Slavery in the US

Hey everyone!
Are y’all doing fine back there in Norway? I’m having so much fun in the States, and I’d definitely recommend you guys to travel here someday. Yesterday I was on a museum, which took you back to the slavery trade time in the USA. I learned so much and I was told so many exciting histories, that I almost felt like I was one of the slaves back then. The Slaves were treated so unfair, and there was a lot of racism. Some of them had it so terrible, that my heart aches when I think about it now. Well, enough small-talk, here is what I learned at the museum yesterday:

Slavery in the United States was the legal institution of chattel slavery. Chattel slavery, also called traditional slavery, has got its name because people are treated as the personal property of an owner and are bought and sold as if they were commodities. The Slavery time in the US existed in the 18^th and 19^th centuries, because of severe shortage of labor in North America. Therefore, people were needed to work the land. Most of the slaves was originally from Africa, and came to America by crossing the Atlantic.

The absolutely first slaves came to Virginia in 1619. The Americans thought that there was too much work to do on their plantations, therefore they brought slaves from Africa to do the work for them. The slaves who worked on the plantations, usually planted tobacco in the beginning. By the end of the American revolution, slavery became unprofitable in the Northern and Southern States. That was because of tobacco prices that were dropping. In 1793 invested Eli Whitney the cotton gin. This leaded to that the cotton replaced tobacco, and the slavery became profitable again. This time it was only profitable in South America.

At this point, white southerners were torn between economy and moral. They knew that their economy would be better if they had slaves to work for them, but on the other hand – they felt wrong by treating the slaves as if they were worth less then themselves. They concluded with the economy version, and had this argument: the slaves were fed, clothed and occupied, so they weren’t treated THAT bad. At the same time, northerners started to doubt slavery. They thought that the moral was most important in slave-trade. They sent some of the slaves to Underground Railroad. This was an escape to freedom.

The treatment of slaves in the United States varied by time and place, but was generally brutal and degrading. Terrible things like whipping, execution and sexual abuse of women, including rape, were common. Many families were sold away from each other, sometimes the parents worked on a plantation – and their child worked on another.

 

In March of 1857, the United States Supreme Court declared that all blacks - slaves as well as free - were not and could never become citizens of the United States. This new law was called the “Dred Scott Decision”.

Then the outbreak of the Civil war came, and this changed the future. The Union (northerners) and the Confederation (southerners) fought against each other. In 1861 at the start of the Civil War, President Lincoln began speaking out against the issue of slavery, which he saw as morally wrong. He presented the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. The Union desired to end the slavery but the Confederation believed it was necessary to the country. The Union won the Civil war in 1865, and the slavery was abolished. This leaded to that the slaves would end up forever free, and they could even join the U.S army!

  

So, what do you think about the slavery in the US? It was terrible, right? Well, I hope you enjoyed this post, and found it interesting. I’m already excited about the next post I’m going to write soon! Goodbye for now :)

Lots of love, Synne

Immigration

Hey everyone!
How are you doing? I’m doing very well, and today I travelled from Miami to Key West. I hired a car and drove in about two hours, so the trip wasn’t very long. I arrived the hotel a couple of hours ago, but as you know – the Caribbean climate in this southern part of Florida often brings thunderstorms. Therefore I’m in my hotel room, drinking tea and reading a book while the rain and wind is banging at my room window. The book I’m reading is based on facts about Immigration in the United States. This is actually pretty exciting to read about, and here is some of the things I learned:

Many immigrants has moved to the United States through the centuries. This has led to a big population growth and cultural change. Millions of Europeans and people from other parts of the world immigrated to the USA in the nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries, most of them came from Europe and Asia. There were mainly two reasons that people immigrated to the United States. First, it was due to problems in their own country. It was difficult to get work, and not much soil so everyone could produce their own food. That meant that they had to look out their own country, to make good lives for themselves. In the USA there were a lot of land that could be used for agriculture and new settlements. The government welcomed emigrant so they could develop their country. So they offered the emigrants free land if they promised to develop it into agricultural areas and new societies. That meant that millions of people got a new chance in their lives to make themselves a fortune and build a new future. This is called “The American Dream”.

Today, most of immigrants come from Latin America, they are called Hispanics because they speak Spanish. It’s harder for them to get working permit, because that the US don’t need more people to move there, especially not people with low education. Therefor the government has built high walls and fences along the Mexican border. The coastguards control the sea, so people can’t come into the country illegally. This leads to small opportunities for people to live out “The American Dream”.

From Europe compared to its population, most immigrants came from Ireland and Norway. From my country, Norway, more than 700 000 people emigrated between 1850 and 1930. When we know that the total population in Norway in that period was approximately 2,5 million, it means that almost 1/3 emigrated. People from Norway immigrated to the USA because of the same reasons I told you about earlier. Many Norwegians were also tempted to leave to the US after they achieved letters from relatives who had been in the United States, and told about how fantastic the country was. Today few Norwegians immigrates to the United States, because we have a great society and job opportunities here in Norway. But there are still many Norwegians that have relatives in the USA. There are also small original Norwegian societies who tries to take care of the Norwegian traditions by celebrating the 17^th of May, while eating “lutefisk”, “brunost” and “vaffler” and dress up in “bunad”.

