You cannot change the people around you
but you can change the people that you choose to be around.

The title already tells you what happened: I changed host families!

The process of changing has been a long one, at least in my head. I have lived with host families before and therefore know what it is like and what I can expect. I also know that when you decide to live abroad, one of the biggest challenges is probably living together with people who are total strangers to you in the beginning. This is an extreme situation and having in mind that every family is different, I did my best to accept and respect the host family’s choices.
From the very beginning it didn’t really work out with them in many different ways. The situation was never really bad either and that is probably why I stayed with them for exactly 7 months. Even though friends, co-workers and my parents in Germany (who saw the situation when they visited me) encouraged me and gave me the advice to change since months, I didn’t. I wanted to get through it, make the best out of this situation and therefore dealt with it.
Another import reason why I didn’t change was the fact that from my personal experience I know how difficult it is to find a new place to stay – especially in this area. This was one of the factors I didn’t ask my organization for help either and instead looked myself for solutions. German exchange students pay, compared to exchange students from other countries, a very low stipend. Therefore many host families prefer taking those who pay more, makes sense. In my opinion though one should decide to host students because of the international experience and the interest of learning about other cultures. But unfortunately this is in many cases not the reality here; people host because of the money.
Maybe some of you noticed that I was rarely ever talking about my host family on my blog and there is a simple reason for it: I wasn’t around them a lot. Of course we lived in one house but we barely saw, communicated or interacted with each other. I am a very social person. I like to hang out with people, talk and enjoy other’s company. Unfortunately this was not possible with this family. I don’t want to get into detail about why living with this family is absolutely not a suitable environment for exchange students, but there are serious issues concerning mental health, the housing and social situation; just to name a few reasons. This all added up to a long list of things which in the end convinced me to leave.

Even though I always had the idea of changing host families in the back of my head, I was never looking actively for it. But just like always: when you least expect it, it happens. In my case things changed literally from one day to the other.
On Friday, March 27th 2015, I hung out with Sarah who works for my old host mom. I have known Sarah already since September and we always got along really good. Since I started working though, we haven’t seen each other. So there was a lot we had to catch up on in each other’s life. She always knew about my living situation and after spending that afternoon together, she thought about it and spontaneously offered me to stay in her guest room. I didn’t have to think about it and only two days later, on Sunday, March 29th 2015, I moved houses! I didn’t only leave the host family behind but more important a lot of negativity.

A new chapter began!

It is amazing what a difference that change made to my stay here. Though I want to emphasize that I always enjoyed my stay here and had a great time, but now it is just so much better. I am looking forward going home, spending the weekends and my free time with them. But what is ‘home’ now?
For the upcoming months I will call a small cute house in the historic district of West Linn my home. It is around 10 minutes away from the house where I used to live and surrounded by very pretty old houses, close to the main street with small shops, restaurants and bars and only a few blocks away from the Tualatin River which flows here into the Willamette River. I don’t live on a steep hill anymore and actually can walk places.
But a lot more important than the location of the house are my new hosts! I am living together with a young, dynamic and lovely family of four. There is mom Sarah, her partner Matt, their son Ben who is 3 years old, Sarah’s son Tim, who is 7 years old as well as dog Izzy and cat Bo.
Sarah is only 31 years old and therefore she is more like a big sister or a friend than my ‘host mom’. They all gave me a great welcome and I feel so much more comfortable now. I am getting along great with the kids and I love having them around me. I am already thinking about how I can take little Ben with me to Germany. He is the cutest little boy (who of course he has his moments!).
I have a lovely room which I don’t spend a lot of time in anymore because I am hanging out with everyone in the living room and kitchen area. We are chatting, playing, cooking, eating and watching movies. All that seems so normal but it certainly was not normal for me in the past 7 months. Even though I am only here since three weeks, it feels like I have been with them for so much longer. I am so relieved and happy that I made this decision which will make the last months of my stay in Oregon one to remember. The situation couldn’t be better, I love my job and I love my host family. Looking back though, the negative experience with the old host family definitely taught me a lot and made me stronger. Again I feel like: Everything happens for a reason!

Fortunately I changed before the next big holiday came up: Easter. To me Easter is maybe not the most important holiday but still it is a day to spend together with family and celebrate a little bit. Of course it is even more fun celebrating Easter with kids around. Sunday morning Tim and Ben were super excited because – believe it or not – the Easter bunny dropped off two big baskets filled with little toys and lots of chocolate. What a lovely way to start the day!

Tim and Ben coloring Easter eggs

In the morning I skyped my family in Germany and this time it was extra special because I also got to see my grandma and my cousin Vanessa for the first time since I left. Catching up with everyone and seeing that they are all happy and bright as always, made it a little bit easier that I was not there with them in our house in Berlin. Tim and Ben were also around while we skyped and waved into the camera. For them it is of course so difficult to understand where I am from. Tim asked me how long it takes to drive to my home and I told him there was no road from Portland to Berlin. He just couldn’t believe it! I have no idea what they think where that girl with the funny accent comes from…  it is just too cute.

