Mikaela is with a group of Business students on a study tour in the United States. She shares 10 things she loves about Seattle.
1. The weather in Seattle makes you feel like all you want to do is curl up in front of a fire with a mug of hot chocolate and a blanket. Coming from the steamy Brisbane summer heat, this was such a relief!
2. The people of Seattle are so proud of their city. You can see it on their streets and hear it in the way people talk to you. The people are so kind and helpful and were always wanting to chat. We definitely took advantage of this at times when we couldn’t figure out where we were, or which way we were going.
3. In the winter, most of the trees are stripped bare of any sign of life. In place of the leaves, the city has carefully wrapped the trees in fairy lights! It’s so magical when the sky is getting dark and the only thing lighting the streets are the beautiful trees.
4. During some of our free time in the city, we headed to the zoo. My number one goal
whilst I was in America was to see a brown bear and some wolves. Fortunately for us, the Seattle Zoo had both of these in abundance. Unfortunately for us, the weather seems to make the animals more lethargic and so they were mostly asleep.
5. On one of our free days, we headed over to the Chihuly Gardens, which is an incredible museum filled with pieces of blown glass. We started in the indoor museum, before making our way through to the gardens where the blown glass moulds with the beautiful flowers and trees. It was certainly a sight to behold.
6. At Amazon, the employees are encouraged to bring their dogs to work every day. So with about 4000 dogs being brought into the city every day, I was in absolute heaven! What’s even better is that some even had little jackets on!
7. Pretty much every person we spoke to has this sense of incredible pride in their community or hometown. Overhearing a conversation between two people on the plane, they were asking each other about where they grew up and what it was like. I love that these people feel so connected to their roots and have such pride in that.
8. The passion for their sport! We were fortunate enough to be in the States whilst the Superbowl was on. We decided to do what any other American would do and head to a little sports bar. The locals that filled the bar were so excited and truly engrossed in the game.
9. We were so fortunate that we were able to go to the Microsoft campus and chat to some of their HR team members. The Microsoft campus has more than 120 buildings that make up their entire space, and there is even a private shuttle service to take you from building to building. I love that Seattle is home to such an influential company and that Microsoft decided to base themselves here.
10. My favourite movie of all time is filmed here! And if you haven’t already guessed by the title to this article, think vintage Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles. Think late 1990’s fashion – flare jeans and summer dresses. It’s 10 Things I Hate About You.
