Monat: Oktober 2014

It has been over nine weeks on American soil. I think it was about time to leave the USA behind and discover Vancouver, Canada!!!
In terms of American relations, Canada is basically in the neighborhood of Portland. It is ‘only’ around 500 km (300 miles) further north. Vancouver is situated at the west coast of Canada, to be precise at the ‘Strait of Georgia’ which is a part of the Pacific Ocean and divides the city of Vancouver from Vancouver Island.

End of September me and four other fellow students from the CBYX program started planning the weekend trip to Canada. It needs a bit of planning because due to our visa we need a special permission to leave the USA and come back again. We booked a room and since there were not too many other options, it was my turn to drive up there. The first challenge and road trip for my little silver car. Honestly, I was a bit nervous but it turned out we didn’t get into any problems and it all went smooth.

Friday, October 10th I left my house at 3:56 am. First, I picked up Philipp and Bianca, two other participants who also live in the Portland area. It was an early, dark, foggy and wet morning in north-west USA but with chatting and music we passed the woods of the Washington state, Seattle (which I didn’t get the chance to visit yet) and eventually arrived at our first pit stop in Mt. Vernon, Washington at sharp 9:00 am. That’s the town where Julia and Bene live – our little travel group for the weekend was complete! After a quick breakfast, kindly prepared by Julia’s host dad, we managed to fit five grown-up people plus 5 backpacks, purses and jackets into my teeny-tiny car. In the driver’s seat was plenty of room, but I am sure the three in the back had a cozy cuddle time. Mt. Vernon marks also the place where I certainly, got the cheapest gas ever. My tank was almost empty and I filled it all up for $25!!! This is seriously unbelievable (for Germans at least). From Mt. Vernon it took us only another hour to the border.
The officer greeted us with a more or less warm ‘Bonjour’ (Yes, we are so different in Canada, we don’t only speak English here but also French!). He checked all our passports and asked me within approximately 60 seconds 15 questions. He wanted to know everything, but apparently I gave the right answers – we could pass!
For me it wasn’t the first time on Canadian soil. Back when I was visiting the east coast I went to Niagara Falls and just crossed the border for a day trip – but indeed it was the first time to stay there overnight. With a new stamp in the passport we were ready for the weekend!
Behind the border one is more or less already in Vancouver, it’s just 50 another miles away. Vancouver is Canada’s third biggest city, but the biggest metropolis on the Canadian west coast with over two million inhabitants.

Although I wrote down the directions to our hotel, I still missed a turn and we were lost in a city none of us has ever been before. Being a generation relying on Google Maps, it was difficult because in Canada our internet didn’t work anymore. Fortunately we had a good old map and eventually made it. The place where we spend two nights was the ‘English Bay Hotel’ situated between Stanley Park and Granville Island – two major sights of Vancouver. The room was really nice for the fairly cheap price. We stayed all five together in one apartment which had a fully equipped kitchen, dining table, a huge TV, two bedrooms and a stunning view over the English Bay.

View from our hotel room

We arrived Friday noon and Vancouver gave us a cold, windy, gray and rainy welcome. We still decided to discover and orientate in the city anyways and took a first long walk through the rain. At some point the weather got really miserable so we already had the worst case scenario in our heads – the weather will stay like this the whole weekend and we won’t get the chance to enjoy it as we planned.

Downtown Vancouver

Friday evening we decided to go out for a little bit. What really surprised me is that Vancouver seems to have quite a lively nightlife. There is one street, the ‘Granville Street’ where uncountable clubs and bars are located just next to each other. Also everyone was really dressy and chic, so we were definitely slightly under dressed if we have had the intention going in somewhere. Instead we found a nice, warm and cozy little pub where we could hang out just casually and drink a beer.

I woke up Saturday morning and I was so delighted that we didn’t have curtains in our room, because the sun was shining just directly onto my face. Against all weather forecasts there was blue sky and sunshine!!! Since we didn’t know how long this would last we started off by walking through Stanley Park which is Vancouver’s most visited sight. It is a huge park in the north-west of Vancouver. The trail is beautifully following along the shore and if you walk inside the park there is a nice forest with different points of interest like a lake, a rose garden, different trails, a totem monument and at the shore again a little lighthouse.

