Day 2 Portland, Oregon

I started off my day pretty bad when I had no choice but to take a cold shower.  I knew things were too good to be true at this hotel.  It turns out after I called the front desk, that the whole 4th floor of the hotel was without hot water.  As you'd expect, I wasn't a happy camper this morning.  However, I managed to warm up in the room while getting ready by turning the thermostat to about 78 degrees F.  By 7:15 AM, I finally left the room and started my walk to the school, which turned out to be nice despite the coldness hitting my face and my ice cold hands.  The walk over the bridge was somewhat scary as I was crossing the very top, as I could hear and feel the bridge shake every time a large vehicle passed by.  By 7:35 AM I found the ABC school (with the help of the teacher who, after a few minutes had passed, realized with my confused/lost look on my face that I was one of the students).  He bought me a cappuccino at the coffee shop by the school, which was delicious, and soon enough the other four students arrived.  My day at class went well...so much information in just one day.  I look forward to tomorrow and the other days ahead, especially when we actually get to do hands on training with the espresso machines.  By 4:30 PM, class was over and two other girls and I left for the downtown area.  Of course, it started to rain with the wind becoming so strong that my brand new umbrella flipped up and ended up breaking on me.  I had no choice but to continue in the rain with what little cover my jacket hood offered.  By the time I got to the hotel, I noticed the employee just smiled at me while opening the door for me and Laura...I realized why after seeing my reflection on the glass door!  About 15 minutes passed and with the help of some of the hotel staff and a random guy at the bus stop, we made our way in a street car to Pearl District where we found some pretty cool shops, including the biggest bookstore I've ever seen.  Dinner at a noodle place was pretty good and reasonably priced.  Heading back to our hotels was quite the experience...out of everything we learned today, I'd say the most important thing to remember is that it's a good idea to pay attention where you're standing because a sidewalk is not always just a sidewalk.  Enough said.