Hello again, and welcome back to the America under microscope.
Hello James.
Hi, hello lulu.
So what are we going to talk about today?
Well, we are going to talk about Geography.
Geography, well, last time we talked about football and that was something I knew almost nothing about, geography is also not one of the subjects that I did well in.
Well don't worry. there will be no test.
OK, great, obviously American geography.
Yes, of course.
En. So in this we're going to talk about different regions.
Right, we are going to talk about the main regions or how we can divide America into different parts.
Great, I am eager to learn. So first of all, how big is the United States?
Very big,it's about the same size as China.
I remember learning about the country's ranking according to land area. Guess most people don't realize how big the United States is. Because they forget Alaska.
Right, so China is the third largest and America is the fourth largest. And the difference between China and America is not very much.
But you have a lot fewer people than we do.
Yes,much fewer.
Much fewer people.
US population is only 327 million people. So when we think about American geography we also think about things like climate throughout the country. Because one question a lot of people ask about America was like "What's the weather like in America?"
This is like "What's the weather like in China?"
Yes. Well depends. In America we have deserts, we have mountains, we have tropical places like Hawaii, we have grasslands, so weather is highly dependent on what area you are in.
For example, in China, the coldest area in winter, it can go down to minus 30 or even lower, and the highest can go up to probably over 40 degrees.
America has places just like that. Alaska can get that cold, and places like Texas can get that hot.
Before we talk about regions, how many states.
Fifty.
Fifty, OK, fifty states, and obviously we are not going to go through all these states, that's gonna take forever. Did you have to learn that in school?
We have to learn all fifty states plus all their capitals in school.
I always remember that was years ago when 《friends》 was still on, one of the games they were trying to play is to write down the names of all the states.
That is a difficult game, some names are really hard to spell.
Great. But what are the major regions?
OK, so let's dive into that right now. So we are going to go from east to west, so let's start in the northeast.
Northeast.
Well, and area of America we call New England.
New England.
Cuz this is the area where many English settlers first arrived.
And that's why they called it New England.
Right, so this is the area states like Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, and the biggest city in this region is Boston.
There are quite a lot of the famous universities there.
Two of the most famous universities are there, Harvard and MIT are in Boston.
You know this area is known for being next to the Atlantic ocean, so the seafood, also in autumn it's known for the changing color of the leaves.
We talked about that in the food episode about the seafood.
Yes.
About clam chowder.
Oh yes, and lobster.
And lobster, yes.
If we move on a bit south, we get to what we call them Mid-Atlantic States
That would be roughly New York?
Yes, this would be New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and Washington DC this area. And this area is fairly well known for being the place for the capital is DC, our biggest city, Now York City, the fairly Densely populated area because of all these cities in the small place, also means it's quite a bit of money here.
Is that the richest area in the United States? Or one of the richest?
It's definitely one of the richest , I'm not sure if it's quite the richest, but it's…would be very high on the list.
One thing is people generally would think , I mean I, for one, would think that's the area where people are quite liberal-minded. Is that true?
Partially, in the cities in this region, Yes, they tend to be more liberal , but realize New York State is mostly rural and agricultural. New York City is just one small part of that state.
That's a common mistake. Because when people think of New York, they tend to think of NYC, they don't think of the state.
Yes, actually, it's fairly good size state, but most people just live in the city, which is just one small part of it.
So now we got the northeast, New England, and then we had the Mid-Atlantic States, and?
Well we will move on to the south, south southeastern area, so this is, well, these states would be where people would consider the former salve states, so back when America had Slavery , these are the states that slavery was legal, nowadays these states are still highly agricultural, in terms of economy, some of them next to the coast , they are known for very hot, humid summers, some of them are pretty warm, like Florida, which many people go to to retire.
Is that still so because you hear that a lot Florida is like the old people state.
Yes, because in winter it's nice.
I guess this is like the Chinese probably Hainan , people would go to warmer area to retire for their old age.
And also, this area is really known for their unique southern accent, which if you watch like TV shows or movies, about America, how these people talking, you know, a little bit different, have a bit of twang to their voice.
So that's where it usually comes from.
Yes.
That's part of the south or southeastern.
Yes.