English Bay

Exploring the woods of Stanley Park

The Lost Lagoon

Bianca, myself, Bene, Philipp and Julia

Totem Monument

Sunshine on my face 🙂

Blue, blue sky, sun and skyline

Lighthouse at Stanley Park

Lions Gate Bridge

Strait of Georgia

The Lion Gate Bridge again – that’s how I kind of picture the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco…

The trail around Stanley Park

Siwash Rock

Since it seemed like the weather would stay as beautiful as it was, we decided to rent bikes. That way we could see a lot more of the city because although the city center is not too big, some distances are longer as they appear. Cycling in the mild sunshine was beautiful and it made me think of my days back in the Netherlands when I was cycling daily. Leaving the Stanley Park behind, we crossed the Granville Bridge which is at the same time the high frequented highway 99. All of a sudden we were in the middle of heavy traffic with our bikes – not a lot of fun! Fortunately there is also a sidewalk where we could escape the situation. From that bridge though we had the most beautiful view over the city center. I couldn’t stop taking pictures, it looked stunning with the sunshine!!!

Most beautiful view over downtown

Fishermen’s Wharf and Granville Market

Granville Island is actually not even an island but rather a small peninsula in the False Creek. It is known for it’s huge market, little shops, art galleries, an art university, workshops and small manufactories. I love markets in general but this one especially was really amazing. It is indoors and offers every delicious food I could ever dream of: specialties from different countries, fresh vegetables and exotic fruits, cakes, chocolates, coffee, ice cream and also hand made items like soap, jewelery and traditional Canadian souvenirs. It was a pity that I already had lunch and I wasn’t hungry because I wanted to try everything! Of course there was still room for some ice cream though… I got myself a massive scoop of chocolate ice cream.
It was one of these moments again where everything seemed to be perfect: a stunning view of Vancouver’s skyline over the False Creek where little boats, ferries and yachts were driving by and sitting outside in only my thin sweater in the sun, eating my ice cream in good company on October 11th in Canada – it could have been worse, for sure!!!

Everything was really arty

That’s how I would imagine the French Côte d’Azur and not Vancouver, Canada

That night we took it easy and just hung out and had the best chats. It was great catching up with everyone since I only have seen everyone last in August in New York. We definitely had so much to tell from our homestay tours, our placements, host families, colleges and all the exciting things we experienced the last weeks and now we can already even say months!

Sunset over the English Bay

Sunday morning was slightly worse weather than Saturday. The sun was gone but fortunately no rain. We took another walk through town and discovered some really neat places. On the photos it always doesn’t seem too exciting because of the gray and dull weather but it was definitely nice seeing some new corners like the ‘Yaletown’ district.

How autumnal!

Courthouse of British Columbia

I loved these laughing folks!!

We left downtown after lunch and shoveled everyone and everything into the little car again. We wanted to visit the Capilano Suspension Bridge which is just 15 minutes north of downtown. It turned out that a ticket to visit the bridge also included a whole nature park which then cost $35. We all agreed that it wouldn’t be worth it since we were about to leave Canada that day and it also started raining. On our way back I took some wrong turns (again) and we ended up at a really beautiful forest. I guess it was the proof that there are no ‘wrong’ turns because that’s when you discover the most beautiful places that you didn’t even know existed.
The Capilano River is a good place to spot salmons swim upstream. There was an open visitor center and for me it was the first time seeing salmons literally jumping up the river. Along the river are some beautiful hiking trails, but unfortunately as I mentioned we didn’t have too much time. We only took a short walk around. It was slightly raining but the whole atmosphere was just so autumnal, cozy and peaceful which made the stop so worth it.

That’s the Capilano River where the salmons swim upstream

We hit the road and basically tried to find the American boarder for a good 2 hours. I lost total orientation and we all thought we were going south until we noticed we actually went the whole time into the wrong direction: north. We had some really good laughs because it was just so confusing with all the bridges and wrong turns BUT sooner as we knew we found ourselves waiting in line at the border again. This time we had some difficulties crossing due to some missing paper work. So we made an extra stop and had to go to an immigration building to get double checked until they finally understood that we all are legal and allowed to enter their country. We dropped off Bene and Julia, got some more fuel from the cheap gas station and left Mt. Vernon at 8:30 pm. Again it was dark, rainy and this time also fairly late so that I found it really exhausting driving back to Portland under these conditions. But with good chats and laughs I managed to stay awake and focused until I was back in my own bed at 1:30 am.

It was a long weekend with over 700 miles of driving but I think it was definitely worth it. Vancouver has a lot to offer and I am very certain that I just got a very quick first impression and that there is a lot more to experience. Since it is not too far away I am very sure to go back within the next year at some point.

Two things I loved about being in Canada:
1. Hello metric system! I loved not calculating and instead seeing signs in Kilometer, Celsius, Liter, Kilogram. A piece of home on the other side of the world!
2. The Canadian currency! I have never seen money that is so beautiful! The bills are all in different colors and have some really neat details and features like a little clear ‘window’. Comparing this to American Dollar (sorry USA) it is just so much more pretty.

