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America is a very dangerous place.America is a very large country with lots of rural, wilderness areas in even the smallest states.The cities are crime-ridden and there is much poverty and social unease.Ok- got that out of the way-America is 50 states with diverse regions.Some simple rules to help guide you-Do not hitchhike, do not bum rides with strangers- uber and lyft are safe - get familiar with these servicesDo not take a bus across the US - we Americans own cars and trucks and we drive, we are not into public transportation. Buses might seem like a neat way to see the USA, but they are brutally slow, you will not be with the best and brightest of American society and they don’t embark and disembark from the best parts of town.Do not bring up your thoughts on American politics - Americans feel that it is not any foreigners business and might elicit a violent response. You will not be able to tell an Americans political affiliations just by casual conversation. Be very careful about criticizing the President or the Democrats or anything political. Just don’t do it, and you will not be able to form your own opinion about American politics until you have lived here, for a while, and have owned property, sent your kids to school, served in the military, paid taxes, been a patient in a hospital, dealt with law enforcement as a victim or perpetrator, you know like kinda been an American. Then we might be interested in your opinion. However, sports, movies, culture, food - man, those topics are wide ass open, and if you are a member of the British Commonwealth, we want to know if you have met the Queen and all the latest dirt on the Royals.Do not refer to an American from the South (a Southerner) as a Yankee.Do not take pictures of strangers without their permission, (that might be pretty universal)Do not get out of your vehicle if pulled over by law enforcement, ever, in any state or city. Be very respectful of all police, and I mean say Sir or Ma’am as applicable.If you drive a rental car, do not go down dirt roads. You will see thousands, resist the temptation, many are private drives.Do not drink and drive, do not get drunk in public.I would be very careful about marijuana use - you might think it’s legal, the cop that pulled you over can still charge you with a DUI (driving under influence).Do not carry large amounts of cash. We don’t have too many pickpockets, so that is not the issue, but if you ain’t from around here and flash cash, you will be a mark. Plastic money (credit cards) are so universal they are the norm, even at local fairs and rural events and sites, concerts, etc. etc.Don’t assume that the English you speak is the English we speak. It’s ok, take your time and keep it simple. Ask. We want you to have a good time.Don’t not tip. 15–20% at a sit-down restaurant where you are served. Less at a buffet. Do not tip at a fast food place. Just do it. Sorry, you are in America. Hey! you feel like a local!Don’t laugh at the locals when you visit Wal Mart (a must-see for anyone coming here. By the way, the best Wal Mart I have ever been in was in Kingston, ON, Canada, it was fancy, it had a wine cellar!) Ok, you can laugh!Don’t buy into stereotypes of the Americans you see on TV. You will be surprised at how well-read and travelled many are. Where I live in the rural south, there are many wealthy, successful people that look like they are dirt poor and can barely read and write, but own five $100,000 John Deere tractors and just returned from a vacation in the Holy Land or Europe (because the wife wanted to go).Don’t just go to Florida, or New York City, or California. It’s a big country. Do go to Alaska and Hawaii, they are the jewels of the crown, so to speak.Finally,Don’t assume that the Americans you meet aren’t armed.

No. Unless you come from royalty, I wouldn’t even waste time trying to get into an Ivy League school, with your track record.I went through a similar progression, won honors as the best student in two academic categories, even though my final HS GPA was 3.29 (Sorry, I had to edit this, as my keyboard originally typed 4.29. At the time that I graduated, Honors Courses did not elevate your GPA, as they do now, but I didn’t take any). I also won two statewide awards for my excellence in two business subjects. It’s not enough for the Ivy League.The most economical bet would be to attend a state university for your undergrad. If you excel there, and do well on whatever exam applies to your chosen graduate course of study, you may then be able to apply, and possibly get accepted, to an Ivy League for your graudate studies. Having those letters will do more for you.Here is what I did:I attended a Community College and accumulated 75% of the units necessary for transfer, over a period of three years. While there, I was involved in student government, eventually becoming student body president. I also rechartered an on-campus club, was its president for two years, and became state president of the organization. Through these efforts, I sat on several campus-wide committees and was a liaison to a regional collegiate organization for the campus.I then left school, as my business interests required more of my time. I always promised myself that if ever I had both the time and money to complete school, I would go back. This is a classic white lie!About 15 years later, as luck would have it, I found myself earning a significant income while only working 10–15 hours per week. I had a smoking-hot, much younger girlfriend, who was attending the local state university. I would help her