Throw Back Thursday | My Trip To America | Travel

As one of the most popular traditions on Instagram - and also Twitter - is their Throwback Thursday, I decided to take this one to my blog and share one of my favorite ever memories with you guys.

If you were to tell me to close my eyes and think of my happy place, in a heartbeat I would tell you that it's Dunwoody, Georgia - or Atlanta, which Dunwoody is a suburb to.

Last July I was notified that I was lucky enough to be incorporated into my high school's exchange program with an American one, so, being from a rather boring German town, you can probably imagine that I was over the moon.

On October 19th, I started my journey to the US - and boy let me tell you, I thought I wouldn't even last to see the end of it.

We were a fairly small group of students - 12, to be precise - so you'd think that two teachers would be able to maintain control over the group. Hahaha, they didn't.
We were too short on time during our overlay in London Heathrow - bummer, I was looking forward to picking up some beauty products there ! - so obviously, one of us students decided to get stuck in security, which resulted in us being late for our check-in, and me and two others not even getting our boarding passes.
I was sweating blood by this point - you might know that I'm a fairly nervous person and get anxious quite easily - and I was pretty much having a migrane once we were pushed onto the plane 20 minutes later.

That was such a long prologue, but hey - I needed to get this off my chest. It was pretty much still haunting me, haha.

By the time we arrived in Atlanta, we had been travelling for 20 hours in total - that didn't stop me from getting super excited about Atlanta's skyline while driving to my host family's place - which was incredibly lovely and felt like home instantly.

Needless to say, me and two of my best friends, who traveled with me, spend the next two days getting excited about so many little things - American school busses, American Candy, American Eye-Candy, you get the gist - that every single American who met us must've rolled their eyes at us.

We were still on cloud nine when we visited Centennial Olympia Park, the Georgia Aquarium and the CNN Center - basically, we were being the annoying European tourists that everyone probably hates, but we were enjoying every second of it.

Centennial Olympia Park

 

Georgia Aquarium

CNN Center

I also seem to have turned into the kind of person who takes a picture of every single thing they eat - I really didn't mean to, I just happened to eat some of the best food I have ever come across - and at least I can now understand how I gained almost 2 kg during my three week stay.

Personally, I had never heard of The Varsity before, but according to my American friends, it's quite the big thing - and hey, this is about food, so I was - I can't believe how often I used this word now, looking back I will probably cringe - excited to try it.

It was rather good, I have to admit I'm fond of fast food now and then - you will soon realize - but I gotta admit that I probably got carried over - I ended up with a massive tummy ache.

Atlanta's Varsity

As I mentioned, I live in a pretty big city - and I hardly ever get the chance to leave it.

My friend's host family was kind enough to take me and my other friend to their house in the mountains - and boy it was beautiful.

I just really love nature - even though insects seem to like my blood a little too much.

Amicalola Falls & its mountain-view restaurant

believe it or not - I actually didn't fall in!

Atlanta History Center

Another place we visited was Atlanta History Center. Now, I've got to admit, this was one of the things that we had scheduled and most of us - including me, if I'm honest - weren't really looking forward to.

The time we spent there was suprisingly nice, I've got to say. Exploring the Smith Farm grounds which are located near the History Center was pretty fun, and taking a walk through the huge gardens was amazing.

For some reason, I found that picture of my friends on the bridge very aestathically pleasing, hahaha.

casually taking President Snow's seat in Swan House

Swan House is also located nearby the History Center, so naturally, we didn't want to miss it.
In case you didn't know - the scenes taking place on President Snow's property in Catching Fire and Mockingjay were shot there, and being a die hard Hunger Games lover, I didn't stop smiling for once while we were shown around.

my first ever American Halloween!

In Germany - or at least the state I live in - Halloween isn't that much of a thing, you get a few groups of younger kids trick or treating, but that's really hit.

So I was incredibly happy to spend last year's Halloween in America, and it truly was something completely different from what I'm used to.

While I was getting ready, I basically turned into an over excited 5 year old - maybe that explains the complete mess that is my hair?

But hey, devil may care - see what I did there?

Cirque du Soleil

I've always wanted to see Cirque du Soleil, but they usually don't come to a city near mine, and if they do, the tickets are way too expensive for a four person household.

My host family, and I still can't believe they did this for me, took me to see their Amaluna show after we had brunch while I stayed with them - it was a dream come true.

Lisa, if you're reading this - again, thank you so, so much. You can't imagine how much this day meant to me.

The Cheesecake Factory

Again, with the food pictures, I know, I know. You shake your head at me.

To be honest, this was kind of another dream come true, haha. Before this trip, I only knew The Cheesecake Factory from shows like The Big Bang Theory - yep, I know, to any American, this probably sounds surreal.

I had an Americana Cheeseburger and a Lemon Raspberry Cream Cheesecake - I still get hungry now if I look at these photos.

The food at The Cheesecake Factory is a bit pricy, but in my opinion, sometimes you need to treat yourself a little - especially with food that's this good!

view from the "Sun Dial Restaurant"

You don't have to eat at Sun Dial Restaurant to experience this incredible view of Atlanta's skyline - for a small few you can take the Westinn Peachtree Plaza's elevator, and boy, was it worth those few dollars.

This view completely took my breath away - and it wasn't just because I'm insanely afraid of heights.

Martin Luther King Jr Historical Site

We had another morning to explore the Martin Luther King Jr. Historical Site, which I thought was very impressive - even though I often tend to find things like museums rather boring.

But this morning strangely made me feel somewhat closer to King. I never thought I'd be ever able to see the house where he was born and raised - but I did. And it was wonderful.

There are some more acitivities that I'd love to include in this post, but I'm not sure if anyone even read this far - this post turned out to be super long, didn't it?

I also didn't get to take great quality pictures of everything we did - simply because I was enjoying myself so much. And I guess that's alright.

Please let me know whether you like the idea of me reflecting on a great memory on a Throw Back Thursday once a month on here!

Thank you so much for reading!