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

I am still more than excited to tell you that I was hearing and using these words a lot last week. For those of you who don’t know what it means: it is ‘Hello’ and ‘Thank You’ in Hawaiian. Get it? YES, I went to Hawaii last week!
How crazy is that? After dreaming of these islands since I was very little and having a serious phase of only eating ‘Pizza Hawaii’ whenever we had pizza when I was around 12 years old, I got the great opportunity to travel to the 50th state of the USA!
You can read in my last blog post that I was a busy bee during my first two weeks here in Portland and got all my obligatory work done. Also I had another 2 weeks until my college started, so I told myself or rather talked myself into it: ‘You deserved it’ or better ‘You will probably never be this close to Hawaii ever again, so go!’.
I planned with my dear fellow companions Philipp and Korbi probably one of our most spontaneous and exciting trips ever. On a casual Monday night we booked a flight to Honolulu and a hostel in Waikiki, Oahu – Hawaiians 3rd biggest island.

6 hours south-west to paradise! (That’s not the price I paid though)

Oahu, Hawaii. The places in red letters are those I visited and mentioned here

The nonstop flight with Alaska Airlines (how ironic!) was already the first highlight. The flight attendant’s uniforms was covered by the typical Hawaiian flower print and they also wore the flower necklaces. After a couple of ‘Aloha, you are flying to paradise’ announcements and seeing the Pacific Ocean for 6 hours straight, I recognized on the horizon land: Hawaii – the islands I was dreaming of.

Downtown Portland

Blue, Blue, Blue: The Pacific Ocean

First glimpse of Oahu

Honolulu

How cool is this airport???

Landscape of Oahu, you can recognize the former volcano

At the airport. Instead of getting the flower necklaces like in the movies, you can purchase them from a fridge 🙂

Some people recommended me to rather not to stay at Honolulu’s most famous district, Waikiki Beach, because it doesn’t show the most beautiful side of Oahu. But we still decided to book our accommodation there, simply because the price was affordable compared to other places.
Our hostel, the Waikiki Beachside Hostel’ was definitely a good choice. We stayed in a mixed 4-bed dorm which was clean and very simple. Plain light blue walls, 4 beds, 4 chairs and a table that was attached to the wall. That’s it. Oh and a good working air-condition, at least in one of the two rooms. The hostel was just one block away from the beach and had some good features like breakfast, free snorkeling equipment and an own surfboard and bike rental service.
After just spending a few hours at Waikiki Beach I agreed with the advices I got before, this is not the Hawaii I have been dreaming of. Although the weather was great and the Pacific was turquoise with big long waves, it was clouded by a massive amount of tourists, chunky skyscraper hotels, McDonald’s, Subway and Burger King which are located directly at the ocean side as well as a super fancy shopping street.

Waikiki Beach!

The water was so rough, but perfect for surfing I guess

Great working construction

Look at all these hotels… ocean view guaranteed

Looking at the beautiful Pacific

Such a cool tree

In between all the hotels, I spotted this pretty house

Waikiki Bay. The mountain In the background is ‘Diamond Head’

Can’t escape the Oktoberfest, not even in Hawaii

Surf legend in Waikiki

Pretty little waterfall in Waikiki between beach and the main street Kalakaua Avenue

White Plumeria growing casually next to the street

Just a few hours after our arrival I took my very first swim in the Pacific ever. The thought of it made me feel so excited and I enjoyed it so much. But the joy was not for too long. I think only a few people know that the beach at Waikiki is not all fine white sand. Actually right where the water starts, the sand is covered by rocks and reefs, which I can tell you from my own experience are very painful on your feet. Later on though I saw that further west the beaches are a bit different in Waikiki, so maybe we just entered at a ‘bad’ spot. I put bad in inverted commas because actually it is good for surfers, they need the reefs so the waves can build up. It’s just uncomfortable for swimmer.

Even though we only stayed on Oahu for quiet a short time, we still managed to see so many different spots and gave ourselves the best experience we could get. Fortunately our small three person travel group was a good combination. We always agreed quickly on what to see, where to go and when to start or leave which made it a very easy and fun holiday. Thank you guys!

