Jule's Adventures in America: Jule's American City

Jule lives in a state called Arkansas. It is in the middle of the United States. The city she lives in is called Sherwood. Sherwood is a suburb of the much larger city, Little Rock. Generally, we would say that Jule lives in Little Rock since it is well-known.

Little Rock is the largest city and capital city of Arkansas. The general area has a population of over 700,000 people. Little Rock's name comes from a small rock formation on the south bank of the Arkansas River called la Petite Roche (in French, "the little rock"). The "little rock" was used by early settlers as a landmark. It's directly across the river from "big rock" which is a bluff that overhangs the river.

We actually have a pretty cool trolley system.

Little Rock isn't famous for too much. You never hear people say "I'd love to go to Little Rock!" It's not a popular tourist place. In fact, the things that we're generally known for are not great things. Most of the world has heard of or studied the Little Rock Nine... the nine African-American students who enrolled in an all-white Central High School in 1957. These nine students were denied entry by the state's governor, but were eventually allowed to attend the school after the president of the United States intervened. Little Rock's reputation for intolerance had been established on a national stage through that event. We went through a period of very high crime about 15 years ago where the rest of the U.S. saw us as a horrible place to land. But most people know of Little Rock only because of the past president Clinton... and he added a little disgrace to us, as well.

Despite the bad recognition, I have found this city to be a great place to live. It is just big enough that there's always something to do, but not so large that you're stuck in traffic for two hours trying to get to work. Only about 200,000 of the people in this area live directly in the city. The other 500,000 of us live in smaller cities that are directly connected to Little Rock within a few miles / kilometers from the main city.

The city itself offers plenty of things to do. We have (as any city) museums, parks, lakes and rivers, concerts, plays and many other things. But the state of Arkansas itself (known as The Natural State) has so many diverse activities, as well, all within two hours of the city. We have some of the most beautiful spring-fed rivers that are clear and great for canoeing, kayaking and floating. We have some of the best fishing rivers in America, as well. In certain places, you'll find clear lakes that have quartz caves at the bottom where you can scuba dive. Boating on the lakes in the summer is very popular. You'll find people hiking and camping in the Ozark Mountains. Arkansas even boasts the only diamond mine that is open to the public for digging to find your precious gems.