Editor’s note: Merel van Kesteren, a 16-year old exchange student from Amsterdam, the Netherlands, recently visited Bainbridge Island and the Review. Here’s what she found.

BY MEREL VAN KESTEREN

Last month, I travelled from the Netherlands to Bainbridge Island to work on an international placement project about photography and journalism for two weeks.

Therefore, I got to interview reporter Luciano Marano and editor Brian Kelly at the Bainbridge Review, and Tim Connolly at Fenwick Publishing. Since it was my first time ever in the States, I noticed a lot of cultural differences.

Firstly, when I looked out of my window in the plane, I was amazed by how many colourful trees, huge houses, bridges and mountains there were.

After the arrival, the tall skyscrapers from Seattle appeared when we drove to the ferry.

The island was much more green and bigger than I expected. Also, the people were very creative, kind and aware of the environment.

I loved being so close to the forest and admiring the nature. However, as a Dutch person, it was actually very strange for me to see everyone using their cars for everything.

Where I live, everybody cycles to their school, work and friends. I did really like the yellow school buses, though. They made me feel like I was in an American movie.

I also visited Bainbridge High School. It was a little confusing when the entire class got up in the morning to say the pledge, since we don’t have anything like this in my school. A lesson that really inspired me was “Religion Studies,” because learning about religions like Buddhism is very important for understanding the power of positivity.

Going downtown to Winslow was a lot of fun. The shops and houses were beautifully decorated for Halloween and I have seen the most original costumes ever. Halloween is so much more festive in the U.S. Furthermore, there were a lot of cute shops in Winslow, such as the Blackbird Bakery and Danger. It is funny to mention that my name, Merel, means Blackbird in Dutch.

Visiting the pumpkin patch, the local Museum of Art and the Historical Museum were great experiences as well. Something that is probably the most normal thing for Americans, but I had never seen before was “bulk shopping” in the supermarket. This is actually so efficient! I also couldn’t get used to the fact that people leave their doors unlocked. Not only the doors of their houses, but also their office and cars.

A stereotype about America is said to be that everything is very big. And I have to admit, going shopping in Silverdale actually did prove that right for me. A single store there was as big as a complete shopping centre where I live. Also there were so many different choices in food, I had to bring a lot of candy home for my friends.

Moreover, I had my first ever eggnog, caramel apple, candy corn and pumpkin pie, which were all really tasty.

Lastly, going into Seattle was so cool.

We went up to the 73th floor of the Columbia Tower, which I can recommend doing. The view was stunning, there are so many new and high buildings. The aquarium, museum, Pike Place Market and the Gum Wall were places I really liked (although the Gum on the wall was a bit gross as well). Something that did grab my attention though, was that there were many homeless people in the city.

The haunted house during Halloween inside the old morgue was frightening, but they did such a good job.

Being on the ferry was something I enjoyed, too. Seeing the lights of the skyline of Seattle disappearing and then approaching the harbor of the island was very nice.

All in all, I had a very good time and it was an incredible experience I will never forget. I also want to thank everyone involved for making this possible.