with her homework, and discovering that I still had the skills, I secretly applied to the university.I was accepted, so in 2000, at the age of 35, I re-enrolled in college. Even though I had the transfer credits, I ended-up staying in school for four years, but I achieved two Bachelor’s Degrees (Finance with emphasis in Financial Planning and a minor in Economics and Sport Management with a minor in Statistics). I was in the four-year Honors Program, which did nothing for my GPA (reduced it, actually), but I did receive the medal. I was also the Honor Graduate (top student) in Sports Management. I made the Dean’s List, every quarter of my attendance, and I graduated Magna cum Laude. One class kept me from Summa cum Laude, as I missed by .015 grade points.I then took the GMAT, on which I scored 700 (I should have studied) with a perfect 6.0 on the AWA. I decided to place three applications.I applied to Wharton West (UPenn - Ivy League, BTW), the University of Southern California (USC), and Cal-State Bakersfield (my undergrad institution) just for kicks.CSUB immediately accepted me (no surprise!).Wharton West invited me for a reception, wined and dined me, accepted my application, and later invited me for an interview. I was a bit mixed about how I felt about the interview. With nearly 450 applicants for 95 spots, I didn’t get cut until one week before the final deadline.Fortunately for me, I received my declination letter two days before my interview at USC. I almost blew-off the USC interview, thinking that I was a lock for Wharton.Anyway, I went to my USC interview. It started with the standard, expected questions for the first five minutes. After that, the Admissions Rep and I discovered that we have a mutual appreciation for Asian women, and that dominated the next twenty minutes of the interview. This took place on a Friday.The following Wednesday, he called me, and told me that I am accepted and to wait for the confirmation letter.A few days later, I receive the letter welcoming me to USC, while also requesting a check for $5,000 to hold my spot, which they had to receive in the next five days. That was bold!I graduated from USC with an MBA in General Management, and getting the degree from them opened doors that I never expected were possible. I have lived in the Philippines for the last eleven years, which never would have happened if not for numerous small circumstances, but certainly would not have happened without my attending USC.These are my stats. Your results may vary.Good luck, with whatever you do.I really meant to give a much shorter answer. Honestly, I only intended to provide the first paragraph. :-) Somehow, I guess you needed more info…

Aah, grasshopper! The margarita's not about who, it's more about what.Cinco de Mayo - the celebration of Mexico's 1862 victory over the French at Peubla is only two days away, is that what prompts this question?Get me the blue bottle from the bar. The good citizens of Tequila roast Jalisco agaves in stone ovens - Casa Noble's triple distilled - with vanilla, green pepper and lemon grass attributes. The art of the taste of a fine margarita is subtle. We'll need the juice of some yellow Key limes - a fuller flavour than your Persian limes; Curaçao triple sec, a shaker and ice.Sit down, I'll tell you the story of the margarita.In the history of cocktails, social gatherings and parties, every social butterfly anxious for a reputation claims to be the original inventor of any trend of the day. The margarita's not immune. Cocktails are not quite a U.S. invention, although the culture certainly took to the idea, often substituting sweet ingredients for the more traditionally sour and bitter drinks. The story of cocktails is as much about tales of trade and technology as social trends.PUNCHES AND BITTERSIt all began in India with the spice trade and punch. Sailors returning from voyages with the British East India Company imported the idea of chilled alchoholic mixes of lemon, sugar and tea. The fashionable cool drinks quickly replaced mulled wines popular in the 1600s - punches were popular for hundreds of years.Image: The British East India Company - The Story of IndiaIn the 1700s, the rum trade in the Caribbean brought the world digestive bitters and rum punches. By the 1800s, Angostura Bitters from Venezuela and Peychaud's Bitters from New Orleans were Europe's favourite mixers.It was the ice trade of the 1800s that really created the love of iced drinks and mixes of fruit, punch and fortified wines. The oldest written recipe for a cocktail dates to the 1850s - the Sazerac (absinthe, rye, bitters and sugar) is part of the character of New Orleans to this day.SOURS AND FRUITSBy 1862, Jerry Thomas published the "Bartender's Guide." Cocktails were mixed from fruits and spices. "Sours" were cocktails favouring bitters, "slings" were sugary and fruity. 