Browsing Tag: Couchsurfing

S(Female-30) was originally from Bolivia, but grew up in Las Vegas and now lived in Denver.  She had recently quit her job and was doing a west coast US road trip with her brother D. They’d been doing some hiking, rock climbing and camping, but wanted to hang out in the city of Seattle for a break. They were looking for a place to stay for a couple of nights and I could tell they were really easy going because they were okay with sleeping in a small place, sleeping in their sleeping bags and had no plans and open to doing whatever was suggested while in Seattle. The capper for me was when they said they’d arrive with beers in hand for sharing. How could we turn down that offer?

Sure enough when they arrived they brought two six packs to the door-Ninkasi Total Domination IPA and Elysian Space Dust IPA. First thing we did was crack open beers and get to know each other. She had mentioned she had never drank beer before arriving in Denver, so I was impressed with both the amount she drank and the fact that she liked IPAs. They were easier to talk to than our normal couchsurfers because they were both super outgoing. Before coming to Seattle they had been doing some camping and rock climbing first in Leavenworth and then in the Olympic National Park on the beach. They had also visited Forks, but weren’t aware it had anything to do with Twilight until they got there and saw all the references to the book/movie.

Before settling down in Denver, S had lived in Sucre, Bolivia and had hosted couchsurfers. Although she had hosted surfers, she had never couchsurfed herself so we were her first host. She also said most of her friends in Denver were met via the Couchsurfing Happy Hour events.

S & D’s Questions/Observations about the US: 

• She thought people in the US were more down-to-earth than in Bolivia and mentioned Denver, Los Angeles and Seattle as example, but said Las Vegas folks were a “bunch of phonies”.

S&D’s Questions/Observations about Seattle: 

• They had a hankering for burgers the first night in Seattle, so we went to Rain City Burger, which they loved.
• We went to Molly Maguires in Ballard for pub trivia and actually came in 3rd!  Unfortunately, there were only 4 teams. It was their first time doing pub trivia and they were really excited to play and amazed they actually knew a lot of the answers, which were basically useless pop culture info. They were surprised that there was such a thing as trivia and drinking.
• Like many visitors before her, she commented on how short the Space Needle was when seen in person.
• I took them to Gas Works Park during one evening and they mistakenly went there the next day because they didn’t realize it was the same park they’d already been to.
• The places they wanted to go to before coming to Seattle was Fremont Brewing, Capitol Hill and to see the troll in Fremont.  They visited them all.
• We recommended going to Paseo for a sandwich if they were going to Fremont. She texted me that it was the best sandwich that she or her brother ever had.

 My observations of S & D/Learnings from S & D: 

• LaPaz, Bolivia has what is considered to be the most dangerous road in the world due to extreme elevation, blind curves and landslides. She advised you can arrange bike tours to ride it.
• Salar de Uyuni, Lake Titicaca and LaPaz are must sees.
• She said if we were ever in Denver, Vegas or Bolivia, she had friends or relatives that could host us.
• They were some of the most conscientious surfers I ever had. They prepared and made dinner for us. I tell all guests they can take anything out of our fridge to eat, but they bought all food/drinks for themselves and for us to share. They always took their trash and recyclables out themselves. They never argued with each other like most siblings do. You could tell they were very close and kind to each other.
• I told her of my intention of going there some day and she wrote down places to see, towns to visit, restaurants to go to and general Boliva pointers.
• S actually contacted me from Bolivia a few months later asking if I was coming to visit to make sure we could meet up and get hosted. Unfortunately, my plans fell through and ended up not going to Bolivia.
• D gave me one of the best compliments I’ve ever had as a host-“I feel like I’m home”
• They woke up early to present me with a drawing they made of Bolivia as a parting gift.

Related Articles:

• See what a 33 year old from Slovenia thought of Seattle
• See what a 24 year old from Taiwan thought of Seattle
• See what a 36 year old from Japan thought of Seattle
• See what a 30 year old from Spain thought of Seattle

T(Female-34) was from Thailand. T is a rarity. She’s a person from Thailand who is traveling abroad to the US. We rarely see travelers from Thailand, so we jumped at the chance to host her. She only spent one night with us after spending the previous two nights in a hostel in Belltown. Prior to being in Seattle she was in Florida for work(medicine) and a little play. She was in South Beach for 2 days and Key Largo for 5 days. She decided to stop in Seattle on her way back to Thailand.  She met me in downtown after work and we caught the bus back to our place.  

