My 4th of July Weekend

Celebrating Independence Day: The 4th of July in Ames, Iowa was in definite contrast to how I celebrate it in my hometown St. Louis, Mo. I expected the day to be really boring and dragged, especially since forty out of fifty students that live on the same floor as me went home for the holiday. I spent my holiday with my newfound friends, Shaynetta best know as Shay and Jared. We had a great time. It was nothing like being at home with my family but our day was spent well.
First, we left our rooms too late and to go to lunch, so we missed the parade. Instead, we walked around a park and enjoyed the view of children laughing and jumping on inflatable floats and a local band singing old tunes on stage.
I noticed most people were not wearing the traditional red, white, and blue colors to celebrate the holiday. That made me question, are we no longer proud to be Americans and why are we out here? Are we all here only to socialize and eat free bar-be-que? I came to the conclusion that some Americans are not completely proud of their nation and its' ways. I too, am associated with that group. I definitely am not pleased with the nations' status or progress but I still celebrate the fact that I am an American and I celebrate Independence Day by wearing red, white, and blue and eating bar-be-que and chips. Hold the watermelon because I hate those.
After the park outing, Shay, Jared, and I went to the mall. I found a really cool pair of shoes but I didn't leave the dorm with money so I had to go back another day to purchase them. We spent an hour or two at the mall then we headed back to the dorms. A few hours later Jared came banging on my door so we could get some free BBQ. The three of us, plus a few other APEX students went to the picnic, ate BBQ, danced a little, played football, and headed back home. We did our homework for a while then we headed back out to watch the fireworks at ten. The fireworks exhibition at Stuart Smith Park was exciting and afterwards we ordered To-Go platters from Long John Silvers.
The day was well spent but it could have been topped off with a night/ morning of dancing at one of the local clubs. Unfortunately, that did not happen because both Jared and Shay are underage. So I ended my night babysitting, but all is well because they are both pretty cool people to hang out with.