What Has Seattle Taught Me?

I had to let go of every preconception I had of the city before I could allow myself to truly love this city. All I had ever known before moving to a big city was how fast paced they were and how rude the people could be.

Boy was I wrong.

Seattle, Washington is a very large city--more than 620,000 people live here--that doesn't even begin to cover the amount of tourists that come to visit the Emerald City every year.

But what is interesting about this massive city--is how it makes you feel at home. A lot of people call Seattle a "small town in a big city" and that is exactly how it feels!

I've never felt such a sense of community as I do here. it's strange. People are friendlier at home--more welcoming and genuine. But the people here really make me feel something different. Maybe it's because there are so many community activities that go on--things like farmer's markets, dancing lessons outside during the summer, cookouts at my apartment in the courtyard, weekly movie nights, I could go on and on!

I'm not going to lie, it was hard for me to make friends at first--in fact I still haven't found friends here like the ones I have at home...it almost feels like when you move to a new high school and everyone has gone to school together since pre-school. People are nice, don't get me wrong, but there are few people here that I can just go shopping with or ask to come to lunch with me.

Maybe it's because I'm a home-body, I don't go out and party or to the bar after work.
Maybe it's because I don't drink or do drugs, which now that it's legal to smoke pot in Washington I realize just how many people do it. WHOA.
But then again--maybe it's none of those things at all?
Maybe I can't find real friends here because I'm not really looking. Of course I want to make friends--but I just haven't found many people that I really click with that I would want to spend time with outside of school.

A lot of the time I think that we try to blame certain situations on others--but after a little soul searching you might find that there is no one to blame and things just happen sometimes.

Did you have a big move? It doesn't have to be across the country, it could just be to a new city, town, or school! Did you have a hard time adapting to the new place or people? I would love to hear from you!

xoxo