When I first moved to Sugar Land seven years ago from New York, in my mind, I had a certain stereotype of what a typical Texan would be like. Most of these stereotypes were shot down once I moved here and realized that people from Texas were not that different from people in New York. Ever since I moved here, people have told me to go to the rodeo and experience Texan culture. Although I have always wanted to go, my wishes were always postponed by conflicting events.

After seven years of living in Texas, I finally got the chance to go to the rodeo. I had heard a lot about it from my friends, and had many expectations. When I first walked into the rodeo, it was just like any other carnival. Going on all of the rides like roller coasters, drop rides, water rides and many others was a lot of fun. Many of the rides were similar to the rides that I had been on before; however, there were ones that I had not experienced like the exciting anti-gravity ride.

Also at the carnival, not only were there rides, but there were also many games where you could win prizes. Although I did not win anything, it was still a lot of fun to play. One of the highlights of the rodeo, however, was definitely trying the different types of fried food. Although I had heard many things about the food at the rodeo, I didn’t really know what to expect. There were many different items to choose from and I felt like they fried anything that they possible could. As for me, I tried the fried oreos, fried twinkie, and fried snickers. They all tasted really good, but afterwards I felt like I was bound to get diabetes. After the carnival, we went inside and saw the livestock show. This was a very different experience, and this was exactly the Texan culture that I expected when I moved here.

After my first rodeo, I feel like everyone who lives in Houston should go to it at least once. There’s something that is very exciting about going to a carnival, eating fried food, and seeing live animals. It was definitely as much fun as I expected it to be and I hope to go again next year.