---
title: US Journal IV – State & City
author: Mingjie Jiang
draft: true
date: 2015-10-03T22:17:13.000Z
---
<div class="kg-card-markdown">
  <p>
    <b>Part IV Our State</b>
  </p>
  
  <p>
    As I have said, I live in Maryland which is a very nice place to stay. In this chapter, I will briefly introduce the State of Maryland and the City of Gaithersburg to you.
  </p>
  
  <p>
    <b> Maryland</b>
  </p>
  
  <p>
    Maryland is a small state with a long history. It is considered to be the birthplace of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_freedom" target="_blank">religious freedom</a> in America. [Source: Wikipedia:<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryland" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryland</a>] On the map, you can barely see it as it is so small. The lifestyle here is more like what we called “country style”. People don’t really need to travel fast &#8211; they always have plenty of time! There are so many different nice houses in Maryland, you can almost see a housing estate in every 2 miles. I like this place, as it is not as noisy as Shanghai is, and also very convenient as it&rsquo;s only ten minutes away from a supermarket which is considered as &ldquo;only a little time&rdquo; here. Maryland is a one of the states where a casino is allowed. There is a large one called Maryland Live, and that place is much stricter than those in Las Vegas. My parents cannot even bring me in for a show! Well, that&rsquo;s another day, though.
  </p>
  
  <p>
                You can see lots of Asians here in Maryland, D.C., and Virginia. There are lots of Asian supermarkets, Asian restaurants, and even Asian Associations (e.g: CCACC[Just search it]). There are also Asian Churches, where you can meet a lot of nice people. In case some of you might ask, there are lots of Chinese Christians. I have been to a Chinese church for several times. There, I found most of the young Chinese students cannot speak Chinese at all! They were born here, yet their parents didn&rsquo;t get them to Chinese class which lead to the result that they actually &ldquo;forgot&rdquo; who their ancestors are.
  </p>
  
  <p>
    History. Maryland is a place full of history. If you look closely at the license plate of a car bought in Maryland, you&rsquo;ll see this at the top:&ldquo;The war of 1812.&rdquo; What happened? &ldquo;The war of 1812&rdquo; refers to the Anglo-American War, which is also called the Second War of Liberty if you read it by Chinese. The point is, it just occurred in Baltimore, Maryland, and in the war of Baltimore, the Americans won. P.S.: I am not really good at U.S. history, so if you really want to know more which I don&rsquo;t really encourage you to, :D, go to Wikipedia and search for &ldquo;The War Of 1812&rdquo;.
  </p>
  
  <p>
    <b> Gaithersburg</b>
  </p>
  
  <p>
    Gaithersburg, the fourth-largest city in the state, is famous for its trees and its history. It is divided into two parts &#8211; East and West Gaithersburg by the freeway of Interstate-270. By the way, I live in West Gaithersburg and we are only two blocks away from the city of Potomac. There are lots of trees in Gaithersburg. They are planted by the road, inside estates, in parks, or everywhere you want them to be. There are two small parks just across my home&hellip;
  </p>
  
  <p>
    About history, Gaithersburg is the only Historical District in Maryland. But still, I&rsquo;m no good at history&hellip;
  </p>
  
  <p>
    That&rsquo;s all for today. And I will get you some information about religion next time!
  </p>
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