Portland

Over the weekend, I was lucky enough to be able to go to Portland, Oregon with some of my classmates for a conference. We arrived on Wednesday and didn't return to Ohio until late Sunday evening. I had never been out west before, I have only driven down south to states like Florida. That's why I was so excited to go on this trip. I wanted to experience a new place.

There were a lot of things to do in Portland. While the conference and its panels were interesting, I mostly just wanted to explore the city. My classmates and I tried going to different restaurants every day so that we could try new foods that weren't available to us in Ohio. I got to try real dumplings for the first time at Frank's Noodle House while we were there, and they were delicious! We also went to Powell's City of Books, which was a huge book store that took up a whole city block! I had never seen so many books before in my entire life, but I limited myself to only buying a few. We also explored the Lan Su Chinese Gardens while we were in town since it was only a twenty-minute hike from the conference center. We walked over one of Portland's many bridges, which was a cool experience on its own. While it's usually pretty rainy in Oregon, we were lucky enough to have beautiful weather! In the evenings, we had nice meals outside where we enjoyed the lovely sixty-degree weather. I was a little heartbroken to have to fly back to Ohio, but I'm glad to be back at ONU again. If you're ever looking for a place to go, I would definitely recommend Portland!