This morning I woke up around 8AM and met Howard at around 9AM. We drove up to Frisco, a working-class/tourist town which seems to serve as a commuter town for the workers in Breckenridge. We ate lunch at Butterhorn Bakery, which had large portions and was very delicious. (http://www.yelp.com/biz/butterhorn-bakery-and-cafe-frisco).
Afterwards, we continued on to Breckenridge, the legendary ski resort town. The ski-resort was founded in the 1960s when three Norwegian skiers convinced a businessman about the financial possibilities of opening up a ski resort in the Breckenridge area. In its heyday in the mid-to-late 1800s, like many other Colorado Mountain towns, Breckenridge was a mining town, and has since become one of most upscale ski-resort towns in the Western United States. A quaint, scenic river runs through town parallel to Main Street. Main Street is filled with art galleries, boutique shops, restaurants, bars, and other speciality shops. Apparently, during the month of May (AKA “Mud Season”) most of the businesses in town are closed. During May, the ski slopes are shut down and the recreational possibilities are suspended as the snow melts thereby creating muddy slopes and trails. Once June comes around, the trails are dry and ideal for hikers and mountain bikers. At this point, most of the businesses reopen as tourists/visitors return to Breckenridge.
After walking up and down Main Street, we stopped for a drink at Starbucks. Howard shared some photos that he’s taken over the years during his travels, which he airdropped onto my iPhone. Here are some of the photos:
This morning, Dana Oy (https://www.couchsurfing.com/people/dana.oy), a young lady from Kazakhstan responded to one of my Couchsurfer postings asking whether I’d like to meet up for lunch or dinner in Downtown Denver. I told her that I’d be heading to Boulder for a couchsurfing Meetup and we agreed to Carpool. We arrived in Boulder at about 6PM, shared a pizza at a pub and then walked over to the Couchsurfing Meetup. I enjoyed meeting people including a mailman, Au-pairs from Columbia (Laura), an engineer from India (Sri), and many more. As always, it was a friendly crowd and another great experience.
Dana is an extremely intelligent, philosophical, introspective, individualistic, adventurous, free-thinking 27-year old. We spoke about marriage, love, the purpose of life, and more. She’s heavily involved in the EDM/rave scene and is living life for the moment. Since graduating from college, she has been working as an intern for five years in five different countries. Although on the surface that seems sort of unproductive and pointless, she’s been taking advantage of traveling, hasn’t gotten into debt, and has been covering her expenses. Seems like she’s doing at least as well as most “working” college grads in the United States.
One of the topics we discussed was the differences between US culture and European culture. She mentioned that if she had the opportunity to settle in one place for the rest of her life it would be Europe, not the United States. Her insights were especially interesting on this topic:
- In the United States, people equate status/value with achievement. There’s too much competition in school, wealth, family. People always ask, “what school did you graduate from?” or “What do you do for a living?” In Europe, people don’t ask this question
- In the United States, friendliness is only on the surface (it’s easier to talk to people but harder to make friends). Germany is vice versa (Americans are like a peach) (Germans are like a coconut).
- In the United States, there is too much small talk. In Europe, people are more straightforward
- In the United States, people are too materialistic (probably caused by capitalism,Government/media controls and brainwashes).
- In the United States, guys are more likely to harass girls. There is more objectifying, and this is likely caused by the movies/media. In Europe, there are no college dorms
- The United States is a more individualistic country (every person for themselves), whereas Europe is more socialist/collectivism (free education, healthcare)
She also recommended I check out a banned Ted Talk about the role of drugs in increasing consciousness:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0c5nIvJH7w&w=560&h=315]
And just because Vanessa Carlton is a timeless artist and this song seems relevant:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77cFGvF_hms&w=420&h=315]
