Halloween is a famous American tradition and with that comes trick or treating. I always wanted to do that in the United States. Unfortunately ever since I got here, everyone kept telling me I was way too old to go. This Halloween however I decided to ignore that and try anyways. Here are some tips on how to do go trick and treating in America when you are way too old!
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We all know by now that the American Presidential elections are in full force. I mean, how could you not notice? Big billboards on the side of the high-ways, cars with big bumper stickers, newspapers that are reporting daily about the elections, social media, television, radio. It’s out there. Not to mention that these elections are more highlighted and more talked about than I can remember with previous elections.
Hilary Clinton vs. Donald Trump might be one of the most interesting and controversial elections ever. On one hand, you have Clinton whom people don’t seem to really trust because of her emailing scandals and other sketchy cases she was involved in. On the other hand, you have Trump, a real estate mogul who is known for his racial slurs and his controversial statements. How did it come this far? Well, a lot of people who know me, know my stance on America’s political system and yes, I am about to go into a full rant on why I think this system is a joke. For one, this system is based on outdated ideas that might have worked back in the day, but is now just used as a way to create loopholes to justify actions that are not benefiting this country at all. (I’m looking at you, second amendment). Also, the elections itself seem like a joke. This is a system where if the picture perfect image of the American dream stereotype, married with kids and a house with a white picket fence, is not achieved by a candidate or the president they will lose voters or popularity. Shouldn’t a person be judged on competence rather than their personal life? Who cares if someone is married or not? If the person is capable and competent in running this country why does it matter? Now, I also have to be fair and say that this system is not the only system that has faults. Every political system in this world has some sort of fault. This one is just more obvious because the U.S is one of the major superpowers in this world and is therefore more looked upon and talked about. I mean, when the elections are going on, the whole world is watching. I remember when Obama won, my whole country was cheering because we supported him. Even though we can’t obviously vote for a candidate, the one that becomes president still affects my country and other countries as well, so we always hope for the best. I live in Washington State, a very liberal and progressive state, which I really like and a lot of people told me that once I would travel to the South and other places in the U.S. I would be able to tell that I’ve been living in a liberal bubble. I’ve always been told that the South is a really conservative part of the U.S and a lot of the people there are republicans (which is true). So naturally I had this image in my head that once I traveled to the South I would see a lot of Trump signs and billboards. This was however not the case. In all my time spent in the South I only saw one Trump billboard and I was surprised by this because I’ve seen more signs in liberal Washington State than in all of Texas, Louisiana and Tennessee together. I guess even the republicans are ashamed of their candidate, and if they’re not they should be. So let’s talk about living as a foreign student in the United States during election time and how it affects me. Does it really? Me personally, I don’t think so. Would it affect my country? Possibly, but I don’t have a crystal ball. That doesn’t say I have don’t have a clear preference for who I want to win. In the end, I can talk about politics all I want but like comedian Bo Burnham said: “I only know my own ideas of other people's ideas." Hello Gentle Readers! I’m back! I’ve been away on a month long road trip through the United States of Amurrrica. Washington, Oregon, Texas, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Illinois are the states where the road took me… okay and the plane, and the bus and the train... Anyways! It was an incredible trip with a lot of memories, and some really vague memories which I will come back to in a later blog. For this is blog, however, I am going to write about, and you might have guessed this already, Austin, Texas! Now because I know the attention span of this generation is not very long I am not