Do you know what the Southwest is like? Have you been there? From October 9th to October 14th, we extension students went to the Southwest to learn their cultures, traditions and so on, and I had an awesome time. Why? In the Southwest they have unique cultures and traditions. The architecture of the Southwest, Montezuma Castle and the Grand Canyon were, especially, totally interesting and impressive to me.
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| Fascinating architecture |
First, the architecture of the Southwest was really fascinating. In Santa Fe, the architecture is very different. Houses and buildings were made of Adobe bricks which is a kind of clay used as building material and it looks quadrangle but the corners of the house and buildings were curved. When I saw that architecture for the first time, I was so surprised because I have never seen such houses, and although it looks heavy, the windows and doors were not broken for long time. In addition almost all houses in Santa Fe have such a unique style, so they looks stunning. I want to see them again.
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| Amazing Montezuma Castle |
Second, the Montezuma Castle in Arizona was amazing. Until I saw it, I thought castles were very huge and looked gorgeous like Japanese ones and European ones. However, what I saw was totally different from what I expected. The castle is set into the cliff about 80 feet up from the base, so I could not believe that actually people lived in that house. I think it was already hard to carve the houses in the cliff but it was built in a very high place. I heard the interesting reasons they built their castle in such a place. They were to protect themselves from enemies and from floods, and also to use all land for farming. It was built in the early 1100s by the Sinagua which is one of the tribe names. I was surprised they made magnificent houses despite so long ago. That is why I thought it was absolutely interesting that people lived in the cliff so many years ago. I am glad to learn such an awesome history.
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| Awesome Grand Canyon |
Third, the Grand canyon made me really speechless. I was really impressed the scenery. It was magnificent and stunning, so I will never forget the scenery. We could see the stratums and many animals. I was overwhelmed by the greatness of the nature of the Grand Canyon. I went cycling for about five hours. It was the nice weather so I felt comfortable. Almost all the time I watched the scenery while I rode the bicycle but I was never tired of it. It was completely awesome especially the sunrise and sunset, Grand canyon was getting red and it was incredibly beautiful. I will never forget it.
To sum up, these three things, the architecture, Montezuma Castle and Grand canyon were amazingly wonderful. I am glad to learn many interesting cultures, traditions and so on from the Southwest. There are a lot of differences and their cultures traditions and histories were absolutely unique. This trip was an unforgettable memory for me and I want to learn about other culture and also I want to go there again someday.