T’s Questions/Observations about the US: 

• She asked a lot of questions about Pampers after seeing a TV commercial. She mentioned disposable diapers are for the rich in Thailand, so she was surprised that it was the norm in the US.  

• She also saw a riding lawn mower on TV and thought it was the funniest thing she’d ever seen. It was the first time she’d seen a huge machine used for cutting grass. 
• She was also really interested in all the smart phone commercials and how astronomical the prices in the US are.  
• Said they don’t show many American shows but she likes Law and Order, Criminal Mind, Once Upon a Time. 

T’s Questions/Observations about Seattle: 

• She arrived at Seatac at night and took the Link Light Rail to Westlake then walked to her hostel in Belltown. She advised that she wasn’t used to seeing so many homeless people, which scared her and she refused to go out of the hostel after 8:00pm for the two nights she stayed there. Perhaps, too much Criminal Mind and Law and Order?
• She bought a city pass and went to Woodland Zoo, Space Needle and visited Pike Place Market. She was also able to walk around Green Lake. 
• She was shocked how many Asians there were in Seattle.  She mentioned this many times. 
• She had been to Germany for six weeks and asked if there were any German pubs in the area, so we ended up at Die Beir Stube. I don’t know what made her think there would be a German pub in Seattle, but she was pleasantly surprised when there was one. I told her there are quite a few in Seattle.  
• While walking around Green Lake, she went to Greg’s Bicycle to try and find a shirt “that shows off muscles” for her friend’s brother. She didn’t find any at a bike shop of course, but told her to go to a sporting goods store and look for Under Armour. 

 My observations of T/Learnings from T: 

• She’d been to Cambodia, China, England, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Laos, Latvia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, Russian Federation, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, United Kingdom, United States, Vietnam. She said India is her favorite and has been twice(solo), but she always gets scammed when she’s there. Once a tuktuk driver to over 4 hours to get her to her hostel. 
• She said that the Thailand king(recently passed away) is revered and popular because of the good he’s done for the country not just because he is king, but people do equate the Royal Family with gods.  It’s taboo to talk bad about the Royal Family, but people see the Royal Family indulging in fancy things with tax money like going to Koh Samui via airplane and taking tons of navy people to protect them 

• She said she’s an introvert, so she loves listening, but doesn’t do a lot of talking. She requested, “Please don’t think I’m boring. I’m just quiet”. 

   Related Articles:

• See what a 36 year old from Korea thought of Seattle
• See what a 28 year old from Ireland thought of Seattle
• See what a 24 year old from Taiwan thought of Seattle
• See what a 36 year old from Japan thought of Seattle

A(Male-28) was from Dublin, Ireland. He spent 8 months at University of Chicago and a few months at University of Michigan doing research in biology.  He had about a month and a half to travel in the US until going back to Ireland. Upon his return to Ireland, he will spend one week at home in Dublin and then move to Edinburgh, Scotland for his Phd.  I told A to meet me a Trabant(now Slate) in Pioneer Square. He had spent the previous night in Seattle in a motel in a shady area of SODO.  He ended up staying for two nights. We did a lot of drinking and talking.

A’s Questions/Observations about the US: 

• He really enjoyed his time in Chicago and the US in general due to it’s diversity in people and variety in food, which he said Ireland is lacking in both. Said he’ll miss tacos the most.  

• His favorite city was New Orleans because it’s so different from the rest of the cities. He said he couldn’t bring himself to carry around a drink in the streets, because it just felt wrong.   
• Coincidentally, an Anthony Bourdain episode on Dublin was on TV while he stayed with us. He found it really fascinating what this American thought about Dublin’s restaurant and pubs. 
• Said he talks in a modified “US” Irish accent because if he talked with his normal Irish accent, nobody in the US would understand him. Even with his modified accent, I had a hard time understanding him.
• Like many of my other foreign visitors, commented on how clear my HD TV is. It’s just a normal TV from Costco, so maybe HD is not prevalent in many countries yet. 
• Found US people very helpful. In fact he got a job after meeting somebody at a Couchsurfing event in Chicago which stopped him from having to leave the US. And it was only a week before his deadline to leave if he did not have a job. 

 A’s Questions/Observations about Seattle: 

• Somebody else on Couchsurfing in Seattle agreed to host A, but when he replied he misspelled her name because he was using his cell phone. She got upset and didn’t want to host him anymore. He said that was his first impression of a Seattlite. 
• Really enjoyed Pike Place market, but wasn’t impressed with the gum wall because they have one in Dublin too. Wanted tacos so we went to Los Agaves and wanted a patio, so we went to Maxmillien for drinks. He really liked the “secrecy” of the Maxmillien patio. 
• Also enjoyed Discovery Park. He thought the views of the water and the park itself were great and was shocked that a park that big would be so near to downtown. 