going to bore you guys with a lot of words and long sentences, which I know most of you are not going to read, but like it anyway while telling me what a great blog post this was. For the people that did make it until this point, good job! I like you, please like this post and comment on what a great job I did. Here are the highlights of my visit to Austin! Learning the two-step at the Broken Spoke The Broken Spoke is one of Austin’s last authentic honky-tonks. What is a Honky-Tonk you might ask? Well, let me explain it to you. A Honky-Tonk, ladies and gentlemen and all who fall in between, is a bar that plays country music, usually live, to get people dancing. Now this is not the kind of dancing where people grind into each other and shake their butts like their lives depend on it. No, this is the kind of dancing that requires foot work and good coordination. My mom and I, after heavy debating, decided to sign up for a two-step dancing class. This was as fun and exciting as it was awkward and terrifying. The instructor who taught the class was however the highlight of the night. Imagine a 60-year-old-something tiny woman with hot pants, a fake tan, shining white teeth, spunky short hair, the thickest Southern accent I have ever heard and a no bullsh*t attitude that cracked me up and had me terrified throughout the lesson. I don’t have video footage myself but at the end of this post I've put a YouTube video of YouTube celebrities Grace Helbig and Mamrie Hart to give you an idea. Great fun --highly recommend it! Trying out Cowboy Hats My mom and I were walking in Austin and we found this Cowboy hat store, so off course we had to go in and try on some cowboy hats. The best part about visiting this particular store was not only the hats but also the owners of the store. There were two 60-something women working there and they were so friendly, funny and welcoming. They helped us try out some hats and when we were done they told us stories about the store and one of them even taught me how to dance the two step in the MIDDLE of the store!(This was before we went to the Broken Spoke, so I had a slight advantage). I also didn't have a choice, when the lady heard that I didn't know how to dance the two step she just grabbed my hands and started dancing. We didn't end up buying hats because unfortunately those hats were not in our budget, but the whole experience was awesome. Food! I don’t think it’s a secret that Austin is home to great food places, especially Mexican. In Austin I had one of the best Tacos of my life. Filled with brisket, cheese, and other stuff, it was everything I needed in a Taco and more. I will not write more about the food because it just makes me hungry, so here is a picture of taco's to leave you guys with a visual. Here is a list with other highlights of Austin that I was honestly just too lazy to write about. -Live music everywhere you go, especially Sixth Street. -Food trucks -The Spider house -The hide-out café (I know Seattle is like the coffee city but here you can find some REALLY good coffee.) -The people -Walking through Zilker Park If you want to know more about the highlights I just listed, ask me I’ll be happy to tell you about it. And that’s it for now! Superdoei! Or as they say in Texas BYE Y'ALL! Hello Gentle Readers!
The summer has officially begun and to kick off the summer I went to Paradiso. This is a festival in Central Washington and is held in the Gorge Amphitheatre which is considered one of the most scenic venues of the world. Before I decided to come to the US I would have never considered going to a festival like Paradiso. Why not you asked? Because it is an EDM(Electric Dance) festival. Are your jaws dropped on the floor yet? I know, me, Kayleigh, hater of electric, techno and house music going to such a festival? I would have never guessed it myself. Despite my aversion of this kind of music I had an amazing time. The campsite reminded me of the fourth Harry Potter movie when they went to the Quidditch match and there were tents everywhere. The festival attracted over 16.000 people so you get the image. I met so many people there and it was just a blast. I danced for two days straight and my body made movements I didn’t even know I had. Even though I am still not a fan of the music genre, I had a really good time and I’m happy my friend persuaded me to go. What a great experience to kick off the summer! Superdoei! Hello Gentle Readers,
My first year of college has come to an end and the summer has begun and what better way to talk about it than with a Top 8 list of things I have done during my first year of college.