We started off with some sightseeing. A must-see is apparently Pearl Harbor. Honestly I didn’t know too much about it (and neither saw the popular movie) and since we have already been so close, we decided to go. Only 2.000 visitors are allowed to visit the memorial every day, so we got up very early to get our tickets. Luckily we were among the first 2.000 persons that day, but we still had to wait for almost 3 hours until our tour started.

Pearl Harbor

A ship from the Marines

Our little travel group: Korbi, myself and Philipp

First we saw a 25 minute long introduction video with all the historic background information followed by a trip on a little boat to visit the USS Arizona Memorial. This ship was bombed in the early morning of December 7th 1941 and sunk quickly with all 1.177 soldiers on board. The USS Arizona was unlike other ships never relieved from the water and therefore it became the grave for all soldiers that died that day on the ship. From the white memorial, visitors can look down into the water and see the sunken ship. What I found most surprising and actually really shocking is the fact that fuel continues to leak from the wreckage!!! It continuously comes up to the surface in little drops. They call it the ‘Tears of Arizona’ or ‘The Black Tears’. Even though I do understand that this place is meaningful for many relatives and Americans in general, I cannot believe that they don’t stop the oil from running into the ocean. Since over 70 years our environment gets polluted. To me this is a scandal!

The USS Arizona Memorial

These are the few bits one can see of the wreckage

See the oil??? Unbelievable!

Crowded with visitors

The memorial has a nice design and the architect included many symbols while planning the building. Also the visitor center around has lots of exhibitions and information to offer. Though everything was really interesting, the long wait of 3 hours was really exhausting and the reward eventually not too big. I think the memorial is more important for those who were affected directly by the attack because looking at this as an outsider, you can’t see a lot of the actual ship nor comprehend what actually happened at that spot on that horrible day in December.

Coming from all the sad and horrible happenings at Pearl Harbor, we continued to go for something more fun and easy, a visit of the Dole Pineapple Plantation. When I first heard ‘Dole’ I didn’t recognized it but when I saw the logo I did and I am sure everyone knows it. They mainly sell pineapples but also other tropical fruits around the world.

Yay, me at the Dole Plantation

It was definitely something very different and it once again proofed that Americans just know how to do marketing. The gift shop was literally yellow. Every souvenir was in the shape of a pineapple, had the flavor or scent of pineapple or was just simply yellow – everything you could ever imagine. The visitor center is divided into three sections: a tropical garden, the world’s largest maze and the pineapple express. We had a quick view around the garden and then took the pineapple express. This was a lot of fun. With a little train we went two miles through the plantation and had a great view. We were seeing banana trees, papaya plants, sugar cane, cocoa, coffee and all kinds of other plants but actually only a few pineapples. I guess the season was just over… haha fail! To finish up our pineapple experience I had a huge portion of pineapple ice cream with fresh pineapple pieces on top. I swear, I have never eaten such a sweet pineapple ever before. It was delicious!!!

That’s how pineapples grow

There are also red pineapples

Pretty trees in the tropical garden

Here grows chocolate, love how they put it in parentheses! Haha

Tropical garden at Dole

Anneke – the Hula Girl

That’s a pineapple field

This is actually how I would picture Australia with the red dirt

Yummiest pineapple ice cream ever!

As I already mentioned we were not too impressed by Waikiki Beach that’s why we were asking the really cool receptionists in the hostel if they have recommendations for us. We eventually chose a beach that was also voted by National Geographic to one of the most beautiful beaches in the world: Lanikai Beach.
Just like always we took ‘The Bus’. The bus company in Hawaii is indeed just called ‘The Bus’, which we found to be hilarious. They have an excellent bus network throughout the island which made it easier (and cheaper) for us to take The Bus every day instead of renting a car. The tickets are also fairly cheap, $2,50 to every place on the island. Sometimes when we were lucky, we could even use the same ticket to go back again.

We felt quiet at home in The Bus !!! 😉

Since almost all street names on Oahu are obviously in Hawaiian language it was for us quiet difficult to understand and it became a habit to miss our actual stop.
This also happened when we wanted to go to Lanikai Beach. That time we didn’t miss just one stop but actually a whole couple, but gladly there is Google Maps, which always knows the right way! We had a nice, warm and also rainy walk through Kailua. We crossed a neighborhood we didn’t expect to find in Hawaii: quiet dirty and shady houses where you could picture a scene where any moment someone comes out and starts a gunfire. But the picture changed radically when coming closer to the ocean.

