coming back

The process of going back was a very long and exhausting one. I spent 2 days on airports and planes, waiting and dealing with ridiculus security checks.

But when I arrived, my family picked me up. I was really tired, and sad but also a little happy to see them. And my mom made lasagna, so we had a good meal together. 

Still it felt weird that it was over - 3 months just went by so fast, 3 months in which I have learned and discovered new things, met lots of people and just lived out of a backpack in another country far away from home. And of course I have changed too.

And then I was back - and everything looked the same, like nothing ever happened. Andn the only thing that's left is a lot of memories, that I can share with others, but still, no one can ever really understand. Because this is what I experienced - just me and no one else.

border crossing, seattle, olympia

When I left Vancouver my plan was to cross the border to see if they would let me stay and then stop in Seattle to see if I could book a flight and spend some more days in Olympia instead of spending 3 days on a bus to go back to Cleveland.

After a long discussion and confused officers they decided that it was my decision (and risk) if I wanted to stay longer or not - they wouldn't renew my visa waiver program.

I was really sad, because eventhough I had to think about it a lot, by then it was clear to me that I want to travel longer. 

Anyways, in Seattle I bought a busticket to Olympia, but I couldn't get myself to book my flight back to Cleveland yet. 

In Olympia I spent some time by myself, and then finally hit burial grounds to wait for Koi - I just figured that he would be there sooner or later. It took me forever to book that flight but after some talking, I finally did it and we went to buy some food and then back to the house in the woods.

We spent my last days as we did earlier in Olympia. Hanging around, going for walks, talking and even a little shopping spree once. I was just enjoying Koi's company.

In the end we had a little stress with his roommate (Brian), but I was leaving anyways so it didn't really matter, it just made everbody a little pissed.

Leaving was hard, but I guess it had to be. 

And I have no doubt that I will see some of the people again, maybe in Austria some day or maybe on my next trip to the states :)

vancouver, bc

When I arrived at the Vancouver port I was pretty confused in the beginning. I didn't really know where to go, and I didn't have a phone and internet to contact my host and it wasn't really clear where we were supposed to meet. After a while of thinking I decided to go to the adress that I had. Unfortunately that wasn't too easy because the Vancouver transit system is pretty confusing in the beginning and I also didn't have Canadian change for the ticket. And there was tons of Asian people whoch really confused me in the beginning -  after a while I got used to it though lol.

But I made it to the house - at first it looked weird and neighbourhood didn't seem like college students would be living here. And when I rang the doorbell an old Asian woman opened me and told me that she didn't know me and wants me to leave because she doesn't like strangers. I was very confused but shortly afterwards my host Jess came out of the back of the house. So I found the right place after all :)
My hosts in Vancouver, Jess and Alison, were really cool. I got along with both of them really well and  I had a good time in Vancouver.

I spent some time exploring by myself, but also a lot of time hanging out with the girls - talking, making late night pumpkin meals, and watching lots and lots of Jersey Shore haha. They also took me to their college, the Emily Carr University of Art and Design. There I went to see a movie, to a class and I watched Alison printing photos since she was in a photography major. 

Alison also took me with her to shoot some pictures for her project she had to work on and to an Art gallery where she had to go with her class.

One day we also went roller skating along the beach and a beautiful park and Jess showed me the Vancouver suspension bridge, which was fun because we got lost and when we finally made it it was already getting pretty dark.

On my last night in Vancouver both of them took me out to dinner to a Mexican restaurant. We had magheritas, a lot of food and free cake because they told the waiter that it was my birthday - that was lots of fun and I was sad I had to leave them in the end :)

In Vancouver I also tried to decide if I wanted to saty or go back to Austria. It took me forever and finally I said that if I could I would stay. So at that moment everything depended on the Custom and Immigration Officers at the border.

on the way to vancouver

Seattle

Leaving Olympia was very hard for me, so I was happy I knew where I could go while I had to wait for my next bus in Seattle.

I had about 3 hours so I went to that sweet anarchist coffee shop, which was not far from the busstaion. There I just hung around, talked to some people and waited. After a while Ace, my friend from Seattle came and it was so funny how surprised he was to see me again. Then he asked if I wanted to come to the park with them and paint. I didn't really know what he meant by "paint" and I only had like 30 min left before I had to go to the bus, but I went with him and his friend anyways.

It was kinda raining (quelle surprise!) and after we found a nice spot, they started painting - spraypainting. It was really cool to watch and then Ace's friend asked me if I wanted to try. I did but I only had 10 minutes left - he still showed me and so I did my first spraypainting picture within 10 minutes before I had to say goodbye to Seattle, run to the busstation and make my way to Port Angeles.

Port Angeles

The bus to Port Angeles what not a Greyhound, but some other company and it was a funny-looking minibus with 4 old men and me. With the bus we also had to go on a ferry, which was very nice and I really enjoyed it.

Since I didn't have a place to stay in Port Angeles I sent out a couple CS last minute requests, but since no one responded in time I decided to find a park to sleep and so I aksed the busdriver, who was from there. She was really nice, but she told me that there wasn't really any good places to sleep. She was also kinda worried and so she started making calls to see if there was a shelter where I could spend the night.

After a while she found one and she even gave me a ride to it, which was really nice. So I slept in a big room on a plastic matress, but it was a bed, and I even had a shower in the morning.

Victoria

I took the boat from Port Angeles to Victoria on Vancouver Island. Arriving there I had to cross the Canadian border which was very unpleasant - unfortunately. Then I took the bus to the port where the ferry to Vancouver was leaving. There were lots and lots of people but the scenery was very beautiful and I enjoyed being on a boat (as always:)).

olympia, wa

After I left Seattle I went to Olympia, to stay there for a while. I had a place to stay at a friend of a friend's house. When I got there it was already dark and raining, but the streets were still busy, and it seemed like a really cool place.
On my first day there I met up with a friend from Denver, who was there too and we went and got coffee and then walked around in the woods for a while.
At night, after I had to wait forever because I coulnd't get in anywhere. But then I met up with 2 friends and we went to a Halloween house show - that was fun, and something pretty American.
On Sunday I had coffee with my friend in the morning and then I just walked around town.
Monday way the day where a bunch of things happened - I went to the food bank to get some free food so I could cook at the house. When I got there, there was a long line and lots of people waiting. Some guy in front of me just started talking to me and after a while the people behind me (a travelling kid and a girl) joined the conversation and I just talked to them the whole time we were waiting and then we shared a shopping kart. Close to the ed of the free shopping spree I got a text from my hosts about my travel plans - they didn't really kick me out but it was clear that it was time for me to move on. It was kinda weird because I had planed to spend Halloween in Olympia and I'd only been there a couple days. I told Corey (Koi), the guy I was talking to, about that and he said he would ask his roommate if I could stay at their house for a little bit. And I could - right after the food bank we drove to the house to get my stuff and so I moved to a house somewhere in the woods.
Later that afternoon Koi took me to show me around the Evergreen woods - we went to a very nice spot, drank good beer and just talked until it got dark. Back at the house we made dinner for everybody.

The next day we just hung out at the house, watched the leaves and the rain falling and later we went for a walk with Koi's dog, Sammy.

Wednesday was Halloween and since I'm too young to go to bars, Koi was gonna play guitar on the street so we could buy some tequila later and drink it at the house. So that's what we did - sitting on the street, playing music and watching people. For me, that was a very unique experience and I'm so happy that I've made it - things like that definitely make you think about our wasting society.

After Halloween it was time for me to leave Olympia and go up to Vancouver - with some stops in Seattle, Port Angeles and Vistoria in between.