Portland Holidays Cityscape

Most of us think of a vacation as being something that you take at a hotel, or a resort, or a little cottage at the beach. But depending on what you think of as a holiday, you could take Portland holidays in the heart of the city, inserting yourself into the bustling soul of the metropolis and becoming a piece of the cityscape. Rather than staying at a hotel, a place clearly touristy and business traveler-y, enjoy Portland holidays as a part of Portland.
For a lot of us a holiday is all about getting away, but what if your Portland holidays were about getting to somewhere instead? What if instead of just trying to escape where we live, we go to learn about someplace we don't? Of course, for some of us getting the chance to learn about someplace new and different is a holiday away from our ordinary lives. Unless of course your ordinary life involves traveling to places to learn about them...but I digress.
I have always had this idea that a great holiday would be to go to some place that I had never lived, maybe a place I had never even been to (if I was really daring, a place I'd never heard of before) and assimilate myself into that little world for a month or two. That might sound like a strange way to spend Portland holidays to many, just becoming a lost little wallflower on the back alleys of Portland, but I think it would be exciting and fun. Perhaps even taking a part-time job there, obviously renting a cheap house or apartment, becoming part of the neighborhood. I've always wanted to be that person that made new friends easily, but I never have. Perhaps spending Portland holidays on my own like that would force me to make new friends, force me to break out of my boxes and into a strange new reality.
Perhaps it is the bohemian in me, that thinks this would make for ideal Portland holidays, or perhaps it is simply the adventurer in me, but I would love to try this sometime. I would love to try this for more than just Portland holidays. I would like to do this in other places like Tokyo, London, Seattle, Honolulu, and many other places, probably some that I don't even know of yet. The idea of temporary citizenship in these places, of complete becoming-ness, of giving myself over to the place and the culture for a certain time makes for appealing Portland holidays to me.
Maybe some day I will have the means and time to do this. Probably I will not. No, someday I will have to make the means and time to do this, set it aside as sacred. That way I will someday have my dream Portland holidays.