My observations of A/Learnings from A: 

• He had been to the US 4 times before and had traveled to Chicago, NY, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, DC, Knoxville, Atlanta, New Orleans, Austin, San Francisco. I thought he must travel a lot in Europe, so I asked where he’d been. He’d only been to 3 countries outside of Ireland. He advised he hasn’t travelled a lot in Europe because everything is so close and he takes it for granted. 
• He said a lot of young people in Ireland leave to Canada and Australia for construction jobs. They make a lot of money overseas, the countries speak English and these countries heavily recruit in Ireland because they know there are a lack of jobs there.   
• He said he believes it’s a good idea for people to leave Ireland and work abroad so that when they come back to Ireland they can bring new ideas back with them. 

• He said in Ireland they are trying to pass a law that allows old people to drink and drive, because old people are just staying at home because they can’t drink and drive and there’s no public transport and they can’t afford a taxi. He doesn’t think it will pass.  
• He said Dublin doesn’t have popular sights so he believes it’s boring and visitors only need to stay for just two days.  
• We talked about Northern Ireland and Ireland. He explained half of North Ireland is Catholic and half Protestant, which is why they are part of the UK. There is one county up north that is fully Catholic, but can’t be a part of Ireland due to geography. The IRA is active in Northern Ireland and had a “peace” treaty signed, but there was a splinter group who then also signed a treaty, but then another splinter group was created.  
•  Said that the Irish can relate to Palestines due to their common histories. I found this really interesting.  

 UPDATE: During my trip to Ireland in 2018, we met up for dinner and drinks, so he returned the favor

 Related Articles:

• See what a 34 year old from Thailand thought of Seattle
• See what a 25 year old from Finland thought of Seattle
• See what a 35 year old from France thought of Seattle
• See what a 30 year old from Spain thought of Seattle

This is the fifth in a series of What Visitors Think of Seattle.  We’re big fans of Couchsurfing. We’ve had the pleasure of hosting over 40 visitors from around the US and Internationally.  Visitors always have interesting observations about Seattle and it’s great seeing Seattle through the lens of a fresh pair of eyes. We profile some of our visitors and noted their comments about Seattle, the US and some of our learning about where they’re from.

“A” (Female-36) was from Sapporo, Japan. She only stayed one night in Seattle, but before that she stayed at a tree house hotel out in Issaquah before coming to our place.  She mentioned she had an infatuation with tree houses and it’s one of the main reasons she decided to visit Washington. Her goal was to one day build and live in a tree house. Before she went to Issaquah she spent 2 nights in San Francisco. She actually spent 3 years in the US going to high school in Orange County on an exchange program.  The area she went to school was the same area where they filmed the MTV series, The Hills. She said she was picked on a lot by the popular girls, which if you’ve seen the series, doesn’t surprise me. In Japan, she’s an editor for a local TV station, mainly editing sports footage. She’s used couchsurfing before in India and Turkey.  We talked about Akira Kurosawa(movie director) and Haruki Murakami(author), which was refreshing to get a Japanese person’s perspective.

A’s Questions/Observations about the US:

• When it came to bringing back souvenirs to bring back home she wanted to go to a grocery store(Safeway) and knew exactly what she wanted to bring home:
  • Cheetos
  • Chile Cheese Fritos
  • 3 boxes of brownie mix,
  • 2 boxes of poppy lemon muffin mix
  • 5 boxes of sprinkles for cupcakes/cakes
  • 2 bags of corn tortillas
  • humus
  • 3 cases of frosting

Apparently none of this stuff is in Japan. She also thought about purchasing canned albacore tuna and asked my        opinion about giving it as a gift. I told her if I got a can of tuna as a gift I would think, “how strange”.  She cracked up and put it back.

• • She thought it strange that Americans wore shoes in the house since it dirties up the house especially in Seattle where it gets muddy. She told me a story of a girl she hosted from Boston through couchsurfing and although this girl took off her shoes when entering A’s house, she was mortified because her feet were so dirty. So A made the girl from Boston immediately wash her feet.
  • She also thought it was strange about genders using the same towel. She had a guy from the Netherlands she hosted through couchsurfing and he didn’t bring his own towel. This is normal when your traveling, right? Not to A. He used her towel after taking a shower and she was again mortified, because “he’s a guy and I’m a girl”! Not sure if this is a Japanese thing or A’s personal preference.

