The Sistine Library

Today I went to the UW to get to some offices and do the check-in.

My overall day felt pretty useless, but I did encounter some more of UW's gorgeous facilities. Check out the reading room of the main library - or as I am tempted to call it: the Sistine Library. It could however use some marble on the floor!

Labor Day

Labor Movement - "the guys who brought you the weekend".

So most people are supposed to not work on this day. Gives them time to draw funny signs I guess. Or maybe that's very deeprooted "American" culture?

Anyway, since I still don't have a bike on my own, I borrowed Elaine's to use the day and go to the local locks that connect Salmon Bay (fresh water) and Pudget Sound (salt water). From there I went to the harbor and was just fascinated how perfect this city is concerning living conditions.

Funny enough travel sickness caught me and I just longed to take a boat out to the ocean. Then of course I had to go back to Sunset Hill again, just for it's awesomeness.

Sunset Hill

Just when I thought this would be a day without a post, beautiful Sunset Hill came along. I'm not commenting any further, the pictures tell the story:

The park has an awesome view on the Pudget Sound bay and you can see all the Olympic mountains on the Olympic island. It is beautiful.

Bottom Line:

Bus Marathon and University

My feet are killing me. Now I know why Americans go everywhere by car. I walked around all day, trying to find things. And everything is sooo far away! Busses help, but only so far. I definitely need a bike. Of course, I didn't find one today (as I didn't find anything else I was looking for today), but I'm not giving up.

I went to see the campus today and it is impressive. Not only the huge general library

but also the atmosphere on campus is amazing.


I feel I'll be having loads of fun studying here!

Ballard Curiosities - The Neighborhood

Today I went out to discover the neighborhood in which I live: Ballard. It used to be a fishermen's town until it became a shipmaker's town during WWII. Today, it mainly consists of retirees - or so I was told. It looks more like it is inhabited by hippies. If we didn't know better, we'd think Woodstock had taken place in Ballard.


The political message is very straight forward:




Otherwise, Ballard has everything you (or I need) and even some curious things you would rather NOT have to make use of:

Almost as bad as DSDS ;-)

I went and got some shopping done, enjoying the neighborhood. Next on my list is getting a bike!

Classes don't start until the 24th and orientation will begin on the 8th, so I got a bit of time to explore the city.

Arrival

YAY!
I just arrived in Seattle and everything went very smooth. My Landlady is very nice and friendly and she has cooked some roast beef we will be having tonight.

Bags are still as I dropped them, but of course I had to get out my camera for a shot of my new home:

Visa

Received my Visa today and ordered traveler cheques and a digital camera last night. Things are getting serious! Too bad other things aren't going as smoothely. That's very tiring, one week before departure.