Reading traveling is a way to learn about other cultures. The travel journal below was written by alex jang, a travel writer. He shares his experiences of attending an indian wedding and the real carnival. Before you read the travel journal, think about the following questions. How can you learn about foreign customs and traditions? Describe a festival you have experienced. What happened? What was IT like? Alex, around the world? The tenth of january, a wedding ceremony. India, when nadim invited me to his sisters s wedding, I knew I would be the opportunity of a lifetime. I was definitely not wrong. The wedding ceremony took place in a brightly decorated hotel room. There were hundreds of guests, all dressed up in formal, colorful clothes. According to tradition, the bride was wearing an eye catching red silk. Sorry, I did not understand all of the traditional customs, but a few made a deep impression on me. One was the bright room entrance on a beautiful White horse. I had never seen that back home. Another was the park when a dee's father proudly LED his daughter through the rose of seats to war, husband IT reminded me of my sisters s wedding. Although our cultures are so different, the smiling faces are the same. The customs that followed were anything but ordinary. The couple joined hands and walked around a small fire four times. Then they took seven steps together by the fire, and with each step made a different promise about how they were going to support each other and live together happily. IT was very romantic after the ceremony. IT was time for the celebrations. That is a story for another day. But let's just say there was a lot of dancing. Now I know I have two left feet, and both of them hurt the twenty six, the february rio carnival, brazil, the summer. He hit me as soon as I got off the flight. No wonder people from rio take a week off for this happy occasion. I could feel IT already the carnival was in the air to experience the spirit of the carnival for myself. I went to a street party. Luckily, I arrived just in time. The show was about to begin. As I took my place in the merry crowd, I could see a group of around twenty brazilian dancers in a band in fancy costumes standing in the street. Some of them Carried flags which blew in the wind, the crowd weighted with excitement. Then there was an explosion of bright colors and lighting music, and the group jumped into action. The band started playing an energetic samba beat. The dancers twisted in, turned, and the crowd began to cheer, clap and sing. The whole group started marching down the street. The carnival current Carried us through the ever growing sea of people dancing all the way. Ice boxes of soft drinks and beer lined the narrow streets, and the smell of roasted meat filled the air as we passed wave after wave of street stands. I was so caught up in the party fever that I hardly noticed five hours fly by. Even as I lay in bed that evening, the bright colors and lively music were still swimming all around me. What an amazing first day in rio.