At noon we got ready to leave for the family event. Matt had to work, so it was only Sarah, the kids and myself. Sarah’s great-aunt lives far out in the countryside, about 45 minutes away from here, in the middle of nowhere. The elderly couple has a scenic wooden cabin in the forest right next to a river. Sarah introduced me to everyone and tried to explain how she is related to whom but seriously, coming from a very small family, this was overwhelming. There were so many aunts, cousins, grandparents, small kids, in-laws……… I was relieved though that even Sarah didn’t know everyone. The family was super nice and I felt very welcomed. Everyone contributed something to the big lunch buffet and before we started enjoying the food, we all stood together in a circle, held hands and prayed.
After the lunch the highlight of the day began: the traditional big Easter egg hunt!!! The property is really big and the Easter eggs were all over. Because of the high chance that not all eggs will be found, there were coins in the little plastic eggs instead of candy. I am pretty sure we did find some Easter eggs from previous years, considering what the plastic eggs and the coins looked like. The Easter bunny did a really good job hiding the eggs: on and in the ground, underneath bushes, on trees, somewhere in the underwood…..
The kids were super excited but the moment the hunt started, it didn’t only start raining – no, it started hailing!!! Sarah and Ben went on the hunt together and I helped Tim to find more eggs. Despite the hail (which hurt and was cold!), we had a great time and fun digging through the bushes and looking for those colorful eggs. Of course Ben didn’t like the weather at all and was quickly done with the hunt just like almost everyone else. Only Sarah, Tim and I kept looking for more eggs. Some kids showed up later and everyone helped each other. It was a very nice, peaceful and challenging hunt even for adults. When we were done, the kids opened their eggs and counted their money. Considering that the highest value of coins in the USA are 25 cents, the kids were not totally spoiled. Tim was pretty sure though that he will certainly be a millionaire within the next years! I am sure he will be – one day!
After spending a lot of time outside we warmed up inside, had some dessert, some nice chats and then it was already time to go home. It was definitely a wonderful Easter and a great first weekend with my new host family.

Waiting in line to get food

Let the Easter egg hunt in the hail begin

Sarah and Ben

What a combination, hail and daisies

Tim in the woods

Excitement looks slightly different…

Sarah and Tim looking for more eggs

Colored plastic eggs filled with coins

What’s inside?

In the end Sarah opened them all…

My new host family: Tim, Sarah and Ben

After all the excitement of moving, everything calmed down pretty quickly and I have a new daily routine and days in April passed by really fast. I was working, went to the movies with two of my co-workers, went out for drinks, looked around at garage sales with my host family, did some shopping, took walks, watched movies and TV shows (right now Sarah and I are obsessed with watching the reality TV show ‘Married at first sight’!!!) and just enjoyed a normal everyday life. Something I haven’t had to this extend in a long time.
In the mornings when I am leaving for work little Ben is the sweetest thing on earth. The other day he was standing on the window, waving goodbye until he couldn’t see me anymore. And when I get home from work the two little monkeys already wait right behind the front door, jumping up and down, the dog Izzy is as always all over the place, Sarah is preparing dinner and I feel like there are people actually caring about me. Overall I am just enjoying it to the fullest. Although now I need to pay more attention of my personal belongings – either the two year old dog will chew on it or the three year old Ben will always find a reason to do something with it. 😉

Building tracks and trains with Ben

My new home. The window next to the front door on the right is my room and you can spot Ben in his room on the very right side

Waving goodbye before I leave for work

On Sunday, April 12th, I went to see a soccer match!
A soccer match? YES, finally soccer! I have been to all kind of sporting events the past months which I always enjoyed but I still like watching soccer the most. I know all the rules, I can actually follow the match and it only lasts 90 minutes (okay with overtime maybe 96 minutes), but you know that in foreseeable future the game is over (not like American football or baseball…).
My college coordinator Rahi kindly provided us with tickets for the match Portland Timbers vs. Orlando Lions. Compared to other regions of the USA soccer and of course especially the Timbers are quite popular here in Portland and people are interested in watching it. Their home stadium is an old Baseball stadium right in the city center, the ‘Providence Park’. It was built in the early 20th century and today up to 20.000 fans can cheer for their team. This is of course fairly small compared to some European stadiums but considering that soccer only got more popular the last few years it’s quite big. One thing that is very special about the Portland Timbers: their fans, the Timbers Army.
Again to Europeans this doesn’t sound very special because every soccer club has their own, sometimes very dedicated, fans with season tickets who attend every match and live for their team. This might also exist in the USA but it doesn’t that they gather all together in one section of the stadium and encourage their teams by singing songs, showing scarves, throwing confetti, waving flags and doing so called ‘Tifo’ which are the huge visual displays (everyone is holding a specific color to make a whole big picture). All these are things almost no other supporter group in the US does but the Portland Timbers Army. They are nationally well known for all that.
We didn’t have assigned seats but the section we were in, was right above the Timbers Army! That way we could watch them and caught the special atmosphere. It was great and so different to all the other American sporting events.
The match itself though was a bit boring. It was neither fast nor exciting. Both teams met in the middle almost the whole time and so there were not even many chances for either team to score. In the 30th minute Orlando scored the first goal. Bummer. Nothing really happened then for a long time but then it got a bit tense in the 85th minute. Portland’s keeper Kwarasey was called for a foul in the box which gave Orlando a penalty kick. The first attempt was saved but Portland’s player Chara was entering the box to early which lead to another attempt for Orlando. This time there was no chance for Kwarasey to save the ball. The match ended 2-0. Very disappointing for Portland and especially for us since it was our first Timber’s match. We didn’t get the chance to see how the Timbers Army celebrates a goal but I hope that we will get the chance to watch another match before we leave.

