Culture Experience in the first week of Rochester

The summer in Rochester is pretty hot. We have different activities together in the Summer Immersion Program and I really experience a lot of different cultures here in Rochester. I think that's why a lot of people called this country a melting pot because all the people came here with different backgrounds and different cultures. I am going to talk about two things that fascinated me a lot.

First of all, I am going to talk about food difference.

American Food
During the first few days in Danforth, I found people in States really like to eat fries, burgers, pizzas and fried chicken which are the food I don't enjoy a lot back in my hometown. I can't find cooked vegetables here, all the vegetable is raw... People here also really enjoy salad with different types of sauce which I think is better than the salad in my home. However, I think my stomach really needs time to get associated with the food here.

Indian Food
We ate Indian curry and rice for the Thursday lunch here. The curry sauce was so tasty and colorful. With a lot different kinds of curry here, the rice can be changed into different but wonderful food experience.

Secondly, I want to talk about the music experience in the Eastman school of Music.

The Saturday night was a really wonderful night. We went out together to listen to African Drum Music performed in Eastman. When I first went in, I saw four young kids sitting on the stage holding with their own drums. The drums look beautiful and well-decorated. When the time they started the performance, one of the kid start to knock and beat the drum, the other kids whisper together and tap slowly on their own drums. As time passed, each of the four kids got their chance to solo and they suddenly knocked drums and whispered all together. The melody was so well- organized and beautiful when I first hear them. It was a touching experience for me to get associated with African culture by being an audience during their performance.

There was also another performance after the drum show. 7 adults came up to the stage, dressing with traditional African clothes. Each of them have different types of drums with them. They played the music with strong rhythm. At first I considered it to be simply another type of African music, I realized I had made a mistake later. They started to dance together.  With strong music rhythm and simple dance steps, the performers contribute a fascinating show for all the audience.

At last,  I want to talk about people's crazy spirit here.
After the show of African drum, I saw a lot of people standing on one bike and sang out loud together. I think they all have crazy spirit and I like their ways of doing things together.

The first week here is really awesome, I can't wait to have another 4 years here!!