Kailua Bay

Just perfect

We first passed Kailua Beach which was already really beautiful but we walked even a little bit further to reach Lanikai Beach. At this place one can only find private houses, lodges and apartments – no high rising hotels, no restaurants, no lifeguards, nothing. There wasn’t even a shop close to get something to drink. That’s what I was actually exactly looking for in Hawaii. The beach itself was b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l. A one mile white sandy beach, palm trees, turquoise calm water with some slow waves and a gentle breeze. Welcome to paradise. Even though there were other people on the beach it was not too crowded and everyone was just hanging out. It was surely one of the best and relaxing days. Swimming, sunbathing, repeat! It became even a little bit more perfect when a guy started playing casually on his ukulele. There it was: my Hawaiian dream.

My view for many hours

Philipp being busy with that…

31st PPP 🙂

How amazing is this environment to practice?

Sunset behind the mountains

After sunset we walked back to find this time the right bus station. We had to wait in the drizzling rain for another 30 minutes, but it was still warm and with the memories of this beautiful day in my mind, nothing could bother me. The bus ride in The Bus was quiet a challenge though: The Bus likes it cold – very cold! Sitting there with still slightly wet bathing suites, shorts and tops made the one hour bus ride felt like a trip to the North Pole, but like I said nothing could ruin this perfect day.

We wanted to get a little wider view of Oahu not only beach and ocean. Therefore we decided to leave the coastline and do a hike! We heard of the Maunawili Waterfall and a three kilometer hike through the rainforest.

The hike itself was already so amazing and it definitely was one of the highlights of this trip to Hawaii. I have never been to a tropical place like this and that’s also obviously why I have never seen such a dense rainforest with amazing plants. Normally I only know those from the zoo or botanical gardens. Huge trees with even bigger leaves, liana hanging from the trees and a small creek which we had to cross a few times. Although there was a narrow path we Germans still felt like Lewis and Clark on their expedition: the first people ever exploring this place. Fortunately we didn’t meet too many other hikers which made it even more authentic and exciting. It’s supposed to be a very easy hike so I felt comfortable going there with normal sneakers, shorts, top and a shoulder bag instead of a real backpack. Weeeeell the hike was indeed not very hard but we still had to face some difficulties. The path was more or less the whole time very, very muddy and with just wearing normal sneakers it was very slippery. The guys even wore white shoes which made it even more tricky. Followed by evil mosquitoes, I already learned my lesson quickly: always wear long sleeves and long pants in the rainforest!

After 1 ½ hours we made it to our final destination. The Maunawili Waterfall. The waterfall itself was not too high or big but it was still picture perfect: the waterfall with the super deep natural pool, the tropical plants all around and water tripping from the stones and cliff. The pool was quiet chilly compared to the Pacific Ocean and also not clear which scared me a bit. I was picturing what kind of creatures might swim underneath, but it was still so exciting and nice that I pushed these frightening thoughts away. We climbed up to the waterfall and were looking for good spots to jump from a cliff into the pool. I am such a wimp when it comes to these kind of things!!! The cliff I was jumping from was actually ridiculous. Probably not even 2 meters high, but for me this was already exciting enough and an adrenalin rush. The guys were braver and Philipp even climbed up through the jungle and jumped from a point which was supposed to be 12 m high. It was quiet scary since we didn’t know for sure how deep the pool was, but other visitors assured us that it is very deep and that he will be fine. So he jumped and did it then over and over again. We spent 1 ½ hours just at the waterfall. While other people were coming and leaving quickly, we just enjoyed being there in the middle of the rainforest.