 

Ellis Island was the gateway for millions of immigrants to the United States. It was the nation’s busiest immigrant station from 1892 to 1954. The immigrants who travelled in first and second class was left of in Manhattan, but the third class-people was left of on the Ellis Island. When the gateway closed in November 1954, 20 millions of immigrants had crossed the Ellis Island. Only 2% of them were denied access to the USA and sent back to their home country, this could for instance be people with chronic diseases. Most of the people that got through, settled in New York or the north parts of New Jersey. Today is Ellis Island a museum. It has a database that includes all immigrants from 1892 to 1954.

Ellis Island in 1990.      

 

Ellis Island in 2008.

This is just some of all the exciting things I read about. Tomorrow I’m going on a museum about slavery, so maybe I will write a blog post about that? I hope you learned something new.

Lots of love, Synne

Two well-known cities

Two of the cities I have travelled to, is New York and Miami. I’m going to tell you some facts about these places, and I’ll now start with NYC:
New York City is the biggest city in the United States, and is located in the state called New York. On the map below, you can see exactly where the city lays in the U.S.

The climate of New York State is generally humid continental. This means that there are large seasonal temperature differences. The average winter temperature is below freezing, and can be as low as -25°C. The coldest months is usually January and February, so if you travel to New York at this time, you may find a city covered with snow. The summer is quite opposite from the winter. The average temperature is 27°C or warmer. The warmest months are usually June and July.

New York City consists of five boroughs, each of which is a county of New York State. The five boroughs are Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx and Staten Island. New York has a total population of 8,405,837. The state is known to be the most densely populated major city in the U.S, and as many as 800 languages are spoken there.

New York has a lot of different nicknames. Some of the most used ones are “The Big City”, “The Big Apple” and “The City that never sleeps”. NY is called “The Big City” because of the city's predominance in world finance, politics, art and media, “The Big Apple” because of the city's prominence in horse racing by John J. Fitz Gerald and “The city that never sleeps” because it is a city with a lot of life all day and all night (but the nickname was popularized by the song “New York, New York” in 1977). These nicknames are, as I said earlier, just some of many things people call New York City.

There are many beautiful tourist attractions in New York. One of them is “Central Park”. Central Park is an urban park in the central New York City borough of Manhattan. It was opened in 1857, and is the most visited urban park in the Unites States. Thousands of people visit the beautiful park every day, and there´s a lot of things to do there; go on a picnic, play soccer or other games, jog around, take a trip on your bicycle, or just enjoy the green, fresh nature.

Another “must-see” tourist attraction is the “Brooklyn Heights Promenade”. This is a long platform over “Interstate 28” in Brooklyn. The Promenade runs between “Brooklyn Bridge” and the ramp north of “Atlantic Avenue”. From here you have a fantastic view of the Manhattan´s skyline and the New York Harbor. It is perfect to sit on a bench in “Brooklyn Heights Promenade” at night, and watch at all the city-lights from Manhattan in the dark.

I have also travelled to Miami, which is a very well-know place. Miami is the 42^nd largest city in the United States, and has a population of 419,777. The city of Miami is located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida. On the map below, you can see exactly where the city lays in the U.S:

Miami has a tropical monsoon climate with hot and humid summers and short, warm and dry winters. Since Miami is located by the coast, shapes the Gulf Stream the city’s climate. This leads to a lot of tropical storms. The coldest month is January, with an average temperature on 20°C. The air is dry, and there is a little amount of rainfall. The wet summer season starts in May and ends in October. During this period, the temperatures are in the mid 29-35°C, accompanied by high humidity. The heat is often relieved by the afternoon thunderstorms or sea breeze, which develops off the Atlantic Ocean. There is also a lot of rain during this period and the average is 1,570 mm.

 Miami is often called by its nickname; “The magic city”. I can’t figure out why the city has that nickname, but I guess it is because it is a very beautiful place to be. The long, white beaches, the crystal-clear, light blue ocean, the tall, green palms and the warming, colorful sunset can make you feel a magical harmony.

There are many tourist attractions to visit in Miami. The most famous one is definitely Miami Beach, which is an area in the city of Miami. It has its name from the very popular beach, which has a length on 8.5 miles from north to south. In the south is the famous “South Beach”, with its art deco-style buildings, and in the streets you can see people wearing all kind of clothes and outfits. The “South Beach” is also famous for its restaurants and bars, and has a high party factor. The north area is more quiet, and there are mostly hotels/resorts there.

I started my visit in New York, because I flew there first. I spent my days walking around in the streets and discovering new things, but mostly I shopped in all the stores. NYC has all the shops you can ask for, so every evening I came back to the hotel with bags filled with clothes, make up, and other needs. I also visited the Empire State building, the Statue of Liberty, and the Brooklyn Heights Promenade of course!

