the world: places

I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area and believed that the Golden Gate Bridge led one out of California and the United States: after all, the word "gate" always meant that it led to something else!

I used to think a large radio tower down the street from my house was the Eiffel Tower. I knew it was a historic monument and I lived in a historic town, so it made sense.

I live in Michigan, and I was convinced for the longest time that New Jersey (where my grandparents lived) was a different country. I mean, Canada is a different country and New Jersey was waaaay more different from Michigan than Toronto is.

When I was about four or five, I thought that Washington was a place full of soapy water, and people were just used to swimming around in it with furniture floating around in it. I grew up in Australia, but that's no excuse.

when I was a kid and we went to visit our grandparents in a place called easingwold, I thought it was easingworld and was amazing we didnt have to take a rocket to get there

I used to think that when my mum talked about our 'address' that she was talking about and actual dress. I some how thought that each house was identified by a dress that was allocated to it by the government. This belief was also justified when I overheard mum talking to someone about where we lived and she said 'we live on the outskirts of town'. I always wanted to see this dress she was talking about.

I used to think that there was a main, or central, place in the world. Kind of like a capital city, but of the world. I thought where I lived was that place.

I thought the safari was a place you went, not a type of trip. I was trying to explain this to my sister telling her these characters were from the safari, she quickly set me straight. I was 15

i used to think that Las Vegas was actually pronounced 'Lost Vegas' and i thought it was a place called Vegas that got lost

I used to think when I saw a building with a sign saying 'founded' that it was always just there and someone finally found it and put up the sign

When I was three my family moved to a place called Black Rabbits. I looked all over the place for those rabbits but I never saw them.

Finally I said something about it in front of my parents and they laughed, and we drove down the lake to the place where the RAPIDS were, and they pointed out the sign that said Black Rapids. (Yes, I could read when I was three.) They explained that rapids were a place where the water in the lake moves fast through a narrow spot, and I got the idea.

Still, for at least a little while, whenever we drove past or boated through the rapids I would imagine that I could see the rabbits swimming in the choppy water.

The first line of Canada's nation anthem is "O Canada our home and native land." When I was young I thought that every country in the world used Canada's national anthem but they'd just substitute "Canada" for whatever their country's name was.

I live in Brooklyn, NY. and there's an avenue in Brooklyn called Kings Highway. When I was a kid, I thought there was a king there, and if you go on that street, he would kill you.

I used to think Toronto was in Japan--I think I mixed it up with Tokyo. I also thought Poland and Portugal were the same thing.

I used to think Newfoundland, Holland and Denmark were all the same thing, and that it was an island near North America that was its own country.

When I was smaller I used to believe that there was always someone doing exactly what I was doing at the moment because the world is so big!