Online Shoppping in the U.S.

        People always go shopping online because it is very convenience. We can do shopping in our computer, and there are tons of choices. I love to go shopping online since I came to the U.S. I had never done online shopping in China; however, I did a lot of online shopping in the U.S. The first thing I got online was a book. I felt really happy about it because it was much cheaper than the bookstore. Then, I started to buy everything online. I bought a lot of things online, such as, books, earphones, shoes, jackets and computer parts. The last two things I bought online were a monitor and a desk mount for the monitor. I really enjoyed online shopping in the U.S., and I have no trouble.

Road Trip

I have been in the U.S. for almost two years. I really enjoy the life here, and I had few trips in the U.S. The most exciting trip was the road trip I did last year. I drove my car from Palm Springs, CA to Seattle, WA. It was almost 1450 miles long, and it took me 5 days.  It was the most exciting thing I have ever done in my life. I drove through road 1 from Vincent Street, CA all the way up to Lincoln City, OR. And, I drove to Portland, OR through Interstate 5. I really enjoyed the beaches in California and Oregon. I love the sunset in the beaches, and the seafood in Oregon coast. There were too many wonderful views on the road. It was really amazing. I am glad that I had the chance.

Beach

Beach

Big Sur, CA

I love American Movies.

I went to a movie last Saturday night with my friend. The movie was “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” and I really enjoyed it. The movie effect was really great, and the story was also fun. I think the best “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie was the first one which was “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.” I really like American movies because they are always really nice movies. The first movie I saw was “Avatar” in IMAX. It really amazed me because of the fantastic effects. I love American movies.

Matthews Beach Park

       Seattle is a really nice place for outdoor exercising. There are a lot of beaches and parks around Seattle. I went to a beach on Lake Washington called Matthews Beach Park on Friday. I found this park when I was biking on the trail a few months ago. It really impressed me because of the nice location and the landscape. I went there because I felt I had to do something on a sunny day. I stayed there from 2’o clock to 3’o clock. I was sitting in a chair and daydreaming. I really enjoyed the weather and the location. I highly recommend people go out when the weather is nice.

A short video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkPGSxQwOJw&feature=channel_video_title

Microsoft Visitor Center

       I went to visit Microsoft this Friday afternoon. It located on 36^th street Redmond, WA. It was not hard to find, and I really enjoyed the weather at that time. The Microsoft campus is really big, but the visitor center is not as big as I expected. There are two parts in the visitor center which are the showroom and the gift center. I had a lot of fun in the showroom. There are three Xbox Kinect in the showroom. The Xbox Kinect is a new hardware for the Xbox 360 that you can control your game through your body movement. I believe that the Kinect technology is a very important step for the future gaming system. Overall, I had a lot of fun there.

Seattle & Palm Springs

       I studied in Palm Springs, CA for a semester last year. The reason I went there was that my family wanted me to stay with my aunt. I had a good time in California, and I made a lot of friends. I felt no pressure there because my aunt took care of me. The city of Palm Springs is very different from Seattle. First of all, Palm Springs is in a desert area. I could wear a T-shirt in the winter, and weather in the summer is very hot. I had to have a car in Palm Springs because the public transportation is very weak. I do not have to have a car in Seattle because the buses can take me everywhere here. I went back to Seattle after a semester because I did not like the school and the weather there. The most important reason is that I want to be independent, and it is one of the reasons I came to the U.S. I feel that these two places are totally different because  one is super dry, and the other is super wet. I like Seattle more because I enjoy the nice weather and the beautiful environment here.

Palm Desert, CA

Kirkland, WA

My Host Family

       This is my third host family in the U.S. It is not easy to find a really nice host family for international students. Fortunately, I found this pretty nice host family a couple of months ago. My first host family was a young couple. They are nice people, but they had never cooked for me even though I paid  them. I moved out because I could not stand that I ate sandwiches for three months. The second host family was an old Philippines couple. I also moved out because I did not feel comfortable in their house. Then, I found this host family from the internet, and I moved in a couple of months ago. There are six people in this family now, including me and my host mother, her three children, and another home stay student. They cook really good food, and they treat me like their family. I feel really comfortable living with them, and I feel very lucky that I found a home in the U.S.

noodle

food!

Korean BBQ with my host family

        My host family invited me to a dinner on Saturday night. We went to a Korean restaurant in Shoreline called "Kaya". The place was crowded, but it did not take too longto waite a seat. There are six people in my host family, including me and another homestay student. They are really nice people, and they always invite me to dinner on weekends. I love to eat Korean BBQ, but I had never tried it in the U.S. It is a really nice place for Korean BBQ, but it was a little bit expensive. We ordered a 6 people special combo, and it was not enough for our six people. It cost about 160 dollars for that combo, but the food was pretty good. We had beef, rib, vegetable and squid. I really enjoyed having dinner with my host family because they gave me the feeling of my family.