Day 11 Tuesday, September 22nd (J.R.)

 

Today we had a different means of transportation than usual. We got the chance to ride to Plimoth Patuxet on the popular yellow school bus!

The ride to Plimoth Patuxet took us around two hours, and those two hours felt so much longer. It was so quiet on the bus… quieter than it has been on the whole trip. We were all super sleepy and took micro-naps. “Micro” because we woke up what felt like every two minutes due to bumps in the road, loud noises, uncomfortable seats, and the fact that we were almost flying out of our seats. In the back of the bus, we really jumped into the air at every single bump. That was actually pretty funny.

Once we arrived at Plymouth Plantation, we had three hours to learn all about the first settlers, their way of living, and the Native Americans (Wampanoag tribe)  and their traditions. Some were crafting a new boat, others were preparing a traditional soup and at the same time we were able to ask them all our questions, and everyone answered so kindly and in great detail.

At the plantation, actors impersonate the first settlers, which means they stay in character and tell you all about their lives when they first arrived. We were able to walk into their houses and explore them. For example they created ointments according to the original recipes.

There were also extraordinarily friendly historians who answered our questions. One of them was named Charlie, and he was so excited to hear that we were from Switzerland that he let everyone know. Pretty soon, we were really popular as the Swiss kids.

He also recommended that some of us ask the early settlers about the Billington family so we could hear some gossip from that time. Apparently, the Billington son almost blew up the entire Mayflower while at sea, so now the family has a pretty bad reputation

This visit was super interesting and entertaining.

Right after the field trip, a group of us went to Lynnfield Marketplace, which is a gigantic outdoor mall. It was so fascinating to check out all the stores we don’t have in Switzerland, like Aerie, American Eagle, Free People, and so on. We had a great time!

For dinner, we all split up, but some of us met up afterward to try some frozen yogurt.

They had such a great variety of froyo flavors and toppings—it was simply delicious! We definitely need a self-serve froyo bar like that in Basel.