Main entrance

Before the game, the national anthem

Everyone standing up during the national anthem

Red is Portland, white Orlando. On the very left you can see Brazilian player Kaka who was the only player I have heard of before

The match began

Timbers Army

Oops, yellow card!

Penalty shot #1

Penalty shot #2

Wavong flags and the only photo where you can kind of see the stadium

Last weekend has been the first weekend that is worth calling SUMMER! Although it’s only spring the temperatures went as high as 80 degrees (25° Celsius) with pure sunshine. I spend the weekend with my host family and enjoyed experiencing normal life with an American family while hanging out with them. We went to garage sales which are all over these days and made some pretty good deals. We cooked together, spent time in the sun and got a lot of gardening done. The family has a great big garden with some high shady trees but also enough sunny spots to grow fruits and vegetables. We got rid of all the weeds and Sarah planted peas, green beans, onions, chives, thyme, oregano, beets, squash, zucchini, strawberries and even watermelon and cantaloupe! With the warm and sunny weather now and the rain that is coming up everything should grow pretty fast. We are excited!

The little vegetable and fruit garden

The dog Izzy chews on EVERY ball!

Blowball or in German: Pusteblume

On Sunday, April 19th, we went to the Oswego Hills Winery. I have passed this vineyard already so many times, heard many locals raving about it and now it was finally time to go there. Sarah, Ben and myself plus our neighbor Michelle with her two twin boys Texas and Wyatt went to spend a nice time together. The winery is located idyllically in the countryside between West Linn and Lake Oswego. There is a big lawn area on the vineyard property where all the families made picnics. We brought fruits, crackers and cheese, the kids were running around and played with each other and the adults could taste wine at the same time. Everyone seemed to have a great Sunday!
The Oswego Hills Vineyard offers 13 wines – which we all got to taste in the hot midday sun. We had so much fun together and after the 5th wine it got more and more difficult to objectively judge which wines tasted better than others. They all seemed to be just great hahaha. We got to taste everything from white to rose and red to dessert wine. Having the wines, the sun, delicious snacks and the lovely ladies around to chat made this a perfect Sunday noon. We all agreed that we should do this more often since it is so close, affordable and a great experience for the whole family.

Picnics at the Winery

Vine

Let the tasting begin

That’s the complete list. I tried them all from Pinot Gris all the way to Tempranillo Port

Michelle, Sarah and myself

The boys fooling around

Taking a good picture with a toddler is almost impossible

Another try…

In the afternoon we picked up Tim who usually spends his weekends with his dad up in Vancouver, Washington which is just north of Portland. On our way back we passed IKEA and spontaneously decided to stop and have a look around. I am always in for a visit at IKEA and being that far away from home this shop always gives me a strange homey feeling. It’s certainly very weird but I absolutely love it anywhere in the world. We were hunting for patio furniture. Since summer is coming very soon and we will be outside a lot more Sarah thought this would be really useful for example to eat dinners outside. Fortunately IKEA did not disappoint and Sarah immediately found something she liked. Of course it was no problem for us two strong women to lift the 85 pound package, get it to the checkout and somehow also managed to put it in the car. The boys were a bit squeezed in, but we made it! At home we built it all up in no time and were super proud of ourselves. Project patio – successfully accomplished!

Tim and Ben at IKEA

Done! The patio furniture we built together and the lovely garden in the background

Look at those two enjoying their dinner at their special table

Living with Sarah and her family now for 3 weeks already had such an impact on my life here. I am beyond excited to spend the next months with them and I hope you got already an idea in this blog post how different it is: I actually spend time with my host family! It’s fantastic! Thank you Sarah, for everything.

Anneke

March is over and April as well as spring is in full progress. As I mentioned many times before, the winter here in Oregon has been amazing and probably my second warmest after the one I spent in Spain. Who would have thought?! I am enjoying the time in the sun, exchanged my boots into lighter shoes, carry my sunglasses with me wherever I am going and do long walks around my neighborhood. West Linn is a very wealthy one and just strolling down the streets, looking at the amazing properties and being outside became one of my favorite things to do. So here I am sitting in a cafe after a long walk, drinking a cup of coffee and writing this long update. Leaving the car at home more often is not only good for the environment and my conscience but also leaves more money in my wallet! Today I would like to tell you about the things I have experienced in February and March. It has been very eventful and yet another lovely chapter of my year abroad in Oregon.