Made it to the Maunawili Falls

About to jump from this cliff

Making our way back through the rainforest

Tarzan was around on his liana

The way back went a lot faster and it also started raining which made it even more muddy but it was still so great exploring and seeing behind every tree something new. By that time I didn’t even care about how dirty my shoes and legs were. We found the way back to civilization and even though we just spent a few hours in the coppice, it already felt strange walking on an asphalt street instead of watching your step to not slide nor trip.
We just missed the bus that only came once an hour. So we were sitting literally on the street since there was no bus shelter. We were all dirty, sweaty, full of itchy mosquito bites but oh so happy and full of positive energy and impressions. Suddenly a lovely lady stopped and I guess felt sorry for us, so she took us back to the main road where more buses were stopping. We were sitting on the back of her truck and in that moment we felt like real globetrotters, traveling the world! 🙂

Because we wanted to have an authentic stay we also wanted to try something local and typical Hawaiian to eat. The keyword here is Loco Moco. You see it almost on every menu in Hawaii so we gave it a go and were indeed surprised what we got served. When I looked it up in the internet it said that it is THE signature dish of Hawaii so my expectations were quiet high and then couldn’t believe what we got served. The dish contains of four components which are all stacked up in the following order on a pile. The base is a good portion of white sticky rice, where two hamburger patties find their place. Both is covered with a brown gravy and to finish up, it is topped with a fried egg.

Famous Loco Moco

That’s it.
I was speechless.
Unfortunately the taste didn’t convince me and what stayed is still an unbelievable thought of the Hawaiian cuisine. I probably expected something more exotic with tropical vegetables or fruits, but no, the whole meal you can easily cook at home with ingredients you almost always have, no special food shop is needed. At some point we were even doubting that this is real Hawaiian and more of a joke for tourists. Maybe Loco Moco means ‘Only stupid tourists eat it’. It was definitely an experience but I am not sure if there will be a repetition.
When it comes to food I noticed that there is an overflow on Asian food. Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese… One always has the choice of rice or noodles with vegetables and meat. That these Asian food places dominate the gastronomical picture in Hawaii probably has two main reasons:

No.1
Hawaii is obviously not too far away from Asia and many people that live today in Hawaii are descendants from immigrants that came from Asia. They obviously influenced the local kitchen over the years a lot.
No. 2
There are many, many Asian tourists, especially Japanese. If you walk through the streets of Waikiki you can recognize them all around. Unlike the American, European and actually many German tourists, they are mainly doing shopping rather than laying lazy at the beach. So my guess is that they also prefer their well-known food from home. The same phenomenon can be observed on some Spanish islands where many Germans like to spend their vacation and expect to get German food. I never understood why people don’t want to try something new and local in a different country, but that’s another story!

Another place we didn’t want to miss on our first short Hawaii trip was the Hanauma Bay. It is mostly know for it’s stunning reef and possibility to snorkel. We got the snorkeling gear for free from the hostel and The Bus brought us quickly to the bay and this time we didn’t even miss the stop! Unbelievable! It costs $7.50 to get into the protected natural reserve and every visitor has to go through a quick safety briefing where a movie was shown on what to do and what not to do while snorkeling. They are working hard on protecting the bay because it got already a bit destroyed by all the tourists. To give the ocean a chance to regenerate itself, the bay is closed on Tuesdays. Then it was finally time for us to walk down to the bay which is situated really beautifully between high cliffs.

Hanauma Bay

The ocean is really calm there due to the natural protection from the pacific. So we grabbed our snorkeling gear and dipped into the water. The reef itself is not too exciting, it actually just looks like some rocks in the ocean with some plants on it, but what I actually didn’t expect was the great amount of fishes! Unfortunately I couldn’t take any photos, but there were indeed so many little and also bigger ones in all different colors: green, blue, yellow, red, deep black and everything in between. At this point I would also like to mention my paranoid fear of sharks. Wherever we went into the water I was asking the guys if they think that there are really no sharks around. I know it is a bit ridiculous because the chance of getting attacked by shark is so much lower than being struck by lightening or hit by a coconut, but still. Fortunately I didn’t see any sharks and all my extremities are still at the same spot!
Philipp actually even saw a sea turtle while snorkeling. Unfortunately I missed it, but quiet impressive that there are all these sea dwellers so close at the coastal line. Now I can only imagine how great it has to be to dive or snorkel in the Red Sea or the Great Barrier Reef with their overwhelming colorful underwater flora and fauna. I definitely put it on my list! Also the Hanauma Bay has a very pretty beach where I could enjoy and soak up the sun and get a little tan.