2. LA Over Spring Break I traveled to LA with a couple of friends. Before I visited this city I had this idea in my head that LA wouldn’t be the city for me and that everyone would be covered in fake tans and had some sort of plastic surgery done to them. While this is probably true I did not see much of that and instead I had a fantastic time. I spend time on the beach, went biking from Venice Beach to Santa Monica, visited the Hollywood Boulevard and even did one of those cliché Hollywood bus tours. 3. Winter Road trip Over Winter Break my friends and I went on a road trip all the way to Minnesota. It was a long drive and unfortunately the weather was not in our favor which caused us to having to spend the night in a sketchy motel in the mountains of Montana. Despite of the setbacks, I did get to see a big part of this country which was incredible. Once arrived in Minnesota we went skiing, enjoyed some time in a hot tub and visited the biggest mall of the US. 4. See my family From Minnesota I flew to Florida to see my family. I hadn’t seen my family in give or take twelve years so it was great to see them again and meet my nephews and my niece. Another great thing was that my dad, stepmom and my little brother also had come to Orlando to see the family, so we had one big family reunion. I got to go jet skiing, spend time on the beach and visit downtown Disney (I didn’t spot any gators though… Too soon?). 5. Spontaneous trips One of the best things during my first year of college has been all the spontaneous trips. My friends and I rarely planned something and most of the times just jumped in the car and off we went. These trips include camping (A LOT), Rattle Snake, Portland, Golden Gardens, Vancouver and Seattle. I loved these spontaneous trips because nothing was planned and that is, in my opinion, the best way to truly experience things. 6. Meeting new people During my first year I have met so many new people. This college has a big International Program and I think that’s great. The college frequently organizes different events and has an introduction camp for new international students; because of this I have met people from all over the world. This has really expanded my knowledge about different cultures and people. 7. Stepping out of my comfort zone Before coming to the US I made a pact with myself that I would step out of my comfort zone and do things that I normally never would have done. One of these things was taking a drama class. I know it sounds weird but standing and talking in front of other people is a thing I was never comfortable with. Taking this class was one of the best decisions I have made. I became more confident, open and I made new friends in this class. 8. Crossing things of my bucket list During my stay I got to cross off a lot of items on my bucket list. I went to see the Rocky Horror Picture Show, got a new tattoo, went on a big road trip, I walked on the Pacific Crest Trail, I saw an Ice Hockey and a Baseball game and many other things. You can check my bucket list on my blog. This first year has been amazing. As you can read I did a lot of things and I think this year has changed me for the better. I am truly thankful for the people that have made this all possible. I won’t get to mushy because I still have six months to go but I just wanted to get that out there. ‘Till next time! Superdoei!! Hello Gentle Readers! Hello Gentle Readers!
This week’s blog will be about my trip to LA over Spring Break. This blog post won’t be very long since I made a video that will show you how my trip went. The link to this video will be underneath the post and the video will also be under 'video' on the website (obviously). The trip to LA, me and my friends did by car. I would tell you all kinds of crazy stories that happened on the way but to be honest I was sleeping most of the time, fun right? Once in LA we drove to Malibu first and enjoyed the early morning beach vibe for an hour or so. Then we continued our journey to the place we all would stay together in, Hermosa. The hostel itself was right by the beach which was really nice. That day we just stayed at the beach and enjoyed the weather. At night we drove to Hollywood Boulevard. I was quite happy we did this as a group, while it was crowded by tourists the area itself felt kinda sketchy to me. There were a lot of impersonators and street artists and of course the famous boardwalk stars. The next day we drove to Venice and rented bikes. I thought Venice was incredible. There were a lot of diverse, different and weird people (right where I belong.). We biked to the Santa Monica Pier and hung out for a while there before returning the bikes and go back to Hermosa. That night we met up with another group of students that are attending Green River and had dinner with them. They brought a friend with them who works at a company in LA and took us all to his office to look at LA from above. The view was amazing. The next day it was time for me and my group to part. They were continuing their road trip while I would be staying another two days in Santa Monica. Those two days I spent exploring the area, biking and doing the cliché Hollywood bus tour. All in all, the trip was incredible and I wished I had more time to explore LA, but hey, there is always next time. Superdoei! Link to video: Please share and subscribe to my channel :) Hello Gentle Readers!
Hello Gentle Readers!
This week’s blog will be about my spontaneous camping trip last weekend. Camping Trip Friday started just like any regular Friday but it turned out to be anything other than just that. Around 2 pm, one of my friends asked me if I and a bunch of other people wanted to go camping that night. Off course I said but we don’t have a tent. Not a problem they said we’ll go get one. So there we went off to a pawn shop searching for a tent. Two hours later we were in the car driving to a camp site. I forgot what the place is called but it was in a state park near the water and it was beautiful. We found a camping spot, got the tent out and started a fire. We roasted hot dogs in the fire and sang and danced to the music that was playing. That’s it for this week! I know it is short but I’ll make up for it next week. Superdoei! Hello Gentle Reader!