On February 22nd Stephanie, Philipp’s host mom was celebrating her birthday. Therefore we all went to Hood River, a small town at the Columbia Gorge. From there the small ‘Hood River Train’ leaves for a 4-hour panoramic tour around the Hood River Valley. During the whole train ride one has amazing views to the iconic Mountain Hood. That day it was quite chilly but sunny and clear which gave us perfect opportunities to take photos. The train itself was one of those older, very slow and idyllic ones. We had an one hour lunch break in the small town of Parkdale where we took some of the following photos. On the way back they set up a little show – a time travel to the eighteen hundreds. There was the Sheriff who was singing songs on his guitar to win the heart of a woman and a Magician tried to gamble with money while hiding his illegal business from the Sheriff. They were all volunteers and no professionals but did a great job. It was good entertainment during the train ride since it went back the exact same way.

Fruit trees in the Hood River Valley

Mt. Hood with the Hood River Train

Our international group: A Japanese exchange student, Stephanie, Philipp, myself & an exchange student from Qatar

If I created a mountain, it would look exactly like this!

I was there !

Inside the train: the Magician and the Sheriff

The day before, Saturday February 21^st, we fulfilled for once the duties of being a young ambassador of Germany and the CBYX program. We met our Congressman Kurt Schrader who represents the 5^th district of Oregon in Washington D.C. The state of Oregon is divided into 5 same sized districts (by population) in the Congress. On the German side we have our ‘Bundestagsabgeordneten’ who supports us and on the American side the Congressman is the equivalent. Our organization recommended getting in touch with our representative and so we took the opportunity to meet Mr. Kurt Schrader at a penal discussion in the city hall of Lake Oswego. Around 50 people showed up and listened to him talking about the duties and topics he is dealing with in Washington. After 30 minutes the audience was able to ask questions.

When we entered the room in the beginning, everyone got a number and 10 of those were drawn. Well turns out we were one of the lucky ones… Actually we only came to listen and maybe to introduce ourselves afterwards, but there was nothing we really wanted to ask. But there it was: our chance to ask the Congressman a question, in front of the audience. Philipp and I quickly debated if we really should say something or just pass on the microphone, but then we thought: How often in life do you get the chance to do something like that? So we stood up, took the microphone, introduced ourselves, informed him about the CBYX program and the current developments. The American Congress cut 50% of the money for the program which is now covered by the German Bundestag. We simply wanted to know his opinion about it since we think that the Americans do not feel the need of supporting the program anymore which was initiated to strengthen the cooperation between our two countries. Well turns out he has never even heard about the program before! Of course he was polite and tried to make a statement without really saying anything (I guess this is one of the necessary tools if you are a politician). To say it really flat, he just wasn’t interested at all and only said ‘Oh yes, I will pass on this information’. It was quite a disappointment for us but we tried our best. We wanted to take a picture with him afterwards but at sharp 10:00 o’clock he left the room quickly and never appeared again. This whole meeting with Mr. Schrader, a democrat by the way, didn’t give the best picture of him and we were a bit disappointed. Oh well we tried!

Kurt Schrader

A weekend later my German partners-in-crime, Korbi and Philipp, and I attended a very American event: The Professional Bull Riders Battle. Throughout the whole year the bull riders travel through the US and have their event each time in a different city. This time all bull riders and bulls came to Portland, Oregon. Luckily we had free tickets and really good seats which made it easier to follow the event from very close up.

In previous blog posts I always mentioned how progressive and liberal Portland is, compared to other American cities I have been to before. That evening was very different though and showed me a new side of Oregon. I felt like I was all of a sudden transferred back into a small town somewhere in the Midwest. As far as I could see, the Moda Center was filled with cowboys and cowgirls wearing cowboy hats, cowboy boots and plaid shirts. Before the event started the American national anthem was played which is obviously very normal. But after that something surprising happened that I haven’t experienced here yet: a long prayer was spoken. They honored their troops and emphasized how proud they were to be American, to live in the land of the free. Everyone was yelling in agreement and was filled with national pride. For us Germans this was rather strange and we were impressed of the new side of Oregon. Even though Portland seems dynamic, European and open-minded on the surface, one shouldn’t forget that this is still part of the USA. Just outside of the urban metropolitan area of Portland, especially further east, farms, agriculture and logging characterize the region. People living in that kind of rural area tend to be rather traditional and conservative; and exactly these persons came to see the bull riding event that night. Very interesting!

The event itself was very entertaining and something I have never seen. Before the show started the riders were introduced and walked into the arena like heroes or gladiators, surrounded by fire and a yelling crowed. For one and a half hours we watched around 25 cowboys trying to stay on very stubborn bulls for at least 8 seconds. In the end Luis Blanco from Texas won the contest and 6.550 Dollars. Why it was him that won – we actually don’t really know. But it also didn’t matter because it was just fun! My favorite person of the event was the one cowboy on his horse though. His task was to catch the bulls with his lasso when they didn’t go back into their stable. He was probably the coolest guy I have seen in a long time – just like the movies!!!

Look at him!

Let the show begin!

