<p>I want to intern in Washington State this summer. I just want some information on which of the following locations (choose 1 or more) would be the best place to enjoy my summer. I also want it close by to a university, in case I want to take classes as well. Thanks for your time.</p>
<p>First of all, this whole state is loaded with scenery. Seriously. I’ve never been anywhere in the state that wasn’t good looking, and parts of it look like God was just showing off.</p>
<p>IMO south Central Region is not the best place to spend the summer. Hot and rather boring. The rest of the places are much better. I would pick something like Bellingham.</p>
<p>If you are in Bellingham, you are only 30 minutes from the border and then 45 minutes from Vancouver, so an interesting international opportunity. You would be about 1.5 hours north of Seattle, so you could also see the sights there.</p>
<p>WWU is in Bellingham and offers quarter system summer school class, has a small city downtown with an artsy “crunchy granola” style. I don’t have experience with the weather in the east, but summers in Western Wa will be a heat wave at 85-90F, will still involve some rain, and the humidity is nothing to even notice- more moisture than a mountain town, but nothing like humid places.</p>
<p>Mt Baker is a nearby ski area, sometimes open into the summer, but more likely to have great hiking, etc. There is also a lake in Bellingham where you might be able to wake board or water ski if you make friends with a boat. Kayaking is popular as are other outdoorsy pursuits.</p>
<p>If you come to WA, better practice your coffee skills- can you say venti triple caramel macchiato? ;)</p>
<p>I am not sure of the internship opportunities, but you ought to be able to find a student type job at the least and probably the most you might pay for rent would be $500/mo for a single near campus, so less to share or sublet for the summer and less farther from campus.</p>
<p>You have listed so many cities, perhaps giving more info about your priorities would be helpful.</p>
<p>Washington State is extremely diverse, though it has very few African Americans. In parts of eastern Washington, Hispanics make up 30-50% of the population. In Western Washington, there are very large percentages of Asian/Pacific Islanders. In addition, there are 29 federally recognized Indian Tribes. </p>
<p>You’ve got scenery everywhere. There are more people in Manhattan on a daily basis than in our entire state.</p>
<p>In the Bellingham area, you are likely to see Native Americans (Lummi); Hispanics, and Russians, and Dutch people if you go to Lynden :D</p>
<p>Not even downtown Seattle is going to be “like Manhattan”- if you are trying out a new place, perhaps looking for something different than home is the best part of the experience, that said, only Seattle itself would have the big city feel you think of in NYC, though if you were in Bellingham- a small town next to NYC- you could get a fix on your big city cravings in Vancouver, where you will see tons of Asians, too- both east Indian and Chinese/Tiawanese and have lots of city food options.</p>
<p>I’m with WashDad. I have a hard time imagining any part of Washington being in any way like Manhatten. I almost sprayed my tea all over my keyboard at that one.</p>
<p>If you want city, walkable, and diverse (if that’s what you mean by “like Manhatten”), that would be Seattle or Tacoma. Tacoma is less safe. Most of WA does not have very good public transportation (I’d go so far as to say that public transport in the entire state sucks) but you can at least get around Seattle by bike or bus in the summer, which is not true of most of the rest of the state.</p>
<p>If you want a cosmopolitan city, there’s pretty much one choice. It may not be much like lower Manhattan, but it’s more like lower Manhattan than anywhere else in the state.</p>
<p>If you want great college-town type places that will put you near a university, go with Bellingham or Olympia.</p>
<p>What do I know about Washington State? Well I know just about everything there is or my name isn’t Tom Tutle from Tacoma. </p>
<p>To really enjoy WA finest things you should love the outdoors… Some of the best “green” you’ll ever see on the west side. And some of the best golden on the east side, with some cool mountains inbetween…</p>
<p>We just returned from a first trip to Bellingham/Fairhaven in October & also visited Western Washington U. and I would move there in a second if & when I can make it work. We did get to Vancouver and Seattle is close but I couldn’t tear myself away from the San Juan islands and beautiful Mt. Baker.</p>
<p>WWU also has a wonderful outdoor sculpture collection.</p>
<p>Lil, where in the world did you get all those categories? I mean, for example, there is no such area called “South Central Region” or “Northwest Region.” Folks can quible about various corners of the Great Northwest, but in Washington you have two distinct regions; western Washington and eastern Washington (a.k.a. 'east of the mountains). Most of the state’s population resides in the Puget Sound area, which includes everything from Bellingham in the north to Olympia in the south. I believe that most of the public colleges will have a summer schedule, so you can keep yourself busy at the universities in various locations around the state. However, I wouldn’t want to attempt to study in the 90 degree summer heat of the Palouse country, i.e. Pullman or in the Inland Empire (EWU in Cheney). You might find a visit to the Yakima Indian reservation interesting. Oh yeah, there’s no salt water in eastern Washington. Plenty of lakes, however. Make friends with someone who has a house on Lake Chelan or Moses Lake. Argh, there are so many greenhorns in Washington these days!</p>
<p>Union Gap and Manhattan - say “WA?!” Wow, talk about the two opposite ends of the urbanization spectrum! You are not going to find anything Manhattan-like in Washington. Can you elaborate a bit more on what exactly you are looking in addition to low crime rate and diversity?</p>
I would pick something like Bellingham.</p>
Wow, talk about the two opposite ends of the urbanization spectrum! You are not going to find anything Manhattan-like in Washington. Can you elaborate a bit more on what exactly you are looking in addition to low crime rate and diversity?</p>