California

I had never been to the West Coast. Hell, I had never been further west than Pittsburgh, PA, so to hop on a plane and head to California was quite exciting for me. I got there Monday afternoon, a day after