Here is the final part of my winter break blog. Florida Stepping out of the plane I was instantly met with something people from the Pacific North West are not really familiar with. It’s a wonderful thing called, the sun! Imagine also that I was dressed in winter clothing, coming from a place where it was 14 degrees (Fahrenheit), and that I was now in a place where it was 93. So naturally I was sweaty, hot and red. I was a sight for sore eyes let me tell you. Not. The reason for going to Florida was to see my family again. I had not seen them in about ten years so that was really incredible. It was also nice that my dad, stepmom and little brother decided to fly up to Florida so we could all have a nice family reunion. My uncle took me to downtown Disney so I could at least see a little bit of the Disney ambience since going to the real theme park is not really in the budget of a college student. We celebrated Christmas in Fort Myers which was really nice. It was also the first time I saw a big pick-up truck with a gigantic confederate flag in the back driving by, something I had only seen in the movies. The next day my dad and stepmom took me and my brother out to the beach. We went jet skiing, this was also a first for me, and what an experience was that. I don’t think I’ve ever screamed louder than I did that day. I enjoyed it though. We concluded the day with a nice Long Island and Ice cream. The next day my grandma took me to a place called Cracker Barrel. Cracker Barrel is a restaurant with a Southern Country theme and the meals look home cooked. If this is really the case I don’t know, considering this is the US. Nonetheless the food tasted really good and I’m kind of disappointed that we don’t have it in Seattle. After that my grandma took me to an ice cream place and it was seriously the best soft ice cream I’ve ever had and it was gigantic too. The next day my dad and stepbrother came over one more time before I had to go back to Washington and we went to the biggest McDonalds in the Country. Honestly the McDonalds was not that special but it was still nice to be there with my family. Overall my winter break trip was really amazing with a lot of (new) experiences and fun times. It’s a trip that will stay with me for a long time. And that’s it for my winter break blog. Until next time, Superdoei! Hello Gentle Readers!
Here is part two of my winter break blog. Auburn - Minnesota Leaving 3 hours later than planned because some people could not wake up, it was time to hit the road and boy did we hit it alright. It took about ten hours to even exit Washington due to heavy snow blizzards. Instead of taking the Interstate because the car had no snow chains on its wheels, we had to take the mountain pass with a speed limit of 10 miles an hour. After finally making it out we drove straight through Idaho directly into Montana. At around 2 in the night we decided to stop at a Motel called Silvers. Now as a lover of Horror movies my mind immediately created this whole scenario of how we were going to get killed that night. Luckily that didn’t happen and this is not my ghost writing this blog. What did happen is that we had to fit three people in a two-person bed and when I turned on the shower the toilet flooded with water making the bathroom our own personal swimming pool. FUN! The next morning, after getting free breakfast, we were ready to hit the road again and luckily we arrived at our destination in North Dakota that same day. The next day I finally got to do a super American thing that I’ve wanted to do for ages, shooting! It was a lot of fun and I actually managed to hit the target and not myself. After that we drove to a lake house in Minnesota were we enjoyed the rest of the evening in a Jacuzzi with some drinks (wink). During the rest of our two-day stay at the lake house we also went skiing which was a lot of fun. I really mastered that baby bunny hill and I even managed to not get myself hospitalized doing a sport like this (this is a first, believe me). Next up we drove to Minnesota and visited mall of America, the largest mall in the United States. This thing is freaking huge, let me tell you that. I think if I wasn’t there with two other people I would’ve gotten lost. Because Wisconsin was only 15 minutes away wanted to drive over the border with the theme of That 70’s Show, and we did, and it was awesome. Unfortunately we lost all video evidence of this but oh well. We ended the night and the end of our road trip in the pool of the hotel, staying longer than the hotel’s rules (rebels) until we finally got kicked out. The next morning it was time to all part ways and for me that entailed continuing my journey to Orlando, Florida. That’s it for this week’s blog. Next time I’m going to write about my trip to Florida. Stay tuned. Superdoei! Hello Gentle Readers! Winter break is (sadly) over and real life has begun again but before I start blogging again about school activities and other stuff, I am going to write