Spotted this little cancer at the beach

We have seen the south of Oahu, the east, went to the center, which means there were two places missing: the north and the west. Unfortunately there wasn’t enough time to see what the island looks like on the west, but we got up to the north. The coast and beaches are very popular among surfers because there is a constant wind which creates big and long waves. That day it was quiet gray and rainy but the waves were still there. I skipped that swim, but the guys had a blast to romp in the waves. The current and especially the back current was very strong. It was really impressive and at the same time scary to see how much power the water has. I wish we could have seen more different bays and beaches on the north shore with also maybe a little better weather, but it was still great to get an impression. Next time…

I love this photo, it’s just like I picture a surfer beach

Another thing I found very surprising is the difference of the sand at every bay. We went in our short time to a few different beaches and wherever we were the sand was so different, I didn’t expect that on one island it would differ so much. From really fine to quiet rocky, from light white to quiet dark, though we didn’t see a black beach.

Being almost 12.000 kilometers air-line distance away from home and 12 hours behind made me really feel like I am far away, really far away, for sure the furthest away I have ever been. Talking to people in Germany was crazy with a 12 hour time difference. When I was going to bed it was already noon the next day in Germany. And when I woke up the day was already over at home. But I did love the 12 hour difference since it was so so easy to calculate, 9 hours is a little more tricky.

Time went by super fast and even though we were on our feet the whole day, every day, we still didn’t see everything of Oahu (even though still quiet a lot I think). Considering that there are even 7 other main Hawaiian islands it is indeed worth coming back one day!
On our last evening we were very lucky to experience a beautiful and unforgettable sunset in Waikiki. It was the perfect finish for a great vacation. Seeing the sun set in all the different colors, surrounded by the blue ocean and surfers catching the last waves before it got dark, was a very special and inspirational moment for me.

You can guess what then happened when the sun was about to set…

Yup, just like that! Unbelievable, such a bad timing

Small concert on the streets of Waikiki

I loved the airport of Honolulu so much, there are no windows or doors to the gates… A place where they don’t have to worry about rain, snow or coldness

I think everyone always has this picture of Hawaii in their heads. At least mine was a little bit different than the reality, not in a bad way, more in a different way. I didn’t expect the mountains being so big and so high and honestly I expected the cities and towns to be more native, natural and smaller. If you wouldn’t know better, the streets of Wahiawa for example, look the exact same as in every other small town in the USA. The weather though was just as I imagined it to be: sunshine, just a few clouds and the nicest temperatures. I packed some light cardigans, but I never wore them. Even in the evening / night it was so pleasant warm outside, totally tropic and I absolutely adore this kind of weather!

I learned that Hawaii is more than just beaches, palm trees and surfers in Waikiki. Hawaiians actually live an American life just under tropical conditions. It has so much more to offer, so many different faces and I am very thankful that I could once again broaden my mind and make up my own picture of the dream island Hawaii.

To put it in a nutshell I am so so so happy that we did this spontaneous trip!!! It was so worth it and having all the pictures of the beautiful landscape in my head as well as the sound of the ocean in my ears, the feeling of the sand between my toes, sun on my skin and the scent of salt water in my nose, I hope the rainy season in Portland won’t hit and depress me too much. I can always just close my eyes and think back of the beautiful days in Hawaii.

Aloha (which also means ‘goodbye’)
Anneke

 First of all – a big HELLO from Portland, Oregon!!!

Although my journey to Oregon ‘just’ took me 4 weeks, the actual journey to this place already started in July 2013. So after 13 months of applying, organizing, traveling and being patient – I arrived at the place where I will be staying for the next 10 months!!! I finally made it!

On the evening of August 31st 2014 I flew for first time ever into Portland and I think I never had a more beautiful view while landing than here. We passed the snow-capped mountains and I got to see a first glimpse of Oregon’s landscape: mountains, hills and most of all: TREES!!! I think I have never seen so many trees in my life. There are so many different kinds all over and they are so high – unbelievable.  Stepping out of the beautiful airport was for the first time in weeks surprisingly pleasant: no heat, no humidity, just fresh air and lovely warm temperatures. I was just in Portland for a few minutes and I already absolutely loved it and felt so comfortable!
Kathryn, a lady from the international department of my university picked Philipp and me up and brought us to our host families.
I live around 30 minutes away from the airport, on a hill – a very steep hill! When we made our way up there I was very excited and giggled the whole time. For the upcoming year I would live in the middle of a beautiful neighborhood, on a hill, right between hundreds of high trees. To me this is quiet special because where I am from, in Berlin, it is very flat and even though we do have forests they just look so different. Here where I live, almost every street is going steep up- or downhill at some point. That is definitely something new!

