Happy days in Seattle

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I think it is time to inform you all of my adventures so far. Last week was I had my final exam on Tuesday, which went alright but not great. It were all essay questions and you had to provide thorough prove of your understanding of all the course material. After all my time spent on school my motivation to study hard for this exam was basically non-existent but I was able to write six pages so I am pretty sure I passed the course. The final exams also only account for about 25 to 40 percent of your grade so I'm not worried.

Most of my roommates left on Sunday evening so it was pretty quiet in unit 10. After my exam I started packing and realized how much stuff I still had to carry with me for the next few months. I had already sent a box back to Holland with most souvenirs and heavy things I wouldn't need anymore. It almost didn't all fit in my bag either. With the help of several vacuum bags I was able to fit it all in and I decided to ship away a lot more stuff once I would arrive in Seattle. I would have done it earlier but I had to take a bus to Toronto on Wednesday and time seemed to fly. I met up with some of the Irish friends I made on the last night we went out in Waterloo before taking the bus from Kitchener to Toronto.

Once I arrived in Toronto I checked into the Global Village Backpackers hostel and took a nice shower. I was beat from the crazy day of packing, cleaning and carrying my bag (even up the stairs of the subway and of the hostel). It is no surprise that I felt quite some muscle ace the next days. In the hostel I met a nice guy that stayed in my room. We went out for a meal and some interesting conversations. He is originally from India so we could both relate to how different some things are in (North)America. For example the drinking culture. They do not drink for the taste, they drink to get wasted. And preferrably as quickly as possible. Secondly the way people dress is also quite different. Girls wear anything that reveals as much skin as possible and the guys wear a lot of baseball caps (or hats). Guys also dress more manly, not so dressed up as in Europe. I prefer that than the gel in the hair and the collar polo shirts they wear in Holland. But some guys here do treat women like a piece of meat. And the girls let them do it so it's a big part of the young culture here.

As usual, there are always exceptions. And I am lucky enough to have found a group of awesome people in Seattle. The couchsurfing community here is quite big and they became a large group of friends. I'll tell you more about that in a moment. First I want to tell you about my flight from Buffalo to Seattle. I had to take a greyhound bus from Toronto to Buffalo airport, then a plane to Chicago and transfer to a flight to Seattle. It was awfully busy on the road to Buffalo and the busdriver expected us to arrive late. It was probably because of Easter weekend that everybody drove all over the place. I had calculated my time so that I would arrive three hours before my flight. But yet again, customs made it extra hard on all of us. We had to wait for a while before we could even drive to the spot where we were supposed to unload ALL the bagage that was loaded on to the bus. With 81 people on board you can imagine how much work that is. We only had one small Chinese bus driver that had to do all the work. I knew we weren't supposed to get off the bus, but I got off and asked if he wanted some help. I climbed in the luggage compartment and shoved the luggage towards the busdriver outside. He put them all nicely in a row outside the bus so that everyone could find their bags as easy as possible. This turned out to be a proper work-out!

When we could finally enter customs, I instantly remembered the last time I was there. It was exactly the same place as last time. I started looking if that weird guy from last time was there (who afterwards remembered my name and added me on facebook, who I obviously deleted..), luckily he wasn't. There were a bunch of other rude people at work nonetheless. They scream at you to stand somewhere else, they interrogate you in a way that makes you feel nervous and they show absolutely no respect. One old foreign couple was going to visit family for a month and they had a hard time explaining it to the lady. She started saying: 'I never visit family for a month, why are you?' Their phone started ringing and she said: 'Turn off your phone! Don't apologize, turn off your phone!' I felt really bad for them. This french guy that was filling out his form next to me looked at me with disbelieve and we quietly started discussing how ridiculous this is. You immediately feel like a bunch of criminals. Luckily I didn't have to hand in my form to the awfull screaming lady. The man that helped me was finally normal and I got in without any problems. - Man I hate that place..

Our bus was supposed to arrive at 11.15 am and I arrived at around 1 pm. I was stressed that they might not let me board anymore because the email said that you had to be there 90min in advance. But there wasn't a problem, my flight was delayed so I had plenty of time at the airport. At the airport they were so friendly and helpfull, really big contrast from customs. Everything went smoothly and I found a foodplace to get lunch at and watch some American tv. I felt like in the movies again and entertained myself with observing the people around me while munching on my burger and fries. I read a book and soon it was time to board the plane. It was a very small plan with only a row of two seat on one side and one seat on the other. I almost bumped my head when walking through the aisle. Next to me was John, a very nice older man which I ended up talking with the entire flight. I felt sad that the flight was over in an hour or so. Luckily he had to transfer to another flight as well and we both had about two hours before we had to board again. So we went to a restaurant to have a meal and a refreshing beer. We had tons of inspiring conversations and I ended up with some great advice how I can find work that allows me to travel around the world. He has been almost everywhere and he is now working on a project to help people in Haiti to build up their society. We exchanged information and left to our gates. I am quite sure that we will meet again in the future.