A’s Questions/Observations about Seattle:

• • She wanted to see the first Starbucks in Pike Place Market.  Starbucks is sort of a status symbol in Asia and she thought it was special to get some type of memorabilia from the first store.  I didn’t know this, but there are actually mugs and other things that prove you bought it from this particular store.  Of course there was a long line to get in but getting items maked, “1^st Store”  was worth it.
  • She also wanted to go to Gas Works Park. Besides tree house, A really loved anything “industrial” and thought it was really ingenious how Seattle incorporated the out-of-date machinery with a green area and thought Seattle was pretty progressive.
  • Like other visitors that have been taken to Kerry Park, A declared, “I really feel like I’m in Seattle now!”

My Learnings/Observations from A:

• • Explained that Sapporo is in Hokkaido, which is the Japanese island shaped like a sting ray and is like the Alaska of Japan.  It’s funny she described Hokkaido as sting ray shaped, because I always thought the same thing.
  • Advised that Sapporo hosted the Winter Olympics in 1972 and was the first Asian city to do so.  1972 Olympics are always remembered for the Summer Olympics in Munich that nobody ever remembers the Winter Olympics.
  • All Japanese work for 10 hours every weekday until they retire. Her work actually only gave her a week off, so due to having traveling a day each way, she only had 5 days to spend in the US. For this reason she took lots of naps during her time in the US to stay on Japan time since she was going back so soon.
  • In Japan they pronounce piroshky as po-ro-she-key.
  • Most people in big cities in Japan understand and can speak English, but they won’t talk English because they are too embarrassed.  They will however bend over backwards to help anyway they can.  From my experience in Japan I can attest to bending over backwards to help visitors.

This is the forth in a series of What Visitors Think of Seattle.  We’re big fans of Couchsurfing. We’ve had the pleasure of hosting over 40 visitors from around the US and Internationally.  Visitors always have interesting observations about Seattle and it’s great seeing Seattle through the lens of a fresh pair of eyes. We profile some of our visitors and noted their comments about Seattle, the US and some of our learning about where they’re from.

N (female-25) was from Helsinki, Finland. She only stayed for one night in Seattle. She was just traveling through going from Vancouver to Los Angeles. She got to my place by bus. We talked and got to know each other while we walked my dog around the neighborhood and then stopped off at a grocery store where she picked up ingredients for dinner and dessert, which she prepared as a thank you for hosting her. She’d been in Vancouver for the last 4 months on an exchange program and prior to that lived in Australia for 6 months and South Africa for 2 months. Her plan was to meet her boyfriend from Germany at Seatac the next day, rent a car and go on a road trip down the West Coast, then Utah where her boyfriend would go back to Germany. She will stay in Utah with some Mormon friends she met while they were on a mission in Helsinki. She had previously couchsurfed in London, Cape Town and Israel. 

 N’s Questions/Observations about the US:  

• She asked what she should do in Utah. Told her to check out Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park 
• She asked about NYC. I told her Highline, Central Park, a free ferry ride on Long island Ferry and the names of some speakeasy bars. My personal opinion was to pass on Empire State Building and Times Square. 
• Asked for a typical “American” breakfast the next morning so I made eggs, bacon, hash browns and OJ.  

N’s Questions/Observations about Seattle:  

• A nice Seattle story: I instructed her to reach my place via bus from downtown, a $2.75 ride. She only had a $20 and asked the bus driver for change like back home in Finland and the driver said, “Are you serious?” A passenger overheard the conversation and tried to pay the fare for N with her Orca card, but it wasn’t working, so another passenger stepped up and paid with her card and then talked to her while on the bus. When she got off at her stop another rider who also got off walked her to my place to make sure she got there safely, knowing she was a visitor. N said the people here are so nice. I told her I was glad she met some nice people. Way to step up Seattlites! 
• She was surprised by all the homeless people in Seattle since there are no homeless in Finland. 