I love how you can always see the Cascade Range on the horizon

A street very close to my house, in reality it looks so much steeper!

View out of my window… Yep, I see trees 🙂

I live in West Linn which is a small suburban city just south of Portland. The host family who is so kind to open their home for me is family Newton: mom Susan, dad Patrick and their two sweet daughters Tori (9) and Emily (8) as well as their two small dogs called Tinkerbell and Rover.
I had such a lovely welcome! Everyone was excited and it was great meeting them for the first time. I am glad that the family is so open, easy to talk to and I felt really comfortable right away. I haven’t met Patrick yet because he is away due to personal reasons, but with the three ladies of the house I am having every day a good and fun time. I am very glad that I got such a lively and welcoming host family.

Sign that was hanging outside the door when I arrived! Great welcome!

Arrival Day – Philipp, Kathryn and my two host sisters Tori and Emily

German Chocolate Cake for my arrival – it was delicious!

They live in a big house with different small stories, a few terraces on different levels and a cute garden. It is right in the woods and reminds me of a really cool tree house. I got a wonderful spacious room and most importantly since I will probably spend there almost 1/3 of my stay: my bed is super comfortable and I sleep amazing!

My host family’s house… hidden in the trees

Now, since my first arrival almost 2 weeks have passed and there is so much to tell! First of all: I settled in very good! My university only starts end of September which means that I have plenty of time to get all my organizational duties done. Yet, I get really stressed with taking care of all these important documents that’s why I tried to tick off my to-do list as quick as possible and started right away:

Paperwork… Trying to be organized

American cell phone number
After traveling through the country with a German number and always hoping to find somewhere free WIFI, I finally got my American cell phone number! The process of getting one was not difficult at all and so far I am very happy with the service of AT&T (as I mentioned I live in the woods, so it was important for me to find a service with good coverage). Now I am all connected and can call, text and surf in the internet as much and often as I want to.

First meetings at Marylhurst University
I mentioned earlier that my university will only start September 29th which gives me another 2 weeks from now on. But of course some organization needs to get done before I can actually start studying. Just 3 days after my arrival I met my college coordinator Rahi for the first time at Marylhurst. The first impression of the campus is incredible. The university is actually really small with only 2,000 students, but the buildings and the actual campus are beautiful!!!

First arrival at Marylhurst

The main administration building

The campus is beautiful!

Rahi was really helpful with getting me organized and gave me many tips how to apply for all the different forms and what I needed to do the upcoming weeks. He also gave me a link where I could find all the different courses that Marylhurst offers for the fall semester. I was supposed to have a closer look at it at home and decide which classes sounded interesting to me.
That’s what I did and went back on Monday, September 8th to choose my courses! Unfortunately they don’t offer any tourism related classes nor languages nor general business classes. So I decided to go with human and cultural studies because I think that this is very interesting and will not only help me to understand costumers in my job better but also people in my daily life and on travels.
So far my schedule looks like that: (it is not all approved yet, so there is a possibility that there will be minor changes)

I am very happy and satisfied with this schedule and I am looking forward seeing what an American university is like. After choosing classes I went to the administration building, to register the classes, get my student ID card and dealt with some other organizational documents. I am all ready for college now. Everything is set and I only need to check which books are necessary for the classes. The next step will be attending my very first class on Tuesday, September 30st at Marylhurst University. I am sure I will have a great first university experience there!

My student ID card

Social Security Card
On Thursday, September 4th Philipp’s roommate Ali was so kind to take Philipp and me to Oregon City to the Social Security Administration Office to apply for our Social Security Card. The number on that card is the key to basically everything in this country. You need it to get a driver’s license, to work and to open a bank account. So it was important to get that done quickly. The administration office was just like probably everywhere else in the world: taking a number, staring at the screen for a looong time until the boring wait gets to an end. For us it was around 1 ½ hours wait which was not too bad I think. The officer was really nice and helpful and Philipp and I had all the necessary documents with us. He put in all the important data and told us in the end that it will take 7 – 10 days until we get our Social Security Card via mail. I was glad that it went so smooth since other participants of the program had trouble with it.
And big surprise: on Tuesday, September 9th I already received my personal Social Security Card. That made me really happy because now I was actually able to continue ticking off my to-do list!