a three part blog about my adventures during winter break. The first blog will be about my trip to Vancouver. The second one about the road trip from Auburn to Minnesota and the third one will be about my trip to Florida. Vancouver Despite of the constant rain, Vancouver was an incredible city to visit. We arrived in the evening and after checking into our hotel, which was right in downtown Vancouver, we went into the city. The first thing we did was find some place to eat. We ended up at a nice little burger place and each of us ordered a cocktail with our food because, yeey drinking age in Vancouver. After devouring our food we went on further into the city. Downtown Vancouver reminded me a lot of Seattle’s Capitol Hill which I absolutely love. Later in the evening we decided that we wanted to go to a karaoke place but after hearing the prices we ran out of there as quick as we could. We concluded the evening in our hotel room playing games which was a lot of fun thanks to a particular store that was still open at night ;) The next morning I wanted to indulge myself fully in the Canadian experience by heaving a coffee and breakfast at Tim Horton. We discovered a free ice skating rink under the streets. Unfortunately the rink was not that smooth and the skates weren’t sharpened enough so we only stayed there for about twenty minutes. After that adventure we drove to Stanley Park and stumbled on a light show which was really beautiful to see. Next up we drove to the beach and despite the rain and cold it was incredible to see and a nice conclusion of our trip. Unfortunately getting out of Vancouver was a nightmare, it took about two hours to get out due to bad traffic and bad navigation but the trip itself was incredible and I would love to go back soon and discover all the other things Vancouver has to offer. That's it for this blog folks! Next up is the blog about the trip from Auburn to Minnesota. Don't forget to check out the little video I made about Winter Break. I made a new page on the website called " Video " You can't miss it. Superdoei! Hello Gentle Readers!
In this week's blog I'm going to write about the Leavenworth trip! Very exciting, I know! Or maybe not as much as I thought it would be. Lets get to it, shall we? LEAVENWORTH Leavenworth is a small village, two-and-a-half hours away from Green River College. It is entirely build in Bavarian style which is pretty cool I have to say. We left the college around 7 am (waaay too early) and arrived around 10 o'clock. The village was already coverd in a lot of snow so offcourse the first thing we did was a mini snowball fight. After that we went into the village itself. The first store we went into was a hat shop with all kinds of crazy hats. Next up was a little bakery and I was delighted to find out that they had apple turnovers (for the dutchies APPELFLAPPEN!). You can image my excitement that there was actually a bakery in the village since the US lacks the bakeries we know in Europe. The only other bakery I have seen so far is in Seattle. So yes very exciting. The village has a lot of cute little shops with jewerly, souvenirs and other crafts. There is even a cheese store where you can actually buy decent cheese. At 11 the live music began, so we got a hot chocolate and enjoyed the music for a while. It was snowing, people were sliding of the snow hills, they were laughing and enjoying themselves and it all felt like a scene in a christmas movie. I guess the american sentiment you find in the movies is actually somewhat true. Somewhat. It all went downhill from that moment. We got more and more soaked from the snow, it got colder and we had seen the whole village twice by that time. We went to a restaurant to eat a schnitzel but the prices were ridiculous expensive, it still hurts when I think how much we payed for one plate of food and two apple ciders. After that we decided to go to a Starbucks for a while but when we got there it was crazy busy inside. Deciding not to order anything we just sat there for a good half hour before we went back to the bus to drop some stuff of. In the bus, the bus lady offered us to let us stay in the warm bus and let us watch a movie. We still had two-and-a-half hours to kill at that point and since we were freezing and had nothing better to do we did exactly that. At 4.30 the lighting ceremony began and it was absolutely beautiful. After fifteen minutes it was already over and it was time to go home. What was supposed to be a two-and-a-half hour ride back turned into a seven hour ride back due to weather conditions and road blocks. You can imagine that we were not very pleased with that but hey nothing you can do about it except for complaining a lot and make your frustrations clear with heavy sighs. Overall Leavenworth was a nice place to visit and I had fun but we had way too many hours to spend there and I'm not sure the seven hour ride back was worth it. Oh well.. That's it for this week. Superdoei! Hello Gentle Readers!
