Student in Orlando: Discovering adventure, history, and space science

As boring as Orlando sounds, you need to believe me when I say it’s not. This city has a lot to offer — from adventure parks to fine dining restaurants — everything is just admirable. So, let me tell you a lot more about this beautiful city and also about its main attractions— the renowned Kennedy Space Center and its adventure parks.

First of all, the KSC is related to space aeronautics and it is pretty amazing. The Kennedy Space Center is situated on the outskirts of Orlando on a separate piece of land known as Merritt Island. Merritt Island is home to more than 15 endangered species with about 6,000 alligators living there. It is spread all over an area of 219 square miles. 

NASA is the US government organisation that carries out space research. Before NASA, the Soviet Union launched the first shuttle into space. The whole world got scared of this event. People feared that their security had been compromised and NASA then felt that they had lagged behind, so they started the Apollo Program — with the final objective to develop a space shuttle that would take man to the moon. Some of the Apollo programs were failures where the shuttle exploded and three astronauts lost their lives. In fact, in a span of 12 years, out of the many missions launched by NASA, six were successful in achieving this objective with the Apollo 11 landing Neil Armstrong, who became the first man on the moon.

Adding to the unforgettable history, NASA is now back in trend with a bang. They are going to build the Orion — the space shuttle that would take a man to space, the moon, and even Mars and would still be reusable. While NASA is taking these huge steps towards the future, it has also developed the KSC where people from all around the world can visit and get inspired by the historic events, the technology, and astronauts. The KSC has many attractions to offer: U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame, Journey to Mars: ExplorersWanted, Rocket Garden, guided bus tours, nature walks, and so on. To conclude about the KSC, this place surely adds meaning and value to Florida. 

Besides the KSC, Orlando is also known as ‘the city of theme parks and amusement parks’. Not only the city has Walt Disney World, one of the best theme parks in the world, but also Universal Studios with Volcano Bay and Islands of Adventure. The architecture, the design, and the landscaping were unreal. The island was itself divided into themed areas such as The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Jurassic Park River Adventure and Skull Island: Reign of Kong are a few examples of themed rides. The thought that had gone into their making seems unimaginable. Even the smallest of things they had made over there were quite detailed and that’s what intrigued me the most. It was a fun day and the best part about it was surely the water rides and our time spent with my friends, even in the hour-long queues. 

The city of Orlando has many beautiful and satisfying sights. If one is looking for peace, Orlando could be one of the best options. One of the things I observed during my visit was that Orlando is the best place due to many reasons. It could be the best place to settle and live life with a family and it’s also great for job opportunities. There is greenery everywhere and the city’s mainland also has skyscrapers. The people of that city are just the nicest. Everybody is very soft-spoken, polite, and friendly. I personally had many conversations with many people when I was there and I really loved every single one of them. It felt weirdly nice to explore new places and meet new people over there and have nice, polite conversations with them. These people corrected my perception that all Americans do not treat Indians well. Evidently, this wasn’t the case.

Overall, I saw Orlando as a city of good hearts and sunlight, literally, as well as referring to the aura that place holds. Orlando appears to be a place of hope and opportunity… a place where the broken dreams would get glued back together… a place where a man can live happily in good health with his family… a place where a disabled person can find peace. The city of Orlando is absolutely fantastic. It gives breathtaking sights and the hope for a better future.
Ending this blog, I just have to say that Orlando is definitely a city worth a visit — if not for the world-famous KSC, if not for the theme parks, but at least, for experiencing the best sightseeing ambience and the warmth its people have to offer.

Written by Adhyan Goyal (Delhi Public School, Sector-45, Gurgaon).

__

EdTerra Edventures conducts various other programs for the youth. If you go to school and are under 17 years of age, ask your school to contact us to arrange a visit to your school for an introduction to “USA East Coast Space Adventure” and other journeys under EdTerra’s Going Global Programs.

For queries call +91-11-48885800 or visit EdTerra Browse Journeys page to know more about the programs for school students. Visit our FB page by clicking HERE. Also, check our podcast page by clicking HERE.