 My Learnings/Observations from N:  

• I told her how my philosophy has always been that strangers had to “earn” my friendship, but I had just recently changed my philosophy to “you are automatically my friend until you prove otherwise”, which is one of the reasons I started hosting couchsurfers. She said, “I like that! I’m using it too!” 
• I told her a previous couchsurfer told a story of being in Finland and going to a sauna where you beat other people in the sauna with a branch. This couchsurfer told me that a local stranger sharing the sauna space asked him to beat him with the branch and got mad when the couchsurfer didn’t hit him hard enough. I thought he was exaggerating, but N replied, “That sounds so Finnish”, so I guess he wasn’t lying.  
• Apparently, it’s normal to get undressed in front of roommates/ acquaintances since nudity in Finland is not a big deal. So when she started undressing in front of her roommates in Vancouver for the first time, they said, “What are you doing?” and thought she was crazy. 
• University is paid for as long as you pass the entry exam in Finland. N was shocked and curious how college students in the US handle all their student loan debts. 
• All people are proud of their country, but N was especially proud of Finland and considered herself an ambassador. She made a Finnish dinner and dessert(she left me the recipe) and played Finnish music on her computer as she cooked and we ate.  
• Although we spent less than 24 hours together, N was really easy to get along with. We talked about the book, The Alchemist, which is one of my favorites and she pointed out how easy it is to bond when you’re relying on the kindness of a stranger to provide a place to stay on pure faith. She surmised that she probably knows me better in our short time together than the coworker next to me at work, which is probably true.  

• Favorite movies:Notebook. Music:Jack Johnson, Keane, Miles Davis, Damien Rice. Hobbies: cycling 

Related Articles:

• See what a 33 year old from Slovenia thought
• See what a 24 year old from Taiwan thought
• See what a 36 year old from Japan thought
• See what a 30 year old from Spain thought

This is the third in a series of What Visitors Think of Seattle.  We’re big fans of Couchsurfing. We’ve had the pleasure of hosting over 40 visitors from around the US and Internationally.  Visitors always have interesting observations about Seattle and it’s great seeing Seattle through the lens of a fresh pair of eyes. We profile some of our visitors and noted their comments about Seattle, the US and some of our learning about where they’re from.

B (male-35) was from France.  He had only one day in Seattle and was looking for a place to stay and was willing to put up a tent in somebody’s backyard. Since we had a room available, he stayed with us. He’d been in Seattle for a few days staying in a hostel before he came to stay with us for the one night. I told him to meet me after work around 5:00pm in downtown at the corner of 6th and Pine, but found him one block over. He was born in Belgium, grew up in France near Paris, but his family was originally from Italy and his grandparents still live there. He said they make their own olive oil and use about a liter a week. Whoa. That’s a lot of olive oil! He was backpacking through North America for about a year without a real plan. He’s also backpacked in India, Vietnam, Russia and South Africa. One of his hobbies was Karate and his sensei studied in Japan for 15 years. We took a bus back to my place and I had to walk my dog. I gave him the option to relax at my place, but he wanted to accompany us on our walk around Green Lake Park. We went to grab dinner and a drink and that was about it. The next day he was catching a ferry to Bremerton and then a bus to Aberdeen to try to get a job on a sailboat, one of his passions. His goal was to get a job working on a sailboat up and down the West Coast.  

What he did while in Seattle:  

Day 1-Met in downtown after I got off work at 5:00. Prior to meeting me he went to Sculpture Park, Pike Place and Seattle Art Museum(SAM).   Had dinner at Pho 65(no longer in business) and went to a bar, so he could watch the last portion of FC Barcelona vs Munich Bayern.  

B’s Questions/Observations about the US:  

• He asked if Americans really do like Budweiser. He really liked Mac and Jacks. I told him I don’t know anybody who drinks it regularly other than poor college students, but they have over 43% of the market share in the US, so there are a lot of people who like it. Note: Miller/Coors has 25% of the market. 
• He asked what happens to drunk drivers in the US. Told him they lose their license, pay fines, and increased insurance rates. Guess it doesn’t happen much where he lives because of public transportation. 
• Tried to explain baseball while we had a beer and it was on TV, but his eyes just glazed over. 
• Was surprised I picked up my dog’s crap on our walk. If you’ve ever been to other parts of the world, especially in Europe and South America, they don’t do this. Reminds me of a comedian’s bit where he said if Martians came to Earth and saw a human and dog walking, the Martian would think that dogs ruled the world because there was an animal walking behind picking up their crap.  
• Asked if the Grand Canyon was worth going to. Of course I said, “yes!” 

 B’s Questions/Observations about Seattle:  

• Seattle story-he went to SAM(Seattle Art Museum) for the sole purposes of using the restroom. At first, the front desk said he had to pay, but once they found out he was traveling the world they let him in for free. I don’t think he was even aware it was a museum when he first walked in. 
• He really enjoyed Green Lake Park and observed how healthy people were in Seattle compared to the rest of the US 
• He thought the pho here compared very well with the pho in Vietnam, except the price of course.  