1888 saw the first wax-sealed paper drinking straws.With the early nineteen hundreds came the invention of the crushed ice machine. Railroads and the 1906 refrigerator made ice easily available. Cold cocktails really took hold - the Manhattan of the eighteen-eighties, the Daquiri and the Martini of the nineteen noughties, the Gin Gimlet of the 1910s.It was in the twenties, during the thirteen years of the application of the eighteenth Amendment from 1920-1933, the citizens of the U.S. were forced to be inventive with citrus juice or sweeteners, triple sec, cordial, sugar syrups - anything that could help with the taste of poor quality moonshine - "The Daisy" was served over ice. Then, the Depression came, the demand for jobs and taxes lead to the end of Prohibition.WOWSERS AND DAISIESDuring the thirties, the Daisy really took hold, with any combination of spirits and fruits. Increased travel, expatriates in Europe, refugees from Prohibition spread the fashion for the new cocktails. In London, Harry Craddock's publication, "The Savoy Cocktail Book" became the first Bible of Bartenders. It's still in print today. In 1930, the book had a recipe for a "Tequila Daisy."The Tequila Daisy was mixed with soda water. The "Daisy" school of cocktail mixers says the Daisy was ubiquitous in the U.S. and Mexico.Image: First Edition, The Savoy Cocktail Book, 1930.The "Sidecar" school of thought holds the margarita was a variation on the Brandy Daisy, or Sidecar. Given the popularity of triple sec and tequila in London, they claim the cocktail was originally known as the "Picador," as featured in the 1937 Café Royal Cocktail Book.Image: First Edition, The Café Royal Cocktail Book, 1937.THE MARGARITA2 oz tequila1 oz fresh lime juice1 oz CointreauSplash of soda (optional)lime garnishShake tequila, lime, Cointreau, and simple with ice until well chilled. Double strain into a chilled cocktail glass or over ice in a rocks glass, optionally half-rimmed with coarse salt. Optionally splash with soda. Garnish with lime.—Margarita - the Tequila DaisyHOTELS AND RACONTEURSIt seems the Margarita had its roots in the Tequila Daisy and the Picador. Later, we get the marketeers, socialites, trendsetters and celebrities spreading the word and making dubious claims, while popularising an "invention" that had already been common on both sides of the Atlantic.1936: James Graham, owner and editor of the Moville, Iowa, Mail, took his wife to southern California for a bit of sightseeing. While there, as many do, the Grahams took a little side jaunt to Tijuana, Mexico, where—again, as many do—they found themselves in the grip of a sudden thirst for something alcoholic. Four years earlier, the choice of drinking establishments would have been a tough one: during Prohibition, Tijuana had some 150 of them. But in 1936, with Americans fully able to tipple at home, the city was down to a mere nine or ten bars. An Irishman by the name of Madden ran one of the survivors, and that’s where the Iowans headed. The couple’s taxi driver had mentioned Madden’s drink-mixing skills and told them of his fame as the creator of a thing known as the “Tequila Daisy.”“As a newspaperman seeking information,” Graham wrote in the lengthy report of his trip that he ran in his paper (bear in mind that Moville had a population of around 975), “I entered the joint and told Mr. Madden my curiosity was aroused regarding The Daisy.” Mr. Madden was not the most talkative of men, but eventually he was persuaded to admit that the drink’s creation was a mistake. “In mixing a drink, I grabbed the wrong bottle and the customer was so delighted that he called for another and spread the good news far and wide.”Why are we bothering with Iowa newspapermen and Irish barkeepers on Cinco de Mayo? Because, you see, the word for “daisy” in Spanish is “margarita,” and there are few cocktails more popular than the Margarita, or more obscure in their origin. Graham never said what was in Madden’s Daisy, or (truth be told) ever actually admitted to trying one. But if you take a Brandy Daisy, a standard bar drink of the pre-Prohibition era, and accidentally reach for the tequila instead of the brandy—well, you be the judge.—Behind the Drink: The Margarita1936: One oasis for the rich and famous was the Agua Caliente Race Track, which opened in 1929. Danny Negrete, who worked at the track in 1944, is also credited with creating the drink at the Garci Crespo Hotel in 1936 for his sister-in-law, Margarita, as a wedding present. Or it could have been named for Margarita Cansino (later known as Rita Hayworth) who as a teenager in the early 1930s would perform at, guess where, the Caliente.—Once upon a time in Mexico: The origin of the Margarita - ImbibeImage: Margaret Cansino/Rita Hayworth, 1930s1938: Carlos "Danny" Herrera developed the drink at his Tijuana-area restaurant, Rancho La Gloria, around 1938. As the legend goes, Herrera dreamed up the cocktail for one of his customers, an aspiring actress named Marjorie King who was allergic to all hard alcohol other than tequila. To make the liquor more palatable to his fussy client, he combined the elements of a traditional tequila shot—a lick of salt and a wedge of lime—and turned them into a refreshing drink.1945: According to The Complete Book of Spirits by Anthony Dias Blue, though, the first importer of Jose Cuervo in the United States advertised with the tagline, "Margarita: it's more than a girl's name."1948: Margarita Sames, a wealthy Dallas socialite who claimed she whipped up the drink for friends at her Acapulco vacation home in 1948. Among her well-connected guests was Tommy Hilton, who eventually added the drink to the bar menu at his hotel chain.1971: In contrast to the fuzzy genesis of the cocktail, the origin of a machine that helped simplify the making of one of its many forms is well documented. In 2005, Smithsonian's National Museum of American History acquired the world's first frozen margarita machine, invented by Dallas restaurateur Mariano Martinez.—The Smithsonian Institute♪ ♫ "Wasting away in Margaritaville..." ♫ ♪1977: Jimmy Buffet, the great preacher of drinking hymns released that iconic song.Daisys? Spanish? Women named Margarita? The origins of the moniker for the cocktail "Margarita" are lost, somewhere in the bitters, sours, fruits and spices at the dawn of the twentieth century. Noone knows. The drink remains.Cheers!