the world

I grew up near Worcester, MA, USA. I knew of that city as Wuster, because I heard people say it that way. When I saw Worcester on highway signs, I thought it was a different city, pronounced the way it's spelt. I was shocked to learn they were one and the same.

I recall thinking that the reason the Soviet Union was so evil was that, instead of people choosing their profession like in America, the government decided that for you. (I think this was actually how my dad explained that country to me.)

When the Soviet Union broke up, I was six years old and thought that an earthquake had cracked the earth at the new international borders and the people there had decided to form new countries because of these new natural boundaries.

As a kid, I had a dining place mat with a map of the United States on it that showed Alaska and Hawaii in insets at the bottom. Even when it was explained to me, I absolutely refused to believe they were not depicted in true location and scale to the rest of the country. I knew for a fact that Hawaii wasn't far from the California coast and that Alaska was in some sort of bay in Mexico. Seriously.

I used to believe that the world was just infinite in all directions. I didn't understand the concepts of space and planets. I just thought that there was infinite "world" in all directions and that new land and ocean were always being discovered. The times when I believed that were wonderful and the world was still a mystery. Now that I know I feel that the world is no longer a mystery and am kind of depressed about it. Ignorance Is Bliss!

You know those first down markers in football that look like a bulls-eye? I used to think they were the Target symbol and I wondered why Target got lucky enough to get an ad gig like that.

When I was four my dad got transferred to England for business. I thought that when we flew to England it was another planet. I thought that all the continents were separate globes. Later my version of the world resembled a map spread flattened out like you would see in a text book. I thought the world was one flat plane and no one knew what was on the other side or if there was another side.

i didn't know canada was a separate country from the usa until i was about 12... i grew up right by the border of niagara falls ny and niagara falls ontario and thought it was the same city cuz we went there all the time to shop. i think i found out it was a separate country in school, and i just remember being shocked that i was actually an international traveler.

Up until about fifth or sixth grade, I imagined the United Nations as one big country in south america or whatever, made up of lots of little countries who'd banneded together.

Now, as i know, its far from the truth.

When I was a kid, I'd heard the words governor and government, which must have pretty much run together for me at one time. By the time I had it correctly figured out that the governor was a single elected official (for any given U.S. state, that is, thought I probably didn't understand that much at the time), I puzzled still over who the government was, thinking that that too must be one particular elected official. I clearly remember thinking, "I know who the governor is, but who is the government?", as if each were one particular person.

Up until I was about ten, I thought my local newspaper was distributed around the world. I thought it was just a coincidence that my town was always mentioned. I was in total shock when I saw a different newspaper at my grandma's house. What a life-changing moment.

I was puzzled for a LONG time after first hearing of the Adriatic Sea. I envisioned that somewhere in the world there was a strange (and probably very large) house with a whole sea in its attic!

At daycare when I was 6, the teachers would leave crackers out on a picnic table in a big bowl for our snack. Seagulls would always fly down, chase us away from the bowl and eat all the crackers. I used to always hear my parents talking about Saddam Hussein. He seemed like a "bad guy" and I thought the seagulls were his army, almost like the Wicked Witch of the West and her flying monkeys. I thought that he'd sent them to our daycare steal our snack.

When I was about five or six,I believed that Las Vegas was its own country. Somehow,when I was seven I thought that it was the capital of California. I was completley confused when I found out that Las Vegas was , in fact , in Nevada.

When I first heard the word 'suburbia' on TV, I thought it was the name of some exotic country in Asia. I was kind of disappointed when my mom told me it was just a term for a part of a city.

When I was still in elementary school, there was this big (permanent) chalk drawing of the United States on the pavement near the playground.

During recess when I was in the 1st and 2nd grade, I repeatedly jumped on the drawing. I believed that if I stepped on our state, a giant foot would fly down from the sky and squash everybody on the playground. I was so confused when it didn't happen. Haha.