In this week’s blog I’m going to talk about my trip to Portland! For the people that don’t know what and where Portland is. Let me fill you in. Portland is the largest city in the state of Oregon and is about three hours away from Green River College. The first time I heard about Portland this was the description I got: “Portland is a place where all the weird people come together, imagine a lot of music in the street, weird food, Hippies, and artsy people.” Now for the people who know me, you know that this sounds like the perfect place for me and that is exactly the impression I got during my trip to Portland. Let me take you through my day. The Voodoo doughnut store The first thing we did when we arrived in Portland was going to the Voodoo Doughnut store. The Voodoo Doughnut store might as well been one of the things Portland is most famous for. You can get doughnuts in all shapes and forms, and by that I mean in ALL shapes and forms. Yes even doughnuts that are shaped after certain parts of the human body. Not only that, they have doughnuts in every flavor you can think of. After buying a dozen doughnuts (I know, I have an unhealthy obsession with sugar) it was time to drive to the next attraction. Pittock Mansion Pittock Mansion is a mansion that functions as a museum. We didn’t drive up there for the museum but because the mansion has a garden with one of the best views of Portland. After playing tourist and a hundred photos’ later we drove back to the city. Powell’s Books Offcourse, as the bookworm I am, I had to go to powell’s books. This is easily the biggest book store I have ever been to. After doing some googling I found out that this book store is about 68000 square feet. Now I am not very good at math but that is, putting it in American slang, ‘a hella lot’. One of the people in the store said: “If the zombie apocalypse is coming this is the place I want to hide and spend the rest of my days in.” I feel you sister. After finding all the books I wanted and getting a good deal for it (seriously people, if you love books but are a poor college student this is the place to go to.) it was time to head out. After Powell’s books we went to grab something to eat and drove back to Pittock Mansion to enjoy the view of Portland at night. Hope you all enjoyed this week’s blog. Until next time. Superdoei! Hello Gentle Readers! It’s been a while since my last blog post. A lot has happened since I came to the States. School has started, I finally got my social security card so I’ve started working recently and I went on numerous activities. In my blog I rather talk about the activities because let’s be honest, who wants to read about school and work stuff (sorry mom and dad). In this week’s blog I’m going to write about a show that has been on my bucket list since I was 12 years old and I can now finally cross off my list. The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Enjoy! (Or not) The Rocky Horror Picture Show The first thing I have to mention before I begin writing about the show is that I have to keep this blog PG-13. This means I can’t go into full detail about the things happening in the show since 90% is about the ‘special hugs’ parents give each other to create babies. I’m just saying this because, let’s be real, this is the USA and I might get sued if I talk about ‘inappropriate’ things (wink). The Rocky Horror Picture Show is originally a 1975 musical comedy film. For people who have seen the movie, you know that this movie is actually a really bad movie but it’s a classic. Nowadays they still show the movie in selected theaters but with a twist. Actors are acting out the scenes in front of the screen and encourage the audience to participate in various ways. I went to the Blue Mouse theatre in Tacoma. When we stood in line, a girl from the show came outside and painted a ‘V’ on the faces of people who were there for the first time. (We all know what V stands for when it comes to first timers yes? No? Okay google it.) To be honest I didn’t do it because I had heard what they had planned for those first timers and frankly I was too scared to do it. I can’t tell you what because as I have mentioned I have to keep this blog PG-13. Before the show began a guy explained all the rules, including different insults we had to shout when particular names came up during the movie. During the movie itself we had to throw things like rice and toast and we had to sing-a-long to the songs if we knew the lyrics. They ended the show with giving ‘special dances’ to a couple of audience members who had bid on them before the show. It was hilarious. The show self was amazing. It was funny and everything I imagined it to be since I had this on my bucket list. The actors did an amazing job, especially the guy who played Tim Curry’s role as Dr. Frank N Furter. I had a really good time and I’m definitely going to more shows. I hope you guys enjoyed this blog post and if you have dying questions about the content of the show I’ll be more than happy to answer your questions through email, Facebook, basically anywhere but this blog (another wink). Superdoei! Hello Gentle Readers, It has been 9 days since I arrived in the States and so much stuff has happened since but in this