Prom at Lafayette

Yesterday, May 9, 2009, I had my long awaited Prom at Lafayette High School. For the American teenager Prom is THE event of their High School Career, sometimes of their entire life. Girls spend hours at hairstylists, make up studios and of course picking and putting on their dress. Boys have to wear a tuxedo with either a vest or a cummerbund. As you can see the event is very formal and as mentioned it has enormous importance, many await it for years and start planning months in advance. I didn’t go that far, but as an exchange student experiencing the United States of course I had to participate in this time-honored tradition.

Together with my date Heepke I h had a wonderful time - we met at 6 p.m. and I finally got home at 2.30 a.m. the next morning, or something like that. Here's a brief outline of our activities and of course PICTURES - a more elaborate report will follow at a later date.

1. After dressing all up at home my host parents took me to Heepke's house, where I met her parents - and her of course.

2. Together we drove to Ashland, the estate of Henry Clay in the heart of Lexington. The area has a wonderful park where we all took our pictures. Many more people were there, too, and we met some friends.

3. At Ashland we left our parents and went to a restaurant in downtown Lexington, called the Metropol, where we - Heepke, two of her friends and me - had a delicious dinner.

4. When we had eaten it was about 9.30 p.m. - officially prom starts at nine but no one shows up till about 9.30, so when we got there at 9.50 we were just right.

5. Till Midnight we stayed at Prom, danced, looked at everybody else's dresses and tuxes and enjoyed ourselves a lot.

6. At Midnight Prom was over and we went to a After Party, where we sat together with some friends and ended that wonderful day in a relaxed mood.

It was a wonderful day and the pictures will just prove it, everybody who comes to the US from abroad should experience Prom - it is a great, unique experience as distinctly American as Burgers, Cadillac and the Statue of Liberty.