Trip to California Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Trip to California - Essay Example nia, he will find that it is very diverse, and this diversity ranges from its forested coastal regions to its north, the rugged mountains in the interior, to the harshness of the desert to its south. But sandwiched between all these is the Central Valley which is the most fertile and agriculturally productive part of the state. In order to get a better view of California in our travel, we chose to hire a car as soon as we landed at the airport in Los Angeles. It was while we were driving from one place to another that we came to discover just how expansive the highway system of this state really is. Because of these highways, our travels within the state were made much easier and in fact, we covered more distance and travelled to more destinations of interest in just a few hours than we would have done in our own state. During this trip, we were pleasantly surprised to find how useful our knowledge of Spanish really was, because despite the fact that English is the official language of the state, Spanish is also spoken by a large number of people making knowledge of the latter very useful (Anderson, 2006). We found that once people realized that we could speak Spanish, they would quickly give us directions to where we wanted to go. I believe that it may have been because of the goodwill which was as a resu lt of speaking to those people in their own language. Some very memorable places that we visited were the Hollywood symbol and the Walk of Fame in Los Angeles; the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz in San Francisco; and finally, the cities of San Diego and Santa Barbara. Furthermore, we found the desert in southern California to be a very exciting place and we spent several days exploring it. We often spent the nights out of doors in the cold desert discussing the day’s events and making plans for the coming days. We had so much fun in California that it was with the deepest regret when the time came for us to leave. We all later came to admit that we had fallen

How does the way Americans consume food, from the grocery store to the Essay

How does the way Americans consume food, from the grocery store to the plate, reflect on Americas larger cultural values - Essay Example I will draw from my observations from WinCo foods and Whole foods to highlight the different food markets in the US and the manner in which these two groceries are marketing to the U.S. consumers while pinpointing who the Americans are and what they really want. As noted before, the Americans have a persistent habit of consuming their food directly from the grocery store to the plate, and this reflects directly on America’s larger cultural values of seeking convenience and cost-effectiveness at all times. Today, Americans are remarkably unhealthy since their diet consists mainly of excesses of cheese, sugar, starch, and red meat and hardly do they ever eat fruits and vegetables (Pollan). When it comes to food choices, many Americans opt for the convenience of ready to eat meals to cooking and enjoying meals at the dinner table as a family; families increasingly prefer the convenience of microwaveable dishes that one can consume at their own leisure. Consequently, more Americans are increasingly â€Å"cooking less and eating processed foods more (Malene 6); this highlights a critical point concerning the American culture, where individuals prefer tasks to be as easy and as cost effective as possible rather than arduous and expensive. Similarly, the American eating habit of consuming food directly from the grocery store reveals that the Americans prefer instant gratification, and that the American society has generally lost meaning of the true importance of food. Unlike the French who typically eat less but really enjoy eating their foods, the Americans eat heavily but often do not take time to enjoy their foods since they eat in a rush; I have observed that the American’s do not even have the time to chew and taste their foods. Generally, I have noted that the American culture is majorly characterized with fast-paced madness and individuals rarely have