There he goes…

It was really difficult taking pictures, they were just so fast

The coolest cowboy!

The bull had no chance!

The proud winner and whoever all the other guys are…

After the event we made our way back to my car. Usually I leave it in one of those guarded parking lots, but this time I decided to park it on a small street right behind the Moda Center instead. Probably also the last time! When I saw my car, I couldn’t believe what I saw. Someone broke the back window on the passenger side!!!

Turns out that somebody just seemed to have a glorious time, breaking several car windows along that one street. I didn’t really know what to do but another victim told me to call the police. They only gave me the advice to go home and fill out a form online. So I made my way home with one missing window but at least it didn’t rain. I was quite worried that this would be another big expense but fortunately my insurance covered some of the costs.

The next morning I worked it out myself! I grabbed some plastic foil, duct tape and tried my best to ‘close’ the window. I felt so embarrassed, driving around with that kind of car – but oh well, another experienced. After 5 days of having a semi-closed car, the mobile service of a car glass repairing service showed up at my work and fixed the broken window as well as cleaned everything up within one hour. Now it looks like nothing ever happened. I was also very glad that it got fixed because now I could sing as loud as I wanted again in my car – surely that was the part that sucked most only having a window made out of plastic foil 😉 It just seems like my car and I are going through every possible situation there is…

First impression

Fortunately I didn’t have anything in the car besides those old maps

I think I did quite a good job considering I did it all by myself!

March 5^th 2015 was a day I couldn’t wait for, a day I was counting down to ever since I knew what was going to happen: MY BEST FRIEND MARIE (often referred to as Ise) CAME TO VISIT ME!!!!! We haven’t seen each other in over 7 months and I was so excited that she took the long flight and journey, just to visit me.

That Thursday I was working and in the afternoon at 3 o’clock she finally made it after a 20 hour journey from Berlin via Amsterdam and Seattle to Portland. The minutes waiting there at the airport just before seeing her were so exciting and I couldn’t wait to finally have her here. And there she was! It has been way too long, especially since we couldn’t talk as regularly as we wanted to due to her work schedule and the time difference, but now we had 18 days to make up for all of that! Not only I could show her my normal life here, but we also had enough time to travel and explore new things together.

There she is – I saw her, but she didn’t see me yet 🙂

Reunited!

The first week we stayed around West Linn and Portland. We got the chance to attend another Basketball game, this time Portland Trail Blazers vs. Dallas Mavericks. Portland dominated and won 94 – 75. At least I didn’t expect that to happen!

We went Downtown, did some shopping, drank lots of coffee, went out for breakfast and dinner, I took her to my work and we just had a lovely time together.

Before the game, the national anthem

Portland Trail Blazers – Dallas Mavericks

And there he was, Germany’s most famous basketball player: Dirk Nowitzki

Trail Blazers won again!!!

The first weekend we went to the Oregon Coast. Philipp’s host mom Stephanie took us with her because she shares a beach house down in Yachats on the central Oregon Coast. It was such a beautiful, sunny weekend that we got to enjoy the beauty of this region. We heard people saying that they have never experienced a March that warm, mild and sunny ever in Oregon. We visited Newport and Lincoln City, two cute seaside towns where we soaked up the sun and enjoyed ourselves.

Ready for the roadtrip to the Oregon Coast

Beach of Yachats

Harbor of Newport, Oregon

There were soooo many sea lions in that little bay – and those animals are surprisingly noisy!

And they kind of smell, but there is something about them that I really like…

… Maybe because they are just so lazy and are hanging out all day long. How comfi they look!

Beach of Newport, Oregon. Everyone who now thinks ‘Mmh that looks like the North Sea in Denmark or the Netherlands’ – I totally agree!

Little Ise and myself

Outlook at Depoe Bay

So apparently this is where Lewis and Clark arrived after their long expedition in 1805

Beach of Lincoln City

I was lucky enough to take a few days off work which gave us even more time to hang out together. That way Ise also didn’t have to stay all by herself at my house. On Marie’s second weekend in Oregon, Thursday, March 12^th we started our 5-day road trip to Washington. The actual plan was to go to Vancouver, Canada but turns out the Canadian border control has stricter rules from 2015 on. I didn’t get my visa approved in time which made us change plans spontaneously. We decided to discover more of Oregon’s neighboring state, Washington.

We started off by visiting Mount St. Helens. It is actually quite close to Portland and on clear sunny days you can also see it from here. It looks very special and different than Mt. Hood because it doesn’t have a pointed top, anymore. After the big eruption in 1980 parts of the mountain collapsed and the two earthquakes did not only change the form of the mountain but also it’s surrounding. 3,000,000 m3 of material was transported 30 km south into the Columbia River! Those volcanic mudflows are rivers today. We drove around the volcano and looked at the stunning landscape. It was so calm and peaceful. One could never imagine that exactly 35 years ago there was such a big eruption that affected the whole region and caused 57 people their lives.

See the fog or dust on the lake and the litle island?

Yale Lake

I don’t have words for that – stunning!

