Day 1!

After 10 hours of traveling and a 3 hour time change, I am officially settled into Seattle! I got in last night at 8:30 Eastern time, or 5:30 Pacific time. Work at Amazon Web Services starts tomorrow, so it's nice to get a couple days to explore before the craziness begins. I'm staying in corporate housing: a really nice apartment building in downtown Seattle. The apartment and the city are absolutely gorgeous! It is the definition of a walking city; the Space Needle is just a few blocks away as well as Amazon's campus.

Taken across the street from my apartment! 

I went to dinner last night at a restaurant close to the apartment with my roommate and a couple other girls who have the same job as us. I noticed that there weren't any people on the street at 7:00 pm local time on a Saturday night, which would never happen in Boston. But maybe they just eat dinner later? Or the city hasn't snapped back yet after New Year? I'm going to go with those options instead of the scarier one: no one lives here...

The view from my room is AMAZING!! Like I literally can't handle it. And since it's sunny today (WOO!) it is absolutely breathtaking. I'm trying to take advantage of this beautiful weather before it gets cloudy & rainy and gross, which I know it will.

So today, I walked around the famous Pike Place Market with a few of the other Northeastern co-ops. There were lots of people there, so I'm no longer concerned for the lack of population. We saw the fish throwing and the waterfront and the first Starbucks ever and all of the other famous things I've been hearing and reading about for the past 3 months. It truly is as amazing as everyone says. Food, vendors, shops and everything is super cool and local.

Main sign for Pike Place Market, local art, first Starbucks sign, views from the Waterfront

Grocery shopping was an interesting experience. It was at a store I've never heard of and brands I don't recognize. And since we're in the heart of the city, it's crazy expensive, too. $7 for a bear of honey! Like, really?! Thank God for the steady income I'm about to have. And I could only get a small bag of carrots, which will last me all of maybe 4 days.

And this is only the beginning. Check back soon to see what's new in the Emerald City!