First week in the USA

Hi everybody!

It has only been one week ago since I left the Netherlands, however I discovered quite a lot, so it feels like I have been here for a while. Last week I travelled 8000 km by plane, 650 km by car and 40 km by foot.

Last week I arrived in Seattle, USA. I am going to study for a semester at the University of Washington in Seattle. It was a long trip (10 hours flying) and the time difference is 9 hours, so that makes it tiresome. My father travelled with me, to join me in the USA for a week. We rented a car when we arrived in Seattle and it felt immediately like I was in the USA, the big highways, all thefastfood and the big cars and trucks.

Our plan was to make a trip throughout Washington State and finally arrive in Seattle.

 

On the first day we drove to Ocean Shores, it is a place on the West Coast (next to the Pacific Ocean). It has beautiful beaches and sunsets. It is an American way of life, to do everything by car, so everybody drives their car on the beach. The second day we drove on the 101 to the National Park, we went to the rain forest, which was amazing! The trees are so large. And the mountains in the National Park are beautiful; if you climb them you get wonderful views. Our final destination that day was Port Townsend, a place located on the North Coast. It is located on the waterfront. The third day we drove to a place called Winslow and took the ferry to Seattle. Theboat goes directly in front of the city Seattle, which makes the views on the skyline of Seattle great.

Downtown Seattle has quite some things to offer: the Space Needle (with beautiful views by night), the Pike Market (they are throwing with fishes over there) and a lot of other big buildings and great warehouses and shops and that was what we discovered the next few days.

The last day we went to University District (I will tell you later about this) and looked around on the campus. Yesterday was the 10^th anniversary of 9/11, which everybody is talking about.

The eating habit in the USA is quite extreme. Everybody is eating the whole day and in all the food there is a lot of sugar. A typical American breakfast: toasts, waffles with syrup, bacon&eggs, scones, muffins, bagels, loops and not to forget coffee. Seattle is the city of coffee. The really first Starbucks was opened in Seattle (which attracts a lot of tourists). When you walk on the street, everybody is carrying a take-away coffee in his hand. The Starbucks has a very personal way of helping people, they always tell you how lovely you look and they write your name on the cup.

The weather was really hot this week, which is very exceptional in Seattle, because it often rains a lot here. So, for now:

Love from a Sunny Seattle,

Judith

P.S. This week the introduction of the UW (University of Washington) starts, so I'll tell you more about that later.