11/10: I embarked on my first plane trip to San Francisco, CA. I began my morning extremely nervous and not at all tired, even though I had not slept a minute. Much like a kid on Christmas eve, only without the excitement. I was content with how slow the day was going. That feeling soon left as I stepped onto the tiny plane. (Note that our Airport really shows what a shell our “city” really is.) I was ready to get the take-off and the flight over with. Once the plane was in the air it was much like riding a bus. There was a two hour stopover in Detroit, after which we would land at the San Francisco Airport. This take off reallyfreaked me out. The direct ascent into the sky was horrifying. Once in the air, again it was calm. Throughout the flight I read The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath and often looked out the tiny window at the nation going by seemingly slow. Through this trip I have determined that mountains are my favorite geographic feature, the sky view of the Rockies confirmed this. When we reached the bay I was greeted by one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. Usually I am impartial to cities, though, I cannot describe the fantastic glow of Oakland, Berkeley and San Francisco’s lights dancing before my eyes into enough words that described it’s glory. At the airport everything went smoothly enough until we reached the car rental area. There was a bit of confusion with the location of our rental company (some are off site). After two hours of my mother and her confusion we reached the hotel. We were there for no more than 15 minutes when she decided she wanted food. Luckily for us there was a Trader Joe’s not a block down the street. I finished the night with delicious organic almonds, dried cranberries and a hot shower.
11/11: I woke in the morning to find a man was attempting to jump off the Bay Bridge and quite possibly blow the bridge up along with his decent. After a few hours of this the SFPD took him off of the bridge and let traffic through. This confused my mother of which means of transportation to take into the city of Berkeley to get to the UC Berkeley Campus Tour by 10. It was 9:30 by the time we left the hotel and being from New York, we really had no idea where to go, our GPS that seemed to be locked onto the Bay Bridge the entire trip was not a great deal of help. Thankfully I arrived at the campus only around 5 minutes late. The group was stillat the tower and I easily slipped into the group unnoticed. Our tour guide was a lively senior at the college, who jumped about as he described life on campus and the buildings surrounding us. I was a bit disappointed that the tour did not speak of academics or applying to the college of any sort during the tour. Though, I suppose it can be found on the website or through an email. After the tour we drove through downtown Berkeley, taking in our dose of touristy type photographs. We did stop for a much needed coffee at Peet’s Coffee and Tea on Telegraph Ave. When walking on the street I was stopped by a wizard, who asked if I could spare a smile. It did indeed put a smile on my face. While being on Telegraph I stopped in the well known record stores Rasputin and Amoeba, while my companion rushed into a used clothing store. My mother again announced her hunger and this time, I chose our location to dine at. Cafe Gratitude. Soo insanely good. The restaurant is entirely vegan and organic, with 80% of the menu raw. I had the “I Am Worthy” blood drink and the “Sushi Bowl”, of course they were outlandishly delicious. The rest of the day we just drove around, going over the Golden Gate Bridge and in the northern part of San Francisco as night began to fall. We turned in early in CA time, in NY it was midnight.
11/12: This day we arrived at the college in time. University of San Francisco. We were lead into a room where for an hour they did an academic presentation. Unfortunately, during this I learned of the high religious influences this school possesses, which didn’t do much for my regard of the school. When outside however, the view was beautiful. The college sits on a hill overlooking the whole city and the surrounding bay and ocean. Thecampus itself was also beautiful I noticed as we toured it for an hour. This tour was much more thorough with the academic, cost and living descriptions completely incorporated. After this tour we went to the downtown area of San Francisco because again, my mother was hungry. She wanted to eat at a Thai restaurant, which always makes me sick. We went to Amoeba again, and then yet again drove across the city.
11/13: Our last day in the cities. We blew off the last college interview, as we drove around and through that area precisely three times the night before. By the time we were around it was 10. We went to the Cafe Gratitude located in San Francisco this time, I had the “Green Juice” and the “Taco Bowl”, which again were delicious. I had a bite of my mother’s tamale, and it was also delicious. After, we decided to go back across the bay. We stopped at 1234 Go! Records in Oakland. They had a huge collection of punk records, which was quite inspiring as they are a TINY store. After, we decided coffee was again needed and drove down onto Telegraph to acquire some. While walking down the avenue some lovely garments caught my eye in Sway. I purchased a dress, an embellished sweater and a skirt, which I cannot wait to wear. After draining our coffees of each last drop we went into Shakespeare & Co. used bookstore ( we couldn’t before as drinks and food are not allowed inside.) I bought two poetry books, Sylvia Plath’s Ariel and An Anthology of French Poet’s & Poetry (translated of course, my French speaking/reading and abilities aren’t top notch.) By this time it was leaning on late 4:00. We were ready to go back to the airport area to drop off the rental car and prepare for our flight. Though the GPS lead us back over the Bay Bridge and onto Treasure Island. Though, this was a lucky mistake. The view of the city was gorgeous. After we dropped off the car and went to the airport to wait for our red-eye flight at 11:30 pm.
By the way, the flight back was TERRIBLE. I was not able to sleep, which lead to a 36 hour lack of sleep, as I still had homework to do when I came home. Through it all the trip was worth it. I enjoyed the city so, so much and cannot wait to return.
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