The river that used to be a mudflow

Looong roads but in the end it was too cloudy to see Mt. St. Helens

We continued our trip to Olympia, the state capitol of Washington. It is a cute small town with many nice little shops, cafes and restaurants. It reminded me a lot of Oregon’s capitol Salem – only that Olympia is prettier but also smaller.

Olympia is located at the Budd Inlet, an arm of the Puget Sound

You can see the Washington’s Capitol in the background

In the afternoon we reached Seattle where we stayed two nights. That gave us enough time to explore the city. It was my second time in Seattle and I have to say that I enjoyed it a lot more this time. It was sunny, warm and the vibe was just so different. I was there right before Christmas with my parents and there it was the complete opposite, very rainy and dull which made me see a lot more negative things like the massive amount of homeless people. Obviously they were still there but sunshine lets everything appear in a better light. Seattle is a lot bigger and more metropolitan than Portland. There are more things to see and do and even just walking through downtown is more like walking through a big city with the traffic and the kind of shops. There is a different vibe than in the slower and smaller Portland. To me Portland is like the little yet a bit crazy brother of Seattle. They do have things in common but then you can’t really compare them at all. One thing that I like a lot better about Seattle is the waterfront. In Portland we only have the brown and murky Willamette River and this is what we call the Waterfront. Seattle is located at the Puget Sound which is an arm of the Pacific Ocean. There are several nice islands in the bay and a big harbor. Everything just seems bigger and more sophisticated.

One thing I never realized about Seattle, it is a very hilly city, despite being so close to the water. Therefore maps are quite confusing. Everything looks super close and just a few blocks away, well but then you need to bypass a couple of hills. The Pike Place Market for example seems like it is right next to the Waterfront. Well it is but there is a big difference in altitude. You need to climb up countless stairs to get from the Waterfront to the famous market.

We did our Seattle sightseeing by strolling down the streets and visited the famous Pike Place Market, the Space Needle (we didn’t go up, I have been up there with my parents but it is so expensive and I am not really sure if it is worth it), the old Pioneer Square and the Waterfront. We also took a ferry over to Brainbridge Island which was really cool. We had a great view at Seattle’s skyline. The island itself is also really pretty though this time of the year still a bit sleepy.

We stayed in a very pretty Air B’n’B in West Seattle which was only 10 minutes away from downtown by bus. I really enjoyed Seattle and Ise also liked it a lot.

Sunset in Seattle

Seattle with an overload of S-U-N !!!!

How gorgeous does the Seattle harbor look in the sun?

Historic District

Random little waterfall in the city center

The famous Pike Place Market with many daffodils on the roof

Inside the Pike Place Market

Taking a small break from sightseeing

Space Needle!!! Can you spot little Ise?

On the ferry to Brainbridge island

Portland has Mt. Hood and Seattle, Mt. Rainier

#selfie

Seattle skyline by night

We continued our road trip further up north on Saturday. The next stop was the big Seattle Premium Outlet on Interstate 5. I loved it when I was there in December, so I got Ise all excited but once we were there it was so disappointing. There was nothing we really liked, fairly expensive and in the end we didn’t buy anything.

We passed Mount Vernon and left the Interstate 5 right behind Burlington to drive up the scenic Highway 11 called ‘Chuckanut Drive’. We drove along the Bellingham Bay and had great views in the afternoon sunshine. It was beautiful! The ocean, the forest, the little islands and the idyllic winding road – wow!

Our final destination that day was Bellingham, a city almost right at the border to Canada and new home of one other CBYX participant, my friend Insa. I already met her at the preparation camp in Germany, then in Berlin to apply for our visa and then in New York of course. It was great seeing her again and catching up on everything. Her host family kindly let us stay with her that night. In the evening we had a little German party at her house. Insa also invited her college coordinator who is originally from Germany as well as Benedict and Julia from the CBYX program who came up from Mt. Vernon. Insa’s host mom prepared Schnitzel and all of us got super excited about this German dinner! The evening was so much fun and we all had a great time catching up on what has happened the past few months – obviously there was a lot to tell!!!

– – – I have no idea why I didn’t take one single picture in Bellingham; I guess I was too distracted!!! – – –

In the morning Insa showed us rainy Bellingham and we got an idea of what her new home is like. We left Bellingham Sunday noon in the pouring rain to drive to the Olympic Peninsula.

The Olympic Peninsula is famous for 3 things:

1. It is the wettest place on continental USA.
2. It has one of the only rainforests in the northern hemisphere (because of the massive amount of rain and the mild temperatures)
3. It is the area where the Twilight Saga plays (again because of the massive amount of rain… apparently vampires can’t live at a place with too much sun!)

To make clear what I mean by massive amount of rain, I rather let numbers talk: 120 inches (3050 mm) of rainfall every year!!! In Berlin we have 23 inches (590 mm) a year. That means it is 5 times wetter than it is in Berlin – and we all know how rainy Berlin can be. Just imagine that, times 5. Unbelievable! So it was just appropriate that it rained the day we traveled there!

