This past week a group of ELC Santa Barbara students went to a drive-in movie theatre and infamous fast food restaurant, In-N-Out Burger for the first time! At the drive-in theater they saw two movies, The Box Trolls and Maze Runner. The drive-in movie theatre is in Goleta and plays two different movies while you sit in the back of your car and watch them on a big screen beneath the stars. The sound from the movie tunes in on your car radio.
Before the movie, the students went to In-n-Out to get burgers, fries and milkshakes to eat at the drive in. In-n-Out is a burger and fry fast food restaurant that started in Los Angeles in 1948 and was one of the first “drive-in” restaurants. There were three cars of students and lots of blankets and chairs! Students from Korea, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Italy, Belgium and Switzerland all attended.
ELC teacher Melissa Broughton led the trip. She said, “a lot of people were sort of staring at us at In-n-Out as some of the students gobbled burgers down in excitement before we even left.” The students were seriously in awe of the movie on the big screen under the stars and the fact that the sound came from the radio station, “this is just like in the movies!” they kept saying.
The trip was connected to what Melissa’s class had been learning in conversation about experiencing different cultures. In conversation class they talk a lot about different cultures and play a game called “In my country” that was inspired by Mohammed who often begins his sentences with that statement. The trip was meant to be a way to experience a part of American culture. It was a fun trip to the drive-in and hopefully there will be more to come!!