 My Learnings/Observations from B:  

• He owned a frozen yogurt shop back home and met a girl who was a customer. They hit it off. So he sold his house and shop and decided to “runaway” and travel together and go Wwoofing. They did it for a while, but she decided to move to Montreal so that was that.  
• He told me the story of a friend and his girlfriend who went around the world on bikes, but when they got to Cambodia, they had a fight and broke up. So she went back home to Paris and he went on to Thailand on his bike. He ended up meeting a Thai girl, got together and opened a restaurant there. Although the story is entertaining, what I remember most about it is that he started laughing and slapped my arm when finishing the story. 
• I told him I had just watched the movie, Intouchables(I definitely recommend it), and advised the main actor is a really famous comedian in France and not really an actor.  
• Like a lot of travelers he really liked the movie, Into the Wild. 
• B had a very easy-going way of traveling. He really had no plans and just went to wherever sounded interesting and stayed for as long as he felt comfortable.  

Related Articles

• See what a 28 year old from Ireland thought
• See what a 34 year old from Thailand thought
• See what a 25 year old from Finland thought
• See what a 35 year old from France thought

This is the second in a series of What Visitors Think of Seattle.  We’re big fans of Couchsurfing. We’ve had the pleasure of hosting over 40 visitors from around the US and Internationally.  Visitors always have interesting observations about Seattle and it’s great seeing Seattle through the lens of a fresh pair of eyes. We profile some of our visitors and noted their comments about Seattle, the US and some of our learning about where they’re from.

“E” (a 33 year old female) was from Slovenia.  She was visiting from Vancouver, where she was working. She came to Seattle for only one night because her visa in Canada was only good for 6 months, so she made a quick trip to the US so that her visa could be renewed.

Like so many folks from Vancouver, she took the Bolt Bus to downtown Seattle. Back in Slovenia she was a freelance journalist who did photography on the side, but while in Vancouver she worked on Granville Island at a wine shop since wine was a passion of hers.

As a journalist in Slovenia, she mainly wrote environmental pieces and traveled all over the country to write stories of people who are doing things to help the environment. She left Slovenia due to a lack of journalism jobs and just a needed life change. When traveling she always uses couchsurfing and has never had a bad experience. She’d traveled all over Europe, Asia and parts of Africa.

What she did while in Seattle:  

Day 1-Met in downtown while I was working and told her to meet me back at 5:00 so we could take bus back to my place together. During this time she went to Capitol Hill, had empanadas, walked to Pioneer Square and then to Pike Place market. We then had dinner prepared by my other couchsurfer, M, and we all went to a karaoke bar.    

E’s Questions/Observations about the US:  

• Like many visitors, she had questions about the elections. 
• She noted that Americans and Canadians travel very differently. Most Americans travel within the US and most Canadians travel around the world.  
• She wanted to know the history of Cuba/US relation.   
• She said the impression of people in her country are that Americans are dumb since most Slovenians have never met an American and their only “interaction” is based off of TV and movies.    

E’s Questions/Observations about Seattle:  

• Since she is a wine enthusiast, I opened a bottle of Roosevelt Red from a local winery, Eight Bells Winery. She really enjoyed it and was surprised about the abundance and quality of wine in our area.  
• When we went to a karaoke bar, she initially got a Corona. I let her taste my Manny’s Pale Ale and she liked it and got a pint.  

My Learnings/Observations from E:  

• She had strong opinions on the way Slovenia handles taxes and college. Since college is funded by the government, you end up having students who try to take advantage of the system by going to college for 10 years.  

• Also because companies get subsidies for hiring students while they’re still in school, it’s also an incentive to stay in college as long as possible because students are likely to be let go by the company without the help of the government subsidy.  
• With a high tax rate there is no incentive to work when you can be a student and chill.  
• While watching TV, she about fell on the floor laughing at a Subway commercial where people are breaking chairs, splitting their pants, have buttons popping of their shirt because they are obese. She thought is was a strange portrayal of Americans.  

• She had a strong interest in my pictures of street food from my travels and Luke Chueh prints. 
• Although I offered her anything in my fridge for eating, she insisted on going to the grocery store. I literally had to tell her if she didn’t help me eat some of my food, it would go bad and I’d have to throw it away, before she hesitantly relented.  

Upon her return to Slovenia, E ended up establishing a business, a food and wine tasting walking tour in her home city.  

• See what a 28 year old from Ireland thought
• See what a 34 year old from Thailand thought
• See what a 25 year old from Finland thought
• See what a 35 year old from France thought