To reach the Olympic Peninsula we drove down to Coupeville from where we took a ferry to Port Townsend. We were quite late to catch the ferry and the guy who sold the tickets told us that we might miss this one and in that case had to wait for 2 hours. We were in line with all the other cars in front of us. The ferry got loaded with cars and was at some point all filled up. We prepared ourselves to spend 2 hours in the rain in Coupeville – but all of the sudden there was still one space left for my little car and we got on the ferry. How lucky!!! The ferry took us within only 20 minutes to Port Townsend.

Deception Pass State Park

Lucky last spot on the ferry

Leaving Coupeville

This city is according to many people as well as my tour guide a very neat place on the Olympic Peninsula. Of course it still rained, but it was indeed very nice. Port Townsend is a very small town with an absolutely gorgeous main street; tiny independent shops, plenty of restaurants and beautiful old houses. We ended up having a good ol’ big burger in an American diner and afterwards a hot coffee in a cozy café at the waterfront.

Port Townsend

Yummy!

Cute little shops on the main street – in the rain

Under Town in Port Townsend with craft shops down there

Underground passage – only place in town where it was dry!

The café ‘Better living through Coffee’ was packed on that Sunday afternoon. It is located right at the Port Townsend Bay. Outside it was just grey, rainy and dull but inside people gathered, chatted, laughed and an open fiddle group played folk music. We listened, sipped our delicious coffee and enjoyed the cheerful atmosphere. It was one of those moments where everything seemed to be just perfect. I felt so happy, satisfied and overall comfortable. There is no better feeling than realizing that you are in the right place at the right time.

Listening to this open fiddle group …

… while having delicious coffee

With a warm feeling we headed to our final destination for the day: Port Angeles. For those of you who know the Twilight Saga, this might sound familiar. This town is mentioned a few times in the books and movies. It did not stop raining, and again by rain I don’t mean a little drizzle but actually pouring rain.

We stayed the night from Sunday to Monday in Port Angeles. We reserved two beds in a very small cute hostel called ‘Toad Lily House’. There were only 3 other guests but one of those was, of course, a German girl. You just meet those Germans everywhere… With every hour that passed the rain continued and continued. We felt like doing something but it was just too cold and wet to do anything. So we just drove around, walked around a very trashy Walmart, got a bottle of Coca Cola, Cracker and Donuts. The evening ended in our bunk beds, playing our favorite game ‘Kniffel’ and eating the nutritious dinner we bought at Walmart. It felt like we are 8 years old and on a school trip somewhere in Brandenburg hahaha.

That’s how I remember Port Angeles

The tiny hostel in Port Angeles

Leaving Port Angeles… All of the sudden we spotted some snow?!

The next morning we woke up to something very surprising: SUNSHINE! The sun shone right into the window and besides the huge puddles on the streets there was no evidence of the heavy rain anymore. We had a long drive in front of us that’s why we left Port Angeles pretty early. The road and landscape between Port Angeles and Forks is probably one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. Especially the winding street around Lake Crescent surrounded by the never ending forests was breathtaking.

Even though Marie and I are not huge Twilight fans – Marie has never even watched or read it – we still visited La Push and Forks. La Push is the largest community within the Quileute Indian Reservation and home to the Quileute tribe, located at the Pacific Ocean. The beach and the landscape (I know it’s getting boring) were terrific! The town itself though was something I have never seen before: dirty, destroyed, weathered sheds, odd people wandering around and simply one doesn’t felt welcomed. It is a place where we left the car for a photo stop but then made sure to leave again quickly.

Promising welcome sign

Beautfiful beach in La Push!

Me trying to get a good picture. See yourself how it turned out…

Not too bad, I think 🙂

Lovely La Push

A place you really want to stay…

I am not surprised that they didn’t shoot the Twilight La Push scenes here!

Forks is kind of the same story minus the cool beach and coastline. There is nothing to see or do. Even though it became world famous through Stephanie Meyer’s books, not one scene of the movie was ever shot in Forks. Ironically most of the scenes were filmed in the Portland area. Again, we only made a quick stop at Forks’ visitor center where we saw Bella’s red truck, chatted to some older ladies who where super excited to have visitors from Germany and took some pictures for the photo album.

Twilight fans should get excited

The treaty line between the werewolves and the vampires!

Downtown Forks

Bella’s truck!!!!

Inside the visitor center

Jump! (And this worked after the first try!)

Love that photo!!!

Back on the road we enjoyed the National Park passing by… Unlike the day before, we saw all the ‘vampire’ places and the whole peninsula in pretty good weather or at least not rain. We made a few stops along the way but actually you need a lot more time than we had. To get the real experience one should go for a long hike in the woods. Unfortunately we didn’t have enough time and therefore just drove down Highway 101. I still love the thought that if we kept going we ended up in southern California! While driving down the long and never ending road, we sang as beautiful as we could, laughed as hard as possible and just had the bestest time. In Aberdeen we felt like we finally made it back to civilization and at that point I was in good need of a coffee. From there we continued back home to West Linn and ended the day with watching Twilight – there was just no other way!

Never ending roads…

Ruby Beach

The beautiful rough Pacific Ocean

Nature!

