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.