And then, what about in the middle?
We are going to the middle where we call the Midwest, which is kind of strange cuz Midwest is the middle of the country, not the west.
Then why they call it Midwest?
Well because originally the United States didn't go all the way to the Pacific ocean.
OK. You are right, so that was already towards the west.
Yes, so the Midwest is centered around the Great Lakes, so those big lakes north part of the United States and the big city here Chicago, third largest city. These states for the most part don't have lots of people, so it's a lot of agricultural in this area wheat, corn and things like this, but these states if you watch American elections, they kind of talk about them a lot , because these states who they vote for can change.
Like swing states.
Yes.
They are swing states. You don't really know who they are gonna vote for.
That depends on what the issues are.
So, by far ,we have traveled the entire east coast.
Yes.
And then moving on to the Middle.
Then we are moving on to a very unique state, Texas.
Texas, do they call it the Lone Star?
The Lone Star State. That's because Texas used to be its own country.
Yeah.
You know, became a part of America. Texas is unique because it's the second largest state, it's huge, so the east city of Huston, is closer to Florida than it is to the western city in Texas El Paso, El Paso is closer to L.A. Los Angeles, than it is to Huston.
So it is a very wide state.
It's a very wide state.
Well ,I think of Texas, I think of Cowboys.
Yes, there is a reason for that. They do raise a lot of cows there, and a lot of movies, and American artwork portrait people from this area to be cowboys, with the hats, horses, ropes and all the things related to, you know, taking care of cows. So we move on and kinda to the north, more to the west, and we get the Rocky Mountain States.
Rocky Mountain States
Those like Colorado, Wyoming, you can even say place like Utah,like this.
I think for this region, perhaps that Chinese tourists, they go, they would to go Yellowstone National Park.
That's right, Yellowstone is in this area.
That's a very mountainous area, obviously, you see the Rocky Mountain,
Oh yes, this is a very mountainous area, this place is known for mountain, cattle, caws, sparsely populated, not many people live here at all.
Is it because of it is too mountainous?
That's a part of the reason and it just mostly been agricultural and not a reason to live there,.
A lot of nature though.
Tons of nature.
Alright, we have covered all these regions, you haven't really motioned your region.
No, I haven't got there yet, so let's move on to where I am from, the Pacific Northwest.So this is the area of Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Alaska, so this is the area right next to the pacific ocean, it is most well known for being a place that it is very wet and can be quite cold.
Wow, with raining , I think one of the most famous cities is Seattle.
Yes, Seattle is famous for rain.
Is this also a relatively well-off area?
Yes, it tends to be, cuz Seattle there is lots of business like many people know,Amazon, Boeing, Microsoft all come from Seattle in the pacific northwest.
And then I think we are still missing one major part, what about states like California?
The Southwest, yes, we can't forget the southwest which has the most populous states, California, which most people known from TV, movies, and major cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles, but there is also Arizona and New Mexico at this part of area, and this area is fairly known to be kinda desert for a good chunk of it.
It's very hot, isn't it?
It can be in the summer, yes , very hot, so a lot of people live here, especially in California and Arizona.
So let's recap, travelling around in United States, we saw New England, in the northeast, and then Mid-Atlantic states, which is New York states and Washington DC,
Yeah
And then south southeastern which were the former slave states
Yeah
And then Midwest.
Around Chicago.
Chicago.
The Lakes.
And the lakes. Texas, which is in its own.
Yes. And Rocky Mountain States, and then Pacific northwest, which includes Washington States, and then southwest which includes California, Arizona and New Mexico.
We just forgot Hawaii.
Ahh. Yes, of course,
Out into the middle of Pacific ocean.
Yeah.Which also in itself, it's like Texas, it's one in itself.
It's just Hawaii, yes.
Just Hawaii. Alright, what are going to talk about in the advance episode then?
We are going to talk about some more unique regions that are related to not so much geography, but more to do with weather and how we group people together.
And also perhaps a little bit about stereotypes.
Maybe. If we have time.
Alright, we'll see you next time, if you have ever travelled to United States or planning to go, and you want to ask some questions , or share your experiences , feel free to leave a comment.
Bye everyone.
See you next time, bye.

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