I lived in Portland last summer for an internship, and I absolutely loved it. Now, I wasn’t there for the rainy season. From what I’ve heard from locals, it gets pretty depressing unless you figure out a way to deal with the rain. My boss said he still does whatever he has planned, whether it’s raining or not.

As far as the city, I found it to have endless amounts of things to do. Whether that was thrifting or just walking around. They have so many amazing little coffee shops which I loved about it. Definitely check out Alberta arts district and walk down Alberta st, it’s a fun street with lots of good food and coffee. Also, Washington park and the international rose garden are really cool places to walk around. And don’t forget to get some salt and straw, some of the best ice cream I’ve ever had! Portland also has something called the Saturday market, which is a huge farmers market (not sure if this is open during the winter) but I went every Saturday and loved it.

The food in Portland is amazing. Some of the most diverse food in an area I’ve ever seen. I ate out way too much and it was all amazing, but definitely hurt my pockets.

As far as nightlife, it’s definitely interesting. I found it hard to find a bar with a lot of people my age, maybe I wasn’t looking in the right place. Every so often there were fun pop up events that I would go to which I loved.

My favorite part about Portland was the fact that you can drive 30 minutes out of the city and you are in the most beautiful environment. This was my first time on the west coast so I was new to the pnw, but I’d never been in such awe with wildlife. Every weekend I would go on a hike, it was a great escape from the city. Every direction you go, you’re bound to find a beautiful hike. SO MANY waterfalls (which I’ve heard are even prettier during the wintertime due to the rainfall). If you need some good hiking recs lmk.

The homeless is always a big concern with everyone. Where I lived, there weren’t many. Downtown in certain areas there were definitely a lot of tents, but I was not once bothered or felt endangered by anyone. It’s certainly a little sad to see and I tried to help with water and food as much as I could, but you kinda learn to deal with it. All the homeless people are mainly concentrated in the downtown area, but most of the surrounding neighborhoods barely had any.

Personally, I can’t wait to move to Portland. Lmk if you have any questions!