Fall arrived in Oregon!

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