Boulder City & Halloween

Today I send you greetings from beautiful Boulder! Have you never heard of Boulder except for climbing? I hadn't either before. Boulder is the 8th largest city in Colorado with approximately 100,000 inhabitants. But even though the city is relatively 'small', it is home to the most important university in Colorado, the 'University of Colorado at Boulder'. But Boulder is worth a visit not only because of all the students: It also features beautiful mountain and rock landscapes that create a beautiful cityscape. In addition, Boulder has been awarded the title of the most bike-friendly city in the USA and has an average of 300 days of sunshine per year...after hearing about all these criteria, I simply knew: I have to go to Boulder :)

And here I had my first really amazing couchsurfing experience. I am staying with a very nice, recently married couple. Becca, the lady of the house, is 5 months pregnant. It is fascinating to see how excited the couple is for the baby and how happy they are. They welcomed me with joy and immediately showed me the farmers market in Boulder, and then cooked with me. Since pregnant women need a lot of rest, I explored Boulder Downtown on my own afterwards and was thrilled by the beauty of this little town :) Wherever you go and look, you will see the beautiful mountains

Park in Boulder

But I found out that it's not just well-behaved, hard-working students who live here when I explored the surrounding neighborhoods. Simply amazing: Numerous student bars, restaurants, and shops are nestled in the beautiful mountain scenery. And drinking and partying go on here from the afternoon until late at night. An incredible atmosphere of relaxed, fun-loving students. It is hard to overlook the fact that this city is also home to people with hippie and eco-friendly attitudes.

After seeing so much partying, I couldn't miss out on having my own party. So I am very grateful that my couchsurfing hosts took me to a real Halloween house party. It was very exciting to experience American party culture. People drink at least as much as in Germany, but drugs are taken much more frequently. It is amazing how much effort people put into their Halloween costumes and how elaborate the decorations are in the houses here. And all this for just one long Halloween weekend, fascinating. The costumes here don't necessarily have to be scary for Halloween like they do for us. Many people here dress up for Halloween just like we would for carnival. Apart from that, Halloween is similar here to what it is in Germany: mainly children go from house to house to collect candy. The most popular candy here is Reese's. Do you know them? Chocolate filled with peanut butter, simply too delicious. Young adults get together for parties on Halloween, and as you would expect in Colorado: for drinking beer :D Many adults here also organize horror movie nights for Halloween. So Halloween is similar here to what it is in Germany, only everything is a bit more intense and lasts longer.

I am thrilled by how friendly the people at the party were towards me. Americans are clearly more open to strangers than Germans. Even without knowing each other, people start conversations and everyone just celebrates together. Americans often mention our German reserve. Why is that? What are we often afraid of when it comes to interacting with people from other cultures? Taking this openness and willingness to help, especially towards people from other cultures, back to Germany is definitely on my to-do list. Especially since I have now experienced myself how important and exciting it is as a foreigner to be integrated by other people.