Europe to America: striking differences
Last summer I underwent more than 25 hours of plane and bus to get from my hometown in the North of Spain to Seattle, in the West Coast of America. Was such a long trip worth it? Here’s my take on the Pacific Northwest after 6 weeks of living and traveling in the states of Washington and Oregon.
Perhaps one of the first characteristics one notices is the difference between your average European town and an American one. Where is my sidewalk? What do you mean, the nearest supermarket is 30 minutes away walking? Why can’t I get to the nearest café on foot? As a person so used to getting everywhere by walking, I was puzzled that I needed to take the car just to go buy some milk.
The huge distances found in the States do not only provide for diffuse settlements but also for some of the best landscapes I’ve ever seen. That the USA has some of the wildest and breathtaking scenes on the planet is no secret, but it’s one thing to hear about it, and another one to see it. And both Washington and northern Oregon have huge, beautiful, grander-than-men kind of sites.
But with huge distances come huge travel times. And, what’s a better companion for a long trip than a good book? There are some amazing bookstores in Seattle and Portland. From the local independent Powell’s and Elliot Bay Book Company, to the chains like Barnes and Nobles, and lastly, my personal favorite: Half Price Books. I may or may not have filled half my suitcase with cheap but great books that I bought during my explorations of the northwest.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a book is best enjoyed when paired with a hot beverage. And just like with great landscapes and huge, charming libraries, both of the states I visited are full of cozy and quality coffee shops. Not in vain: the most famous coffee franchise, Starbucks, was born in the city of Seattle, right? Though I must say one thing: it was very hard to find a proper latte. In Spain, latte (or café con leche) is the most popular form of coffee, so I can be very demanding with its taste and price. And sometimes, the drip coffee-loving Americans only offered an expensive and mediocre one.
American culture is a weird experience; it is both alien and familiar. You’ve seen it before, in pictures, in TV, implemented in your own society, but you’ve never fully dived into it until you’ve been there. After a month and a half of living immersed in West Coast culture there was certain stuff that I missed from home, but also some that I quite enjoyed and that I wouldn’t mind seeing adopted overseas. And that’s probably the best part of traveling, right? Gaining new points of view, new experiences, that allow you to be both more critical with what you have known, and also appreciate things that you have taken for granted — like a good, cheap, tasty latte.
