Day 11 (September 26) - Plimoth Patuxet (R.H.)

Today, I woke up with excitement because I knew we were going to ride on a real, yellow school bus. A dream of mine was about to come true!
As always, I had breakfast, and we got ready to go to school. When we arrived at the school, I said goodbye to my host sister and joined the others in the cafeteria. We had to wait for an hour, which made me quite tired. But finally, the bus arrived, and we could board it.
The ride was different from what I had expected; it was a bit bumpier. Since it was so early in the morning, many people were still sleeping. At one point, we even passed by the beach, offering an incredible view.

After an hour and a half of riding on the bus, we arrived at Plimoth Patuxet. Patuxet is the Indigenous name of the place where the Mayflower passengers founded their first town. Patuxet in the Wampanoag language means “place of running water”, as there are many natural springs in these surroundings.
We met a gentleman who worked there, and he informed us that we would first go inside to watch a short film about the park we were about to explore. Afterward, we would be able to visit the campus and its sights.
So, we went inside and watched the movie, which provided information about life in the United States during the 17th century. Following that, we were free to explore, and I walked around with Uma and Elena.

We saw many different historic Patuxet homesites, such as a "tent" like building, a wetu where people lived and we were able to observe how they cooked a “succotash” over an open fire. A succotash is a traditional dish which typically contains beans, corn, squash and herbs contains. A few steps further on we were able to see a mishoon is a traditionally crafted canoe by coastal tribes. In the 17th century this was the most common boat in North America. However, what impressed me the most was the little village that had been recreated. There were actors portraying roles from the 17th century society. Presenting the visitor what life was like back in the time of the pilgrim settlement. We spoke to them, asked about their experiences in Plymoth Colony and their daily chores, and observed them going about their routines such as preparing a meal, breeding animals, splitting wood, fetching fresh water, or pounding corn.
It was genuinely fascinating, and I felt fully immersed in that reenacted world. After this field trip, I was very tired, so I slept on the way back on the bus. When we arrived back at the school, I waited for Kim. We drove home, and we were both so exhausted that we decided to stay home in the afternoon. We watched movies together and ordered pizza.
During this second week, I bonded a lot with Kim, my exchange partner. We had so much fun and shared many laughs.