Geography lessons depend on the school. When I was in.. um, it was Mr. Baher (Bear), so that was 7th grade, we went through and learned all the countries and their placement in Europe, and possibly Africa. I don't remember doing Africa, but since his favorite town was Djibouti, Djibouti, I'm sure we must have. Seriously, it's fun to say. Djibouti, Djibouti, Djibouti... but I digress. In other classes, I had to learn all 50 states and their capitols (which I did fairly well in, since I had a game where I had to match states and capitols a few years before that, but I can't remember them all anymore!), and learn all the counties in Pennsylvania. But don't ask me where certain counties, or even countries, are anymore. I've forgotten most of them. With Europe, I can at least usually remember what's in Western Europe, since those are the big countries. Anything else is "isn't around here somewhere?"
Driving distance in Europe seems odd to me. I know it's a 3 day trip from my place to California, and at least one full day of driving to Canada, since it's 9 hours to my dad's in Pennsylvania, another 2 hours to the PA/NY border from there, and then whereever I want to cross from beyond there. I look at a map of Europe, and boggle that it's not that much of a drive from one country to another. But I'm also a map hog, so I tend to look at distances and milage markers.
Gravy with fries just seem weird to me. But, then so do wings and gravy. We regularly go to a wing place with some friends, and my husband ordered Southern-style wings (heavily breaded and fried). They gave him brown gravy to go with it. I know we're in the south, but ew. A friend of ours looked at her cheese fries and his gravy, and then asked for the gravy. She decided that the combination was pretty good, and wiped out the rest of the gravy.
7-11's seem to be a north-eastern thing (when dividing the US into 4 quadrants, and ignoring the whole "midwest" idea). Of course, I've only really been in the eastern side of the US, so can't speak for the west, other than I remember one in Dallas-Ft. Worth. I saw a fair amount in Northern Indiana, and a few in Pennsylvania, but it's rare to see one in the south. I miss Big Gulps. *sigh*
