I have set a goal of visiting at least 10 different states during my US trip. So far, I've made it to three, with plans for six more tentatively in the pipeline. Today I'm going to write about state # 2: Washington State, and its capital Seattle.

The home of Boeing, Amazon, and Microsoft, Seattle is nestled between the Olympia mountains to the west, and the Cascade mountains to the east. A seaport city, the Pugent Sound winds north ...

One of the most exciting things about being a computer scientist and visiting the Bay Area is the proliferation of amazing technology companies. Berkeley and Stanford have exceptional computer science programs that supply and are supplied by the companies of the Bay.

Nestled in the heart of Silicon Valley in Palo Alto, Stanford University is one of the top academic institutions in the world. With just 15,000 students on an enormous campus, the university feels incredibly spacious and well ...

Last weekend, I went on a trip to the Contra Costa county, to the east of the Bay Area. Run by the Rotary club, the trip was designed to give international students a taste of country life in California, and how Americans who didn't dwell in the more urban areas made their lives. The day included visits to a nursery, a farm, a ranch, an olive oil plantation, and a historic preserved ranch.

The country areas of northern California ...

A few weekends ago, I went with a group of fellow international students to hire bikes and pedal around San Francisco. This was the first time I really explored the city and its western and northern most areas.

We spent around seven hours all up pedaling around the city, and saw many amazing things. We also experienced the fickleness of San Francisco weather: the conditions varied from brilliant sunshine to chilly overcast to icy winds as we ventured through the ...

A couple of weeks ago I went camping at Big Sur, south of Monterey and Carmel on the California State Route 1. It was a lovely spot, and we spent time on a very windy beach, eating S'mores around a campfire, and enjoying being away from civilisation. A very American camping experience!

Once we packed up and headed for home, we detoured south to the lovely McWay Falls near the Julia Pfeiffer Burns National Park. The whole area is ...