Bank account
I also need an American bank account for mainly paying my car insurance and later on also to get my income once I start working in January. After asking some people for recommendations, I decided to open a bank account at ‘Chase’. I was lucky that a very nice employee informed me about all the different options and helped to get through the process of opening the account. Fortunately I had all necessary documents and so it went all very fast and without any problems. I opened a checking account with a debit card and it is for students without any fees. Great!

Cars, cars, cars…
This was by far the most difficult topic for me. Since public transportation is not like in Germany, we are required to buy a car. Although compared to other American cities, Portland has an excellent public transportation system, I still live a little bit outside (on that hill, remember?). The next bus stop is around 1 mile (and 100 meters difference in altitude) away which will make it rather difficult to walk their easily in the rain, snow, ice… That is why I decided I have to buy a car!
You need to know that I do have a driver’s license since 5 years but never owned a car. My Mama was always so nice that she let me take her car 🙂 So I know how to drive a car, but I don’t know anything about it. Even thinking about buying a car made me feel sick and insecure. Many people gave me the advise to check on craigslist.com and that’s what I did for a few days. Thank god there exists internet so even though I am over 8,000 kilometers away from home I could still talk with my parents about the different cars I found in the internet. I could discuss with them if I should consider them or not. Thank you again Mama & Papa for helping me so, so, so much, giving me advises and supporting me even though I was frustrated and annoyed so fast!!!
After finding a few potential cars, communicating with some owners and then again not working out a deal, I was looking at two different cars Tuesday, September 9th. My host mom Susan drove me. The first one was a total fail, so we didn’t waste too much time and just left right away.
The second one looked a lot more promising! The owner was very nice, the car was just like they described it in the internet and I took a test drive. What can I say? It just felt right. I saw myself driving through Portland, Oregon and maybe even some neighboring states with that little car. It is in good condition for an 11-year old vehicle and to me it totally fulfills my needs in a car that I will only drive for 10 months anyways. I bet you are very curious now what kind of car it is and here we are:

My first own car!!!

Posing with Emily

A silver Ford Focus from 2003. I felt super comfortable from the first second I drove it and I think this is a good car for me. In Germany I was driving a Ford Ka, which is even a little bit smaller than this Ford Focus, but still comparable. It is automatic though which I am actually not used to drive with. But it is very easy and I think in just a few days my right hand will just stay at the steering wheel and not grab to the middle to shift the gear 😉 Also my left foot can hang out now and have a one year holiday!
Thanks to Susan who was a HUGE help and made it possible to fix the deal and all the documents that are required.
Let me tell you, I was so happy driving that little car, not just one car, but MY FIRST OWN CAR!

Driver’s License
On Thursday, September 11th we went to the DMV (Department for Motor Vehicles) to get my driver’s license. I had to fill out a form and discuss a little bit with the lady about my German driver’s license. She wanted to keep it which I was not too happy about, but that’s the law in Oregon: you can only have one driver’s license at a time. So now I gave it away and I really hope I will see it back home again! I paid $5 to take the written driver’s test and had to answer 28 out of 35 multiple choice questions correctly. Even though I studied for the test, some questions were still a bit tricky and confusing. Long story short, I MADE IT! I was super happy that it already worked on my first go! After taking a vision test, a photo and paying another $25 for the actual license, I got my American driver’s license!!! Yay!!! So far it’s only a piece of paper, but soon they will send me the real deal! I was so excited! My host family and I celebrated this joyful event with a little picnic with some sandwiches from Subway at the beautiful Clackamas River. It was such a beautiful sunny day and we all enjoyed that lovely afternoon!

Got my driver’s license!!!