blog post I'm just going to write about two things. The Seattle trip and C.O.R.E. because those two events were the most fun and I also don't want to bore you guys with every little detail that happened this week. So here we go. SEATTLE TRIP We started the Seattle trip in Alki Beach. A beautiful beach across from the actual city with an amazing skyline. After taking a lot of pictures there it was time to get back in the bus and drive to the city. The first thing we did was to walk to the German store and it felt almost as home away from home (Almost but close enough) After eating the best German sandwich I've ever had we walked with a group to Pike's place. I really liked it there. There were people playing music everywhere, cute little shops, people trowing with fish, and amazing food. What more does a girl need? Then we walked to the Seattle library. The view there was amazing and they had cool collections of old newspapers dating back till at least 30 years. We sprinted back to the bus and drove to the international district (which wasn't really necessary because it was at a 5 minute walking distance from the library.) Anyhow, feeling adventurous, a boy from Sweden and myself walked to the tallest building in Seattle and tried to get as far up as possible, which wasn't really hard at all because you just needed to pay 9 dollars to get up to the 73th floor. Once we got there we were amazed by the view. Space Needle looked like a joke compared to the building we were in. After walking back to the bus stop in the international district I decided to buy something to drink from the Chinese supermarket. Guys, one tip. Don't EVER buy funny looking drinks that cost 44 cent only. It will give you little seizures for about a good 10 minutes. Overall it was a really fun trip but waaaay too short. Good thing I live close by. C.O.R.E Core is an overnight camping trip for the international students. You can do kayaking, (we call it canoeing but hey whatever floats your boat.(Get it, floats your boat? Never mind ) You can also play paintball, do archery, go horseback riding. It's a really fun experience. After arriving at the ranch we ate lunch and got our room assignments. Then everyone sprinted back to the main hall to get a ticket for one of the three most popular activities and lucky me, I got the last ticket for paintball that afternoon. Because we had some time to kill we went canoeing and it was actually really funny. After that we played volleyball, or at least we attempted to. Paintball was fun but I expected more but that's okay. Dinner was actually really good, we had penne and meatballs and the best bread I've ever tasted. The next activity was a rodeo and I expected a real rodeo show but in reality we had to play several games and the games were really funny. I participated in every game together with two other guys and we did good. I'll post some video's and photos of it later. Next up was the camp fire and it was exactly like a campfire you see in every typical American movie. We had s'mores, there was music and we even had a confession round with some of the confession being really funny and some confessions being really lame. The last thing on the agenda for the day was the dance party which was kind of awkward for most of the people who aren't used to go dancing without a particular kind of beverage. (Wink) We had fun anyway. The next day consisted of doing more activities and eating more food and then it was time to go back to Green river. What I really liked about this week is meeting people from all over the world and learning about different cultures. I also liked that we can all have different opinions about things or have different believes and a different perspective of the world but at the end of the day we all go home as friends. You can see the pictures in my gallery. Superdoei. Hello Gentle Readers!
If you read this it means that I arrived safely in the United States of America. Here is a summary of how I got there. After arriving at the Frankfurt Airport it was time to check in en drop of my luggage. I had a little bit of time left before I had to board so before the final ( It's only a year folks!) goodbye we ate and drank something and then it was time to leave. I was seated next to a friendly German lady who was visiting her daughter and grandchild. We had a bit of a language barrier because she could only speak a little bit of English and I could only speak a little bit of German but we made it work. After a long flight, in which I didn't get much sleep, I arrived at Seattle airport. I got my suitcase and I walked to the baggage claim area to wait for my pick up. Once I got there I met two people from Sweden who were also on the same flight as me. We had to wait a little while because there was some confusion but once that got cleared out it was time to go to GRCC. In true American style we climbed (yes climbed) in a gigantic white pick up truck and drove to GRCC. When we got there we were immediately welcomed by a bunch of friendly faces who showed us the way to our rooms. And that's basically how my day went. I hope you enjoyed reading this, if not well that sucks for you. (Just kidding..No I'm not) I'm going to get some sleep now. Superdoei. |