffed especially since it was a Friday. We explored all the exhibits and spent a lot of time at the main tank.

This tank in the aquarium is considered to be the largest tank in the world- with the biggest piece of glass ever! But it's not glass, it's acrylic. Acrylic is supposed to be 17 times stronger than glass, plus the whole thing is like 2 feet thick and they constructed the whole glass right on the exhibit. So yeah, I thought this part was super cool!

There were loads of fish- three big whale sharks (that would grow even bigger) and lots of manta rays that really liked swimming loop the loops!

There were also lots of little exhibits with smaller, cuter fish like clown fishes and Dorys. (I have no idea what the Dory fish are called, I just call them Dory fish).

After spending the day at Georgia Aquarium, we finished it off with a the dolphin show which was, honestly, amazing! It was fantastic seeing the dolphins jump really high in the air and swim their trainers around the pool!

The day ended with dinner at a restaurant called the Mughal which had great food honestly.

Saturday, the First of August was spent mostly relaxing because the long drive to Texas was up next!

to be continued shortly in the next post which I will write after I come back from Best Buy with my dad .__. Allahafiz!