My Visit to the U.S.A.

In July 2000 I visited three families in the USA. After I returned home, I wrote a report to tell you about my experience of my journey, but first I describe myself.

My name is Frank Nowotny and I am 19 years old. I was born in Bonn, Germany. I live in Wesseling, a small town between Bonn and Cologne. This year I finished school and I started my apprenticeship. My hobbies are Ju-Jutsu (something like judo) and playing cards. My diet managing is no problem. I estimate most of the food and my blood results are between 5 and 12 mg/dl.

I am member of a PKU Club in Germany. There somebody told me about the possibility of staying in the USA with a family who has a teen with PKU. Through the PKU Listserv group and the help of Virginia Schuett (schuett@pkunews.org) I found three nice families: one in Georgia, one in Utah and one in Wisconsin. I stayed one or two weeks with each family.

There were no big differences between the diet of the families and mine. There were only a few differences in managing the diet (estimate or weigh).

During my trip I got some new products that we don't have in Germany. I got low protein cheese (when I returned to Germany I brought some with me to show it my sister), which looks like usual cheese. Now I try to get some, but it is too expensive (a few hundred dollars) to import here to Germany.

In Wisconsin, Sarah's mother showed me how to make a mushroom burger and some cookies. I tried to make some of these cookies, but we don't get chocolate pieces, which are needed for it. I got there some low protein sweets, which are called fruit snacks. In Germany we have low protein sweets and I gave some to the families. These sweets are produced by a special firm that produces low protein products.

On June 22, my plane left for Atlanta. The flight took 9 hours. During the flight I got a vegetable meal that I ordered at the travel agency, so I had no problem with the food during the flight.

At the airport the family waited. The girl with PKU is named Anna and she was 17 years old. The family lives in Ringgold, a small town in North Georgia, near Tennessee. The first day we visited a PKU banquet in Atlanta. The banquet was the final of a camp for girls with PKU. There I met Anna's doctors and nutritionist. After the dinner I got some recipes.

During the next days Anna showed me the sights in this area. We visited Rock City in Chattanooga, Chattanooga Downtown, the Tennessee Aquarium and Atlanta. In Rock City we saw big rocks and narrow ways through the rocks. In Atlanta we visited the Coke Museum and we watched a baseball game (Atlanta Braves vs. Montreal Expos. I don`t know exactly the rules, but I think the Atlanta Braves lost.)

Every evening we went to Chattanooga. There we visited a park or we walked along the river. One day we visited the Tennessee Aquarium. Inside we saw big fish, turtles and they also have insects and big spiders there. After the Aquarium we went to a restaurant and I was surprised; it is usual that you have to pay for only one drink and then you get the next drinks free. The weather in Georgia was very hot and wet. It rained only one day (in Germany it is mostly the opposite).

The next destination was Salt Lake City. The family consisted of Kurt and Laurette, the parents one PKU son (Jeron, 12) and one daughter (Jennifer, 17, no PKU). Two other sons weren`t at home during the summer. On the first day we visited the SLC Copper mine, a big hole in the ground with a museum near the mine. The next day we visited Temple Square in Salt Lake City. There I learned about the history of the state Utah and the pioneers moving west. They also have a computer were you can search your ancestor, but I didn’t find mine (too many persons with the same name).

A few days later we left SLC for visiting Yellowstone Park for a few days. The first day in Yellowstone we went to Old Faithful and saw the geysers. It was beautiful, but the weather was bad, too cold. We came two times back to see the most impressive geyser, the Grand Geyser. The next days we saw many wild animals like buffalo, deer, moose and one bear. When I saw the bear I took a photo, but the next day my camera broke. One night, we returned from a trip to a town near Yellowstone, a deer suddenly crossed the street, but we were lucky and didn’t crash into it. We also went to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and walked around. Yellowstone is very beautiful.

Five days later we returned to Salt Lake City. I spent the last days the last days in Salt Lake City buying gifts.

My last destination was Wisconsin. My flight went to Milwaukee and there were no clouds in the sky, so I saw Lake Michigan. It looked like an ocean. The last family lives two hours away from Milwaukee. Sarah is 21 years old and has PKU. She studies German and economics at the university in La Crosse. The first days I stayed with her parents in Neenah. They showed me the town and we did a boat tour.

After a few days we went to La Crosse and visited Sarah. From there it was not far to Minneapolis, Minnesota. One day we went there to see the Mall of America.

At the weekend we planed to visit Chicago. There we saw Navy Pier, the skyscraper and an aquarium with a water show. We did a guided tour through the city and went on the top of the Hancock Tower, where I took some pictures of the city. I enlarged one of these pictures at home and put it on the wall.

At the last day we went to an air show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The air show started the next day, so I couldn’t see it. I only saw planes and some planes at the training. This day a Concorde plane had an accident in Paris, all passengers died, and I was happy to fly 10 hours back the next day.

I had a wonderful time in the USA and I would come back again sometime. All families were very nice. I think that the journey helped me to practise my English. I had a translator, but I did not need it often in the end of the journey. When I returned to Germany I invited the people where I stayed to visit me in Germany. I hope they will visit me in 2001!