places

I used to think that Canada was only a 5 minutes drive away (I lived in New Jersey). But years later I learned it is more like an 8 hour dirve. And I must say, I was rather dissapointed

Molly

When my sister was little she thought that down town was New York. Whenever she was there she would sing New york New york.

Mariah

Until I was about 12, I used to beleive that something "norweigian" was from a country called "Norwegia". I defended this almost violently, until my teacher showed me a map and proved Norweiga was not real.

I still dont totally beleive her.

Megan C.

I ued to believe that Random - as in 'names were picked at random' - was a place. I thought there was one place where all competion entries went to be picked.

chris

I used to believe that if I put my finger on a map on the city I was in I could see my finger out the window!

Jenai

I always saw the cartoons about digging a hole to straight through the Earth, and I wanted to try it. I never did, however, because of one fear. I was afraid that when I came out of the whole, with everything being upside down at that point, I would fall out and into the sky. It never struck me that coming out of a hole in China would be just like one in the US.

Elizabeth

When I was 5 years old I was out digging in our yard and I hit a roof shingle! Well now hasn't everyone always talked about digging to China? I thought that I had hit someones roof, (why there rooves would be in the dirt I do not know.) I ran into the house so excited to only get told that I had hit a shingle that was thrown there years and years ago when the previous owners had shingled their roof. I now, obviously know the difference but I gave my parents a good laugh! :)

Stephanie Wall

I didn't realize Egypt wasn't a part of Europe until I saw a museum exhibit about Pharaoh Ramses II when I was 10. Funny thing is, my Mom had to learn the same thing when she took me there!

Walter

When I was a child, my family occasionally rode by a neighborhood about a mile from where we lived. That neighborhood had rows of virtually identical houses. I'm sure such things are common some places, but in my home town at the time such arrangements of houses were quite unusual, that one neighborhood being the only place I'd ever seen them back then. Back then I guess it was current to consider Mars as the quintessential alien place, and anyone who seemed really different or not "in the know" might be asked "Are you from Mars?". I guess that might explain the notion I got back then. That neighborhood of rows of virtually identical houses must have seemed the most unusual place I'd ever seen at the time. I got the idea that that neighborhood was Mars, and I remember thinking of it as Mars for quite some time.

Stephanie

When i was about 8 years old i remember our teacher showing us a map of the world. The world on the map was flat and round, so i thought there was more countrys on the other side. One day when i was in grade 6 i asked my teacher if she would show me other half of the world, i was shocked to find out that was the whole world.

Jade Stone

I used to believe that if someone lived "overseas", it just meant that they lived by the ocean.

Anon

When we went to the airport my mom was going to england but i thought that the air port was england so when we went to the airport i always said were in england!

bob

While playing Trivial Pursuit, I discovered that my seven-year-old sister thought the Statue of Liberty carries a "stick with spikes on."

Rachel

I grew up in Birmingham, England and became interested in the exotic animals of Africa such as lions, monkeys, giraffes, elephants and so on. As a child of 3 or 4 I had no concept of outside the city let alone other countries and continents. Being introduced to these creatures I had to somehow place them satisfactorily in my comprehension of the world. So I worked out that at the end of my street, the part that I was not allowed to play in, there must be a huge wall and on the other side of that wall was Africa and that was where all those exotic animals lived.

Lee, England

When I was little I heard on lots of T.V. shows that parents went backpacking through Europe before college. So I thought that Europe was this barren land with no countries or anything. Just mountains and forests and people hiked for thousands of miles. I always wondered why someone would want to do that. Now I wonder where I used to think all those European countries were...

Obviously not European...

Theres a city called Powell River around where I live. Whenever my family used to say we're going to Powell River with their British/Fijian accents it sounded like "Poweldriva" and to this day I still mistaken it and say that when my parents and family talk about it.

Lime

Once I came home from school and my mom told me we had bombed Iraq. I wondered what she was talking about. After a few moments of thinking I asked her, "Were there people on the rock?".
I actually thought she had said "we bombed a rock". :P

Dyth

I live in Baltimore, Maryland, and I used to think that Maryland was the name of my city and Baltimore was the name of my state! I also thought that you had to get searched when you crossed state boarders, but not when you crossed national boarders. Boy was I confused when we went to Pennsylvania to visit my grandparents!

Brittany