Young Writers Society

Well, how do you guys celebrate you Independence Day or if you don't have one, a national day?

What did the 'Merican YWSers do yesterday?

Let me answer this first!

Well, yesterday (at the time of writing this!) was America's Independence Day Celebration - and first time witnessing it, I found it interesting!

Well, I loved the fireworks show! It was pretty amazing. The fireworks tech is awesome and coordinated! And it was such a pretty sight although it started much later than it was supposed to. I got good pictures too!



Also interesting was how the American flag was used as *every* possible part of clothing item. I found it a bit weird.

I expected a little more grandeur from the parade; but besides that the street where the fest was was organized as : (food stall x 10), sponsor stall, (more food stalls x 10), sponsor stall.
I just thought that given Philadelphia's historical importance there would more emphasis on that; and show off some more history.

But oh well, consumerism at its best, here! (*saleswinkwinksales*)

I watched the "Capitol Fourth" program on tv and watch fireworks outside. We made ice cream and burgers and read a little more about our history. It's important to learn all we can about our nation's history. However more and more of our country's newer generations don't know much about the history behind Independence Day. Glad you liked the fireworks @Lava

I've lived in the US for more than a decade and I've never been to an event like yours, Lava. xD Though it's probably because I live in a boring Midwest state.

But anyways! I watched fireworks up close for the first time ever with my boyfriend and two friends. I'm always used to the small shows my neighbors set off or an extravagant show from really far away, but not an extravagant big show up close. It was really an amazing experience. We set up blankets and a hammock while we waited for the sun to set, and we made sandwiches and ate some snacks. Oh, and we caught up with the ice cream truck and bought some popsicles. We also played frisbee, machi ball, horseshoes, and volleyball that my friend hit me really hard with the face with!! ;_;

Speaking about the bad experiences, traffic getting out was so horrible, and my boyfriend decided to take a shortcut that got us completely lost. We had no GPS, phones, or any way to find our way back. It was seriously our worst nightmare, and if we didn't pull up to a conveniently placed McDonalds to leech off their wifi and activate a GPS map, I think I would have eventually break down and start crying. It took like 40 min to find our way around, oh gosh.

We eventually did, though—just to buy milkshakes at a 24/7 restaurant. Other than getting lost and the volleyball part, it was great, and what's that oh I can hear the freedom intensify

My brother and I went to my uncle's house for fireworks. They actually let me set one off! After calling my mom and asking if I, her one-month-from-being-18-and-making-her-own-damn-decisions daughter, can set a firework off. My uncle even went with me to show me how. *rolls eyes at silly parents*

Long story short: I'm alive. ^^

Finland's independence day is December 6th (one day after my birthday!), so there's not much to be done outside. Usually we just burn candles (if you're especially patriotic, you can get these special independence day candles that are blue and white [Finland's colours]) and watch on TV the President's independence day reception (that's just loads of famous people coming in and shaking the President's hand). Sometimes we can go and light candles on any dead family members' graves. There's also a classic Finnish war film, The Unknown Soldier, that's shown every year on the independence day and loads of people watch it every single year.

Despite living in the area for more than two decades now, this was the first time I actually went to see the fireworks on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Either I'm usually out of town or I go to Annapolis, Maryland to see them, but I had some cousins come in and I thought it might be cool to take them to see the fireworks downtown.

It was a neat experience. Since the National Mall would be way too crowded, we took the subway to Arlington Cemetery* in Virginia then walked to the riverfront, where we able to sit right at the edge of the bank with a completely unobstructed view of the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument. There were of course still a lot of people around, so we had to walk a while before we found our spot, but it was well worth it.

Yet, not something I'll ever do again. DC's subway isn't well managed, and so getting out of Arlington Cemetery involved a huge crush of people spilling nearly over onto the tracks. They simple weren't running enough trains, and the trains they were running were a couple cars short. Unsurprisingly, at least one person was injured in the melee.

But I am glad I did at least once. My cousins had a good time, the fireworks were good, and there's something special about celebrating Independence Day on the grounds of Arlington Cemetery.

* For those who don't know what Arlington Cemetery is, it's sometimes referred to as the most hallowed ground in the USA. It's a military cemetery where hundreds of thousands of soldiers who fought in wars from the Civil War to present conflicts are laid to rest.