Driving down the 101!

Beautiful Olympic Peninsula

Made it back to civilization! Obviously this is in Washington since had to get the gas ourselves… One reason I love Oregon: There is always someone who will fill up your gas!

On Wednesday March 18^th we had a big event at work! This year my company celebrates their 50^th anniversary!!! That is of course reason enough to invite all our clients as well as some business partners and have a party at the office. Everyone got already really excited the days before. We prepared everything and made the office look as neat as possible… At 4 o’clock in the afternoon we were ready and waited for people to show up and to share with them snacks, the big cake as well as delicious mango and cranberry Mimosas. More people than expected joined us and everyone had a fantastic time chatting with clients and catching up with representatives of other tourism companies. For me it was great to meet all these new and interesting people that my co-workers introduced me to. It was also nice that all of our outside agents came who usually work from home.

My co-workers made me feel so comfortable and like a full member of ‘Team Julie’ – how they call themselves. Also my personal, freshly new printed nametag helped to make me feel like I was not only an intern for 6 months but part of it all. I enjoyed that evening a lot. My little heart was filled with so much joy and I felt so very grateful for this experience. I can’t believe how lucky I am that I got this job with the most caring co-workers on earth. I was also glad that Marie was here and got to share this special night with me.

Let the big celebration start!

Me and my nametag 😉

The bar in the office with my lovely co-workers Fiona, Melinda and Hollis

Cheeky as always, Mariiiieeee 😉

To me, typical American snacks

Look at these fabulous travel agents (plus me)

Having a really good time with our Mimosas

And here we have the whole team! Front row: Michelle, Melinda & Debbie Back row: Carolyn, Kim, Hollis, Sandi, Michelle, Myself, Jamie, Fiona & Gail

Marie’s last weekend in Oregon was another really great one: we went shopping at the Woodburn Outlet Mall (where she was really successful this time), we got to see the Portland Saturday Market, had brunch in Southeast Portland, had a party night in Oregon City and a lovely day trip to Multnomah Falls and Mt. Hood!

For that trip, we chose the perfect day: bright sunshine and clear skies. We visited Multnomah Falls where I have been once before, but this time we made a little hike up to the waterfall. I think the hike itself wasn’t actually that long, around 2 miles, but it was steep uphill and to be honest we didn’t expect that and were not really prepared for it either. Halfway through we thought about just going back ‘Agh I am sure we won’t miss anything from that outlook platform anyway…’ But we took the challenge and hiked to the end. In the end the outlook was not too impressive but it still felt great that we made it up to the top!

My room, my very messy room – but ready to go for a day trip!

Columbia Gorge

Multnomah Falls

Look at all the shades of green

Little creek

Made it to the top of the waterfall – look how happy we are!

We passed Hood River, the Columbia Gorge and took the same route to Mt. Hood I went on back in November with Philipp (Remember that time when we were almost lost in the snow?!). This time everything was different! The Hood River Valley was about to bloom and the views to Mt. Hood were stunning. It was hard for me to keep my eyes on the road – I just love this mountain. There were so many great opportunities to take pictures and I am sure after staying in Portland for 11 months I can fill a whole photo album only with pictures of Mt. Hood from every possible perspective. This time there was no snow on the road which made it possible to even go all the way up to the Timberline Lodge.

The Timberline Lodge is a huge and historic ski resort at 6000 feet of Mount Hood, right in the middle of the ski region. Up there has been some snow, but as you can see on the following pictures not a lot and even that snow was old, gray and slushy. Locals complain that this has been one of the worst snow seasons in a very long time. Usually it is no problem to ski in the summer time on the glacier, but this year there was hardly any good snow in March left. Hello global warming! A few lifts were still operating and we spotted a handful of skier and snowboarder but a fun day in the snow definitely looks different!

The hotel itself is beautiful: a wooden, old building with a big cozy fireplace in the middle of the lodge. It is the ideal place to rest after you have been out skiing in the cold. Great location!

Highway 35 around Mt. Hood

Just can’t get enough

Timberline Lodge

Cozyness in the Timberline Lodge

Main floor in the Timberline Lodge

Not even the snow cannon can make a change anymore

They do have all the infrastructure

I have never been that casual in the middle of a ski slope

Brave snowboarders taking the challenge

This just looks so sad…

Then all of a sudden and way too fast the moment came we tried not to think about. On Monday, March 23^rd, a rainy and dull day in Portland, I had a last coffee and big laugh with my bestest little Ise… another goodbye for at least 5 months. The time has been absolutely incredible and I am so thankful that she was here and I was able to show her everything of my new everyday life in Oregon. Danke für alles und besonders für die Prinzenrolle und die ganzen unvergesslichen Momente #kleenerumwegüberdowntown #diebeidenunheimlichsüßen

Goodbye Ise!! I miss you already!!!

Again this has been a very long catch up and I am already way behind because there was a major positive change in my exchange year. Easter happened last weekend and lots of other fun things are coming up soon. But this will make a new post! Until then I am sending lots of love to everyone and thumbs up to all of you who made to the end of this!

Anneke