bainbridge island..."establishing my sense of place"

so the last few days, we as grad students, have been overloaded with history information about bainbridge island..which is pretty interesting. the island used to be home of the largest milling company in the world and basically clear cut everything to build ships and sent wood to san fransico...pretty intersting. baiscally, the mill burned down 2 times and eventually closed due to overproduction. it ran from a sight called Port Blakely. it is very interesting because peoples from all over the world came to port blakely to work. the main population was from japan...and even from italy, norway, sweeden, spain, hawaii...and more! i wont get too much into it :) but it is very interesting. now, islandwood (my school) is on the property that used to be part of the mill!

another rich history in this area are the indians...well, actually it is not history because it is still happening. today, we took a tour around the island to see the suquamish reserve. it is really interesting! cheif seattle was even half suquamish. the used the cedar tree for everything..canoes, clothes, mats, baskets...everything. the suquamish peoples are currently struggling to assimilate back into the culture because in the past, it was kind of looked down upon and they were forced to learn american everything. now, they are wanting their children not to loose the culture.
this is a suquamish sign that we saw today that is the shed to a canoe carving place. they are known for thier long canoe rides from the puget sound to other places, replicating what their ancestors used to do. it is a 600 mile canoe ride!
above is the trail i will walk every day atleast once from the grad commons to the main campus where our classroom and the other facilities are. its about a 10 minute journey. i am still trying to navigate myself around...its going to be a challenge!
well, this place is pretty cool. the woods are great and im ready to continue learning, work hard...and make the most out of this new chapter!