Oh, I'm glad! It's Seattleite, yeah. :D I'm sure she'd love the U-district, and there are a lot of buses in and out of the area. Also... I'm not 100% clear on what the policies for non-students checking out books are (it might not be allowed), but she would be able to visit the libraries on the University of Washintgon campus. Fun fact: the UW campus has a bigger collection of books (over six billion, I believe) than anywhere else in the United States. And the libraries are gigantic, beautiful structures (for example, see the Suzzallo library (http://www.lib.washington.edu/suzzallo/)). A lot of the architecture on the campus is like that as well- giant and gorgeous and full of fields, statues, and a lot of greenery.
From my experience, Seattle tends to seem fairly gloomy and gray to someone who thrives in or is coming from a much warmer environment (like your character from California), unless they're lucky enough to arrive on a sunny day, but actually has a pretty cozy feeling to it a lot of the time and isn't as depressing as people tend to paint it- the buildings tend to be very warm inside, especially cafes, and there's nothing like sitting inside a coffee shop with a cup of hot chocolate while it's rainy and gray outside. Although catching buses in the rain can occasionally be not so fun.
Glad to be of help. :) Seattle is a bit overwhelming to a small-towner like me, but in a lot of ways really nice (although it does, of course, have the same issues with violence and danger areas that any big city does). The University District has a really small, warm, local feel to it (and lots of good, cheap food). And man, I'm abusing parentheses today.
Re: Seattle and Los Angeles Help, Especially Japanese and Hispanics
From my experience, Seattle tends to seem fairly gloomy and gray to someone who thrives in or is coming from a much warmer environment (like your character from California), unless they're lucky enough to arrive on a sunny day, but actually has a pretty cozy feeling to it a lot of the time and isn't as depressing as people tend to paint it- the buildings tend to be very warm inside, especially cafes, and there's nothing like sitting inside a coffee shop with a cup of hot chocolate while it's rainy and gray outside. Although catching buses in the rain can occasionally be not so fun.
Glad to be of help. :) Seattle is a bit overwhelming to a small-towner like me, but in a lot of ways really nice (although it does, of course, have the same issues with violence and danger areas that any big city does). The University District has a really small, warm, local feel to it (and lots of good, cheap food). And man, I'm abusing parentheses today.