places

I used to believe that the Netherlands was the world. And the world was round, so my country was round. When I went on a holiday to Spain with my family we went by plane. So I figured Spain was another ball shaped country hanging in space. You had to take a plane to get there, of course! So the planet was to me a collection of spheres in different sizes closely together in space.

Marieke

Untill I was about 9 I believed that the state that I was living in was in the middle of the ocean and that we were the only state with schools, cars, buildings, roads, etc.

Anon

When I was younger my family moved several states away. In class, there was a going away party for me and another girl who also happened to be moving. I thought that at least her and I could be friends after we moved, Like the world was point A and point B, and we were moving to point B.

Anon

When I was a child I honestly thought Chicago was a state. I don't know how old I was when I learned that it was a city in Illinois.

Elistariel

I used to believe the world was all in on my life a bit like the trueman show and when we would go on holiday it was like our house had been transformed into a new scenery and I would try and find something similar to our house in the hotel or my uncles house. The plane ride was a stall for everyone to get everything set up.

Anon

On family road trips, my parents always told me that water towers were filled with chocolate.

Edith

Until 8 years old I thought that different countries that we visited during long evening airline flights were actually different planets. This explained why certain places were much hotter/colder than others (tropical Asia were Mercury or Venus closer to the Sun, while Northern Europe was Saturn.)

JT

i used to believe that the country Thailand was actually 'tyre-land', a magical place with tyres and elephants to play with.

Vet

When I about 5 years old, my Grandmother went away on a trip. When I asked where she was going, I was told: "Buffalo". I cried for days afterwards, afraid for her safety. In my mind, Buffalo (NY) was a huge open space full of big, mean Buffalos. Eventually, my mother figured out why I was so upset, and set me straight.

Corina

When I was young I used to believe that we all lived inside the Earth. Not on it, but inside it, and that if we kept driving we would eventually hit a wall.

Anon

When I was younger my dad was in the military and we were stationed in Germany. I knew I was born in the USA and we used to live there, and my parents would talk about living back in the states. Having no understanding of geography, I always thought the moon was the other half of the earth, the half with the United States and airplanes took you back and forth.

Anon

I used to believe that different countries/continents were actually different planets, like Africa was a big, yellow planet. Strange, but true.

Ryan

When i was younger i thought a boarder (like between countries) was an actual board, like a piece of wood that you had to walk over

Anon

When I was in elementary school I thought maps were like real-time images of the world (like google earth only in real time). So when we were learning about war in a country looking at a map, I thought that if a bomb went off in that country, we would see an explosion image on the map!

e

I used to believe that Martha's Vineyard was where Martha Stuart lived and filmed her TV show. I imagined that it was full of gardens for her to make her food with.

Lauren

I used to believe that if I touched a map or globe with my finger, a giant finger (mine) would come out of the sky and crush the city.

Celine G