The flight to Seattle was really comfortable. There is more legroom, nice headrests that you can bend around your head so you can sleep comfortably and extremely friendly flight assistants. It was nice and relaxing. When I arrived at the airport, my CS host, Carlos, even picked me up from the airport. He had to drop off his dad and brother at the same time that I arrived so that was perfect timing. We drove to his house and along the way I got to see how beautiful Seattle is at night. There is a lot of hills, trees and water and all the lights reflect on the water. It was amazing. We took a detour and he showed me how enormous the campus of the University of Washington is. We even drove along a road where all the fraternity houses are. It is exactly like in the movies! With the alpha and beta letters on the front. But what was most amazing is how green it is here. The city is really big but it doesn't feel like it when you drive around. So many beautiful trees, flowers, cute streets that go up and down. I wasn't expecting this at all.

On Saturday the weather was also incredibly shiny so my first day of Seattle made me fall in love instantly. We went to the city center and visited the Experience Music Project museum. Seattle apparantly has a big music history and a lot of musicians. In the museum was an exhibition of Nirvana, the history of guitars and a lot of other stuff. There was one area where you could learn how to play drums, guitar, keyboard, bass on actual instruments. We had a little jam session and headed off to the next place. There was a rhythm festival going on and at this big square. A lot of groups were jamming and playing percussion outside in the sun. Lots of old hippies, students, families, kids, everything. We bought some food and sat on the grass enjoying the music and soaking up the sunrays. After that we met up with other couchsurfers who were playing charades on the grass. We joined in the fun and had a good laugh with them. We didn't stay long because Carlos had tickets to a concert from some local band. No time to be bored here in Seattle. Before we headed home we went to this park called gasworks, an old factory in a park with amazing view of the city. I tried to take some pictures, but my camera isn't sharp enough to give a good image of how pretty it was. I'll put it up here so you can judge for yourself.

The next day we went to a market where I bought an old map of Canada and America. There were all sorts of strange things available. I also bought some pictures from a photographer, they are really beautiful. I wish I could make them that well. On the way back we passed a organic chocolate factory where you could try all sorts of different chocolate and take a tour of the factory. It was delicious! Then we went to REI, a huge store for outdoor sports gear. I bought hiking shoes and a rainproof jacket. I was warned about the rain, apparantly it rains a lot here. That would explain why it is so green everywhere. Another couchsurfer, Victoria, met up with us in the store and we had some nice girl time. She helped me pick out some summer clothes and we had a good laugh. She is a really nice chick. Afterwards we grabbed a meal and it was clear I wasn't going to go anywhere soon. Seattle is way too much fun.

Yesterday (Tuesday) there was a coffee meetup with the CS group close to Pike place market. That is a really famous market place with a nice view over the water. We checked out some corky shops with all sorts of old items. Vintage posters, palm reading machines, old magic tricks, etc. The first ever Starbucks store is on Pike place and there was a street musician playing funky music in front of it. I met more friendly CSers and couldn't wait for the next meeting. On Thursday there is an art walk with free food and drinks (oh, and some art too..) and after that is happy hour. Basically getting together and having some drinks. On the bus back home we met an old man that started talking to us. He was an old priest that grew up in Eck en Wiel, in Holland. He is now a psychology professor at UW. He told me the last of the Dutch he could remember and I was surprised by his accent. He hadn't spoken any Dutch in years so it was quite good. When we got out the bus we ran into another CSer that I was going to see later than night. Carlos had band practise and other stuff to do so I made a meal for myself and Victoria asked me to come over to watch a movie with her friends. We ended up having a really nice evening with a lot of girltalk. I felt at home immediately. We discussed all the gossip, so now I am totally up to date. This weekend there is a CS camping trip planned not far away from here, maybe about 4 hours driving. From what I've seen is that around 40 people are coming on the trip so it'll be fun. The forecast is sunny and warm for this weekend, what more could I ask for?

As you can tell I am having an amazing time here so anyone that is worried about me, don't. I've fallen in the right hands and Seattle is a really friendly, relaxed place. People seem generally happy and there is a ton of things to do around here. Too bad time flies when you're having fun.

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Photos

The balcony
where I sit and read my new book