After weeks at ICMA, I felt I was ready to explore other parts of the US. Therefore, in the first weekend of August, I visited Alice, one of my friends who studies law at the University of Pennsylvania, located in the historic city of Philadelphia. Alice arrived there in late July and because she was busy preparing for the summer courses, she has not had time to become familiar with the city yet. Therefore, we decided to spend the entire Saturday exploring the historic zone of Philadelphia. We began our trip at Penn's Landing, and then walked along the old-age streets to Liberty Hall and Liberty Bell. We visited many churches of different religions, losing ourselves among the exquisite and grand buildings. We met a nice volunteer at a Quaker's meeting room, who shared a lot of stories with us and suggested that we should try the cheesesteak in the Reading Terminal Market. After the delicious local cuisine lunch, we sat at City Hall square, enjoying the sweet flute music flowing in the air.

As far as I am concerned, wandering the historical zone is just like having a cup of Mocha, savoury and mellow. Actually, I have visited many cities in China. One of my favorite is Yangzhou, an ancient city with thousands of years’ history. I just finished a case study on this city about its sustainable development. From Tang Dynasty, Yangzhou has become an economic center of South China. Many poets wrote beautiful poems and articles about this city, leaving bundles of cultural legacy. I am fond of the classical landscape architectures there. However, to my disappointment, I could not feel that kind of feeling described by the literati. Commercial atmosphere transcend history. Consequently, the experience in Philadelphia is much appealing to me, perceiving the passing history and touching the pulse of time.

The following weekend after Philadelphia, Alice came to DC and it was my turn to be her tour guide.  I guided her in a classic travel route, where we visited the Supreme Court, the Library of Congress, the Capitol, and then walked along the National Mall to the Washington Monument, and ended in the Lincoln Memorial.  We also visited the National Gallery of Art and American History Museum on the way, and were surprised by the many exhibitions of the world famous masters’ work. On Sunday, we went to Pentagon Memorial and Arlington Cemetery, and showed our salute to the people who made great sacrifices to this nation. Both of us felt exhausted after the two-day “long march.” For the rest of the afternoon, we just spent time sitting in a restaurant in Georgetown and talking about what we have experienced during this short month in the US.

As the first capitol of this country, the charm of Philadelphia is its history and its memory. Although we can also see many historical traces in DC, the modern smell is also very strong. DC keeps a good balance between its past and present, even future. In other words, these cities have retained their natural origin in the development process, so that tourist can enjoy its diversity. Compared to cities in China, I feel that the Chinese sometimes judge a city on the number of modern buildings that are built. However, as time goes on, cities grow similar without their original traditions. As a result, we lose the interests to explore.

Therefore, as two Chinese students in the United States for the first time, we describe the United States as a liberal country because difference is greatly respected here. Besides the city’s development path, people can live freely here with dignity. We can see various kinds of people walking in the street, slim or fat, healthy or handicapped, white, black and yellow.  Diversity makes this country attractive and thriving. In China, we talk about “harmony” and respect for those who follow the mainstream. Difference sometimes becomes the obstacle to your way to success. Youth in my generation are used to hear from parents:” Look at other children, why cannot you be just like them? Why do you want to be special?“  We try to fight with our parents’ view, but the truth seems to always fall on their side, where we find that we become more and more conservative and similar. This is our growth pattern. I do not know whether the American generation is given enough independence in their youth—maybe I can find the answer in the following month.

 

 Indeed, I appreciate everyone I meet in this country, friends, colleague, roommates, bus drivers and even smiling strangers. It is you who make my life different here.