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hello blogosphere! it has been a long hiatus, but i am still here. it has been an amazing two years in seattle so far. we have hiked in the mountains, danced in the gorge, sailed, swam, enjoyed, dinned, traveled and lived so fully. with many friends moving to our city, we are surrounded with loving people and are constantly enjoying many good times.
just recently, my car died after a few horrible towing incidents this week. now car free, i am writing here as proof that i am going to start biking in my city! after spending the last four months trying to get in shape (p90x, yoga, zumba, lifting, etc.) biking efficiently is my next goal! bike rights!
with literally thousands of photos taken since last post here one from taking off out of SeaTac....
after about 40 hrs driving, we made it to seattle. bjorn and i are now living with my old college roomy, ann phillips, in a great apartment overlooking downtown, lake union and mt. rainier...life is good. our adventure out here was filled with mini excursions and lots of license plate-spotting. in the end we found 32 different states as well as 3 canadian provinces! our first day started with a delicious breakfast and tearfull goodbyes to our parents, and before we could pull out of the garage my dad spotted our headlight was out...so he and steve went to walmart and got 2 new ones and our trip was only delayed about 45 min... our mom's were happy for just a bit more face time, and then we took off!
the road was very rainy until des moines where we hit icy roads and blowing snow! i skidded around at 70, exited and bjorn took over. we crept along at a slow pace, saw 7 or so accidents and made it to sunny omaha just an hour behind schedule. the rest of the day through nebraska was uneventfully flat, but beautiful. the vastness of the west is overwhelming in its grandness. we enjoyed seeing thousands of flocks of migrating pelicans and sandhill cranes following the platte river, and we kept thinking how impossible this would be in a covered wagon. our excitment gathered as our car climbed the mile high to denver where we met up with allison, my other college roommate! she lives in sweet efficiency downtown and we went caught up our lives over some pizza and beer for our late dinner. the next day we got our forecast update and with storms in wyoming, decided to stay in denver for the day! we slept in, met with allison for lunch and took the short drive to the coor's brewery. it was a great self-guided tour with 3 free drafts at the end (we had the blue moon spring ale which was pretty delicious and some killian's...happy st. patty's day!) after our tour, we checked out red rocks amphitheater for a beautiful vista and great view of downtown, and then headed back for some thai food with allison (for those of you that know her, she likes spicy food now, amazing!!) keeping some leftovers for a spicy breakfast, we went back to her place and crashed for a quick night's rest. it was really great to spend some time together, catch up on life and reminesce about all of our crazy times together in roma and isu.
the next day we took off and spent the day fighting the 45mph wind and slick roads of wyoming... i drove for 2 ice clear hours at 70 and the rest of the way bjorn creeped us along at 40 mph. it was a long day through the hills and mountains and when we finally hit utah the roads were clear and dry and the wind gone! we rolled in to beth's (my roomy in roma) apartment in idaho falls before midnight, had some brews with her and her boyfriend and then slept quickly! she took us out for a delicious breakfast at a local bakery and then we hit the road through beautiful idaho, oregon and finally washington! when we got to the washington boarder we took some pics of the scenic plains below and were jumping for joy to finally be in our final state! we got to seattle around 9:30pm and unloaded our car. ann and her friend randy helped, making the process quick and finally we could relax!
our apartment is awesome, very spacious and we even have a fireplace! the last week we have been able to start exploring the city and fremont (our neighborhood)! today, i had my first interview which went really well! and hoping i can schedule many more. i have applied to almost 40 places so far... this afternoon, bjorn and i biked to the ballard locks about 30 min ride away.. it was almost completely on a trail which was nice, and we got to see a huge barge being pushed by a tugboat go through the lock process. it was pretty cool to see! we also saw the fish ladder, which will have salmon on it someday :)
i was wondering the other day if anyone still checked this blog, so if you do read it please let me know. it is nice to have feedback :)
oh, check out this band... http://www.myspace.com/owlcity.... "hello seattle" was our theme song during our drive!
iowa winter
sweet cables
i have finally settled at home here in iowa after coming home from finland on dec. 17th! my last week in finland i really enjoyed time with all of my friends and on my last night stayed up all night with everyone at our favorite disco, and then went back to the french apartment and just hung out until my train left at 6am. around 5am my two italian friends filippo and martina whipped up a randomly delicious batch of pasta for my last meal and then everyone walked me to the station. immediately after leaving i was aware of just how amazing my experience was. the friends, the places the moments will always be an important part of who i am and i know the entire impact of my experience will only fully reveal itself with time.
with tearful goodbyes on the train melanie (a girl from north carolina who was in my program) and i headed to helsinki and then caught a ferry to stockholm. i spent 4 days exploring stockholm and enjoyed all of the museums like the moderna museet, nobel museum, vasa museet and of course just walking around in gamlastan (old town). stockholm is a beautiful city and was especially delightful with all of the jul (christmas) markets everywhere. randomly on the ferry back to helsinki i met a girl named anu who let me leave all of my luggage at her apartment for the day so i could explore helsinki before my plane took off the next day at 6am. i walked around the city all day and then met anu at the art museum, from there we picked up some groceries and then went back to her place and made dinner. it was really awesome to become fast friends with a native finn (not all that common) and we got along excellently. after dinner we just hung out for a bit and then made some traditional finnish xmas cookies, i showered, took a nap and then took the last bus to the airport at 1:20am for my 6:00am flight.
i made it home safe and sound and have now been living at home since then. the first few weeks were rather hectic with graduation on the 20th, and then christmas with the whole family home, and new years! lately, i have been busy preparing my resume, portfolio and cover letters to begin my job search. it is very exciting indeed. i hope you all are enjoying the new year. i am hopeful that things will begin looking up in a couple of weeks and am looking forward to watching the inauguration! let me know what you are up to.
peace.
so once again today, random fruit appeared in our finnish salad. often to our surprise, there is fruit mixed in with the cabbage or lettuce salads which we eat at school everyday. sometimes it is diced peaches, canned pineapple (the finns love their pineapple), oranges, or even berries! my irish friend amy coined these as "sneaky fruits" which fits perfectly. we asked our professor if sneaky fruits were always in lettuce salads, and laughing she told us she never noticed them before but now is aware of just how often they appear. also, she said it wasn't typical, just at school. hmmm. very interesting.
in other news, today it was completely dark before 3pm. by 4 i was falling asleep while working in studio. i feel like it is time for me to hibernate. the darkness is so powerful. it is only 6:30 but it feels like 10pm. it is really something to experience... now, i think i will take a little nap, eat some dinner and then get back to work. one project down, two to go.