In front of the DMV, the American and Oregon flag

Susan and the girls during our picnic

Beautiful spot at the Clackamas River

Tori, Emily and myself

Fun at the river

Scenic bridge over Clackamas River

Trying to hold these crazy monekys

Car insurance and registration
Now I finally had it all together: a car, a driver’s license, a bank account and a Social Security Number. Ready to get a car insurance! Fortunately I got a great recommendation for which insurance company to pick from another participant’s host family. I called the company and the employee was really helpful and explained everything very patiently to me –  a person who has no idea about insurances, cars or anything related to that. We found the right policy for me and after checking and verifying my existence for a couple of times, it was all set and I was ALMOST ready to drive my car. Two tiny things still prevented me from driving: a check at the DEQ (Department of Environmental Quality) and the registration at the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles). The actual check at the DEQ went very quick, like 3 minutes, but I had to wait for around 30 minutes until it was my turn. They simply inspect the cars for the given standards to reduce the smog, air toxics and greenhouse gases in Oregon. Actually this is a very great institution and we do have something similar in Germany as well.

Queuing at the DEQ

Next and LAST stop was the DMV where I had to fill out another form, pay more money to register my car, get a new title as well as my Oregon license plates!!! I was so excited to hold those in my hands! It was the final act after applying two weeks for several documents. I felt like crossing the finish line after a long race!
When we came back home, I immediately grabbed the toolbox and started to screw those license plates to my car. It was complete and all set! I felt so relived. The past two weeks I have been thinking about all these little steps I had to take before I could eventually drive my car. On September 13th 2014 I was a legal driver with an American driver’s license, a car, insurance and my very own registered Oregon license plates. Hurray!

The car all set with my licence plate. Ready to go!!!

What else did I do?
Besides all these things I needed to tick off my to-do list, I honestly didn’t see too much of my new surrounding yet. It was quiet difficult without a car, but I still got the opportunity to have a sneak peak of downtown Portland last week. Philipp’s Arabian host brother Ali took us with his car and showed us a little bit of the city. We only walked around for a short time, but it was already enough to say that I absolutely love it and I seriously can’t wait to go back and discover many places. Fortunately I have another 10 months ahead to explore and find all the neat and interesting places!!!

A sneak peak of Portland

Willamette River running through Portland

Beautiful park at the banks of Willamette River

A rainbow 🙂

Last weekend another CBYX participant, Korbi, invited Philipp and me to his host family’s BBQ party. They live around 20 minutes away from here, also in a beautiful area of a suburban town outside of Portland. The evening was great with lovely families, great food and drinks and a funny karaoke experience in the end. The three Germans were singing 99 Luftballons… we tried our best! It was great catching up and we sure all enjoyed the nice evening.

On Friday September 13th, Philipp’s host mom’s neighbor took us to Mount Angel, a small village south of Portland. It is famous for it’s legendary Oktoberfest!!! So of course, Korbi, Philipp and I – the three Germans, had to go! To me this was also a new experience since I have never been to the original Oktoberfest in Munich and in Berlin we don’t celebrate traditional festivals like these. But Korbi is from Bavaria and therefore also had his traditional Lederhosen with him. It was so funny seeing lots of Americans wearing Lederhosen, Dirndl, soccer jerseys of German teams or basically everything that had kind of a relation to Germany.

Korbi, Philipp and I at the Oktoberfest in Mount Angel (yes, there were several cameras…)

That’s how the Americans dressed: Lederhosen & Dirndl… Way to go!

There were food stands all around downtown which sold more or less German food and in those big tents, bands were playing German music and people drank German beer. We chatted to some really cool Americans and I kept explaining everyone that this is not what Germany actually is like. Not everyone is wearing Dirndl, Lederhosen and is listening to this kind of music. In my 22-year long German life I never experienced something like that, but now I really want to visit the authentic Oktoberfest in Munich next year because that was a really fun night!!! But then I am definitely wearing a Dirndl!!!

Left the band is playing, and all these people are following the instructions. He said: ‘It’s Schunkeltime’

The event was sponsored by Lufthansa

I don’t know…

… what that is!!! Typical German? I doubt it!

Since I had no car, I was walking sometimes and so here are just some impressions of the neighborhood and what I saw on my walks.

Cutest little Lemonade stand ever… just like the movies!

The first two weeks here in Portland have been fantastic, exciting and stressful at the same time. Looking back though, it all went smooth and quiet quick and everything from my to-do list is ticked off!!! The upcoming months I will get of course new challenges, but currently I am just so glad that I managed to get all this done. Now I am finally independent. No one needs to bring me or pick me up and I can go on trips and discover the surrounding.

1st level completed – arriving, settling and organizing: check!

Anneke