Another thing that I would like to mention is that besides these two points above I can hardly tell a difference to the USA . I caught myself a few times saying or thinking ‘Ah these Americans‘ or ‘This is so typical American‘, when I saw something funny, weird or extraordinary. Until I noticed ‘Oh, hold on, I am actually in Canada‘. Same shops, restaurants, weather and atmosphere. I guess also the same language contributed to my feeling of only being in a different state or city than actually in another country. Maybe it’s a bit like traveling from Germany and Austria, I would say.

Au Revoir and Bye Bye
Anneke

We are in the middle of October which means fall is right here. Everyone was warning mean – September is probably already very rainy in Oregon, but when October starts it won’t stop and you won’t see the sun until April. Well, either I am just very, very lucky or I just brought the good weather with me. Either way: it has been a beautiful, sunny and golden fall, so far. Almost no rain and very mild temperatures. That gave me lots of energy to discover some places around Portland the last weeks without a gray haze surrounding the scenery.
Usually I don’t really enjoy fall. I love summer and I love christmas. After summer is over I feel a little bit depressed until I finally can hang up christmas decoration and sing christmas carols. This year it’s different and for the first time I see the appeal of fall. Colored trees, the sound of cracking leaves, the last shafts of sunlight, hot tea, hot chocolate, hot coffee, pumpkins all over, wearing scarves and boots (one of my favorite clothing items) as well as the cozy feeling of being inside when it gets darker, colder and more windy and rainy. All that made me feel very excited about the new season – no fall depression or anything like that!

Besides having the new discovered joy of fall inside me, actually a huge new and essential chapter of my USA stayed started September 30th: COLLEGE!
Yes, I am in my third week of being a college student at Marylhurst University. In an earlier blog post I already mentioned that I chose my classes already. There was a slight change though. Sociology class got canceled which means that I decided to take another class in the same type of field called ‘Making Ethical Decisions’. So my schedule looks like this now:

After two weeks of college I can certainly say that I enjoy it a lot!!! Each class is so interesting and I feel like I already learned so much. As you can see in my schedule these classes are not really related with what I am usually studying (tourism). So the human and culture studies are definitely something new and I am enjoying getting an inside view into a totally different field.

The Global Music class is super fun. We are listening to all kind of different music. We started off with music from Africa. The teacher is showing us different instruments, we are playing those, we are singing and just talk about musical differences in different cultures. I have always loved music so that is a fun class!

Music Department where I attend ‘Global Music’

Playing the balafon – an instrument from the Senegal & Gambia region

The other three classes are all quite similar, I think. We are basically sitting in class, talking about why humans are acting, living and being a certain way they are. We analyze this topic under different aspects.

Anthropology focuses on the study of human culture, its origins and history, and the different theories and methods used by anthropologists. The four major fields we are discussing are: cultural anthropology, physical anthropology, linguistics and archeology.

In the course ‘Making Ethical Decisions’ we examine ethical theories and models to see if any of the models serve personal needs. In this process, we are supposed to develop our own system for ethical decision making. We talk about the the central question: ‘What are the foundations of ethical human behavior?’ This is currently my favorite class although the reading is tough: Plato, Aristotle, Kant… But I am getting there!

Cultural and Visual studies focuses on understanding the complex social, ethical and political phenomena of contemporary life and past experiences. We discuss the effect that race, class, gender, nation and ideology have on the construction of meaning and identity in the contemporary global setting. So far we talked about nations, imperialism and how historic and political events influence cultures and with that, individuals.

Besides the class times (which are obviously not a lot, just 12 hours a week) it is a lot of reading, reading and reading at home. This is quite difficult because I heard from native English speaking class members they are already having trouble understanding Plato’s words. So for me it is even tougher because I have to understand the actual sense as well as the the English language. But I feel like it really demands my brain which is obviously really good and better than just being bored at class.
Marylhurst is a university for ‘grown ups’ – that’s how they advertise it. That is why many students are a lot older than I am and I do feel very young in many classes. I would guess there are students up in their 60s which makes it really interesting, especially in those classes where we discuss the sense of life. In all of my classes I am the only exchange student which is great having all native Americans around me. I hope this will help my English a lot, also the essays I have to write.
By the way, I am only auditing in all my classes. This means, in class I am a normal student, but I won’t take any tests and also won’t get a grade in the end of the semester. That way it was apparently a lot cheaper for my organization. I still have to do homework and participate actively in class.

So besides the new exciting college chapter I also got the chance to explore more of Portland and surrounding and had some pretty awesome experiences:

On September 27th, it was also time to explore some more of Portland. Actually it is weird, I have been living here for quite some time now but haven’t seen too much of the actual city yet. So it was about time to visit one of Portland’s most famous sights, the Rose Garden and Japanese Garden. To my surprise the Rose Garden was still covered with a lot of blooming flowers and blossoms. Portland’s nick name is ‘The Rose City’ and I definitely can tell why! In this specific garden they grow over 650+ different kinds of roses!!! Even though I am not the biggest fan of roses, there are definitely some very pretty ones and also the view over the city is really good.