After a wonderful week, I flew from New York to Miami. The flight was pretty short, it only lasted three hours. I stayed at a fantastic Hotel called “Canyon Ranch & Spa”, which costs 3600NOK for one night. I spent two weeks in Miami, and most of the time I relaxed on the beach with a good book and a cold soda. Now I can see that I spent too much time in the sun, as my skin got sunburned. But anyway, I have the time of my life over here, and if it was up to me – I would stay in the USA forever! Maybe I will move here someday, who knows?I hope you liked my blog post, and that you found it interesting. I will update you later!

Lots of love, Synne

The USA in general

Hi everyone! The Unites States is an interesting country, and in this post I’m going to tell you about the USA in general.

The flag of the USA is usually called «Stars and Stripes», «Old Glory» or «The Star-Spangled banner».  The United States of America got their own flag on the 14th of June 1777. The design of the flag has been very different through the years, but the current version has been used since 1960. The current flag has fifty blue stars and thirteen white and red stripes. The fifty stars symbolises the fifty states in the union, one star for each state. The stripes symbolises the first thirteen states that formed the republic.

All the states has a common federal government that consists of the president and vice presidents’ office in The White House, and 15 ministries. A president leads the government of the USA, and the current one is Barack Obama. He was given the title for the first time in 2009, and was being reelected on the 20th of January 2013. The president is elected for four years, and accedes on the 20th of january the year after the election. The vice president is always elected together with the main president.The current vice president is Joe Biden. 

 

Washington D.C(District of Columbia) is the capital of the United States of America. The State was originally divided into five different counties/cities called Georgetown, City of Washington, County of Washington, City of Alexandria, and County of Alexandria. Both the White House and the Congress is situated in the City of Washington. In 2013, the population in Washington was 646 449 inhabitants.  

The American dollar is the currency of the U.S today. The symbol of the dollar is «$», and is often written «USD». When the Americans talk about money, they usually say «bucks» instead of «dollars». 1$, 5$, 10$, 20$, 50$ and 100$ are values that are in use now. One dollar is the same as one hundred cent(¢). The coins that are in use now is penny(1¢), nickel(5¢), dime(10¢) and quarter(25¢). At the moment, one USD is worth 6,55 NOK.

Independence day in the U.S is the 4th of July, and is the National day for the Americans. The federal holiday is commonly associated with fireworks, parades, carnivals, barbeques, concerts, baseball games, family reunions, and so on. On the 4th of July 1776, was the United States decleared independent from Great Britain.

 

Some of the most famous buildings in the USA are located in Washington DC. These are called The White House (Where the president lives), U.S Capitol (Where the Congress and Senate are governing the country), Jefferson- and Lincoln Memorial (These are memorials after previous presidents) and the Pentagon (US Department of Defense building). In New York, you can find the Empire State building (The tallest skyscraper in NY),  Statue of Liberty (Which was a gift from the frenchmen, it is located at Liberty Island) and United Nations building (That you can consider as a «parliament» for the whole world).

 

I hope you enjoyed my post, and maybe learned something new. I’m looking forward to write the next one, and update you guys.

Lots of love, Synne

Introduction

Hi!
My name is Synne and I’m fifteen years old. I live in a small town in Norway, called Langesund. In my spare time I like to play football, but I also love to travel around the world. I’ve been in many different countries, and this time I’m going to travel to the United States. During my trip, I’m going to update you here on my blog about everything I experience, see and learn.

 

The reason why I’m traveling is that I love to visit new places. I chose to travel to New York and various places in Florida, because I’ve heard so much great about these states. I want to learn more about the American traditions and about their history. I expect it to be a journey filled with lots of memories. New York is known as the city that never sleeps, and I look forward to experience the crowded city full of life. In Florida, I’m looking forward to be surrounded by tropical nature, sandy beaches and a more relaxing atmosphere than in New York.

 

I’ll be traveling for four weeks, and I’m leaving on October the 3th. I’m coming home October the 31th. After some research, I found a flight ticket. The ticket to New York (JFK) from Oslo(Gardemoen) trip/return costs 12504 NOK. I’m flying with an airline called Norwegian. The flight lasts in thirteen hours and five minutes, so it will be a long journey. 

When I’m arriving New York, I’ll take a cab to the hotel I’m staying at. The hotel is called “Langham Place, Fifth Avenue”, and is located near by the Empire State building, Macy’s and Grand Central Station. The hotel is offering spa services, fitness room, a delicate restaurant and a coffee bar. The hotel is quite expensive, so I’m only staying here for a week. For one night it costs 4943 NOK. Even though it costs a lot of money, breakfast is not included. Therefor I might eat my breakfast at a nice diner nearby. I could have found a cheaper hotel, but the prices are high in New York. In addition I wanted to stay at a luxurious hotel when I had the chance.

 

I look very much forward to this journey, and I can’t wait to experience the United States. I will update you guys later, so hang on with me.

Lots of love, Synne