Day 15 - Adventures in Winston Salem

It's been an interesting time staying with my host family in Winston-Salem so far! As a Korean-American, I feel that many times I identify more with the "Korean" portion of my racial identity, and today's trips with the Jennings family have helped me find more similarities and differences with my family and what may be considered a more "American" family. Of course, each of these terms are used fairly loosely, as all families have unique characteristics that make them different.

Today, we slept in. We haven't slept in any other day during our time at the Benjamin Franklin Transatlantic Fellows program, so this was a life saver. But we didn't stay dormant for long! We had a busy and fun day ahead of us.

Long story short:

We went to a locally operated bagel store. Then to a locally owned and operated secondhand book/records/CD store named Edward McKay. (Where we saw Theo and Nina, as well as their host family). Then to hiking on Pilot Mountain. Then to a locally owned Asian fusion restaurant. Then to a local street music festival--a cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival band. We danced and saw Francois, Dillon, Joe, Ludwig, Diane, Antreas, and Richards there.

Pilot Mountain

R&R Street Festival

It's been a fairly methodical day--one of the first in which there was no direct educational or academic learning. However, it's been a reminder of how quickly I've made friends with European fellows, and how, despite the fact that Dr. Petrou cautioned of a "culture shock", we're almost like a family.

And throughout all this, I'm still trying to keep up with all the things I have to do outside of the program! Ciao.