Pacific ocean

Living in Oregon has some huge benefits. I grew up only seeing water larger than a puddle once a year when my dad and I would go to Saratov - a small southern town in Russia with the biggest river in the country, the Volga river. I can't complain as that was the best time I ever had as a child. I had never seen an ocean up until I was nineteen. It was my first month in the US when Andrew took me to see the Oregon coast.

Here we are, 3 years later, enjoying the same coast together. I love water... even when I don't get to spend time in it. I love watching waves, surfers, birds, rocks - it's so calming and makes me think that everything is in its place now.

Sonya.