Right next to the Rose Garden one can find the Japanese Garden. It is supposed to be the nicest and most authentic Japanese Garden outside of Japan and it is indeed very neat. I have been to a Japanese garden last year in The Hague, Netherlands, but this one here is definitely bigger and more ‘professional’. The place seems so inspiring and calming. Unfortunately it cost $7 to get in, otherwise I would love to go there more often to relax, mediate and follow my thoughts. It is open the whole year round and I can picture that it looks very different in every season, so I am sure I will come back at some point.

On September 28th, I had a beautiful afternoon in Lake Oswego. It is a city just north of West Linn where I live and right at the lake which is called Lake Oswego. So it is a lake and a village. That Sunday was one of these days when I didn’t feel too good and had the feeling of just getting outside to take care of myself to get into a better mood. And as a result, I have to say I cured myself very good at Lake Oswego: reading a book in the sun, having a delicious coffee and an incredible chocolate tarte at a French bakery called ‘Saint Honore’, taking a walk at the lake and watching the sun set right behind the lake and the woods. It was one of those days that was just good for my soul.

On October 3rd I went to see an ice hockey match for the very first time ever in my life. Very spontaneously we went to the ‘Moda Center’ in downtown Portland to watch some college ice hockey: Portland Winterhawks vs. Seattle Thunderbirds. The arena is quite big considering that it was ‘just’ a college ice hockey match. I had no idea about the rules or what was actually going on, but kindly I was explained the basic rules so it was easier to follow. It is such a quick game though. The puck is so small so you need to pay very good attention to follow it on the ice. I was also surprised by the aggression during the match. At some point there was a fight between two players. The referee was watching and as I heard those fights are just a normal part of the ice hockey sport. Oh well, interesting!
I was of course cheering for Portland, ‘my hometown’! Unfortunately they lost in the end. But it was very close. There was a tie after four quarters which led to a penalty shooting and eventually they lost. Bummer!

Hearing the American national anthem live for the first since I am here (on October 3rd, Germany’s national holiday – how ironic)

On Saturday, October 4th it was finally time to discover the Oregon coast!!! After seeing the Pacific Ocean on Hawaii it was time to see the counterpart from the very east side. The drive up to Cannon Beach is about two hours through the scenic woods of Oregon. There is actually another mountain range between Portland and the beach. This makes the ride feel confusing because you see mountains the whole time until only very briefly before arriving at the beach.
Cannon Beach is quite famous and popular in this region. Obviously on that beautiful Saturday afternoon many people came out to take a long walk at the beach. The village itself is very sleepy: just a few restaurants, cafes and shops, some neat apartments and small hotels. The village and the sea breeze reminded me a lot of places at the North Sea in the Netherlands, Denmark or even Germany.
The beach is so impressive!!! It is so wide and long. Even though there were many people it didn’t feel like it because they just spread all over the beach. The water was freezing but I still dipped my feed into the Pacific (unfortunately a huge wave came that moment so my pants were all wet up to my knees). But facing the beautiful sunshine it still invited us to take a very long walk at the beach. It was beautiful and I enjoyed that day so much. Although there was sunshine there were still lots of clouds in the mountains and fog over the ocean which made it all look very mysterious and special. At that point it was definitely very different to the North Sea or Atlantic Ocean in Europe.

The Woods of Oregon and Mount Hood

There were Tsunami evacuation signs all over the village, I had no idea that this might be a serious danger

As I mentioned earlier: fall arrived!!! And where can you get into a better fall mood than at a typical American pumpkin patch??
On Sunday, October 5th I went with my host family, their two Japanese exchange students (who just stayed with us for the weekend) and Philipp to the pumpkin patch on Sauvie Island just north of Portland. That day was actually so hot and bright sunshine – not a normal day in fall!
I never attend a pumpkin patch like that before so it was great fun: a hay ride, picking your own pumpkin from the field, an animal barn, a farmer’s market, all kind of food and a giant corn maze. It was the perfect family Sunday with sunshine, laughter and good company. I got my own pumpkin for just $3 which I think is a real bargain! It is currently waiting outside on the porch to get carved sometime soon, to get all ready and excited for Halloween!!!

This has been my little mid October and beginning of fall update. It’s crazy how fast time passes, thinking that it has been exactly 10 weeks now since I stepped into a huge airplane in Frankfurt. And this is still just the beginning. I am having a great time and with every morning I wake up, I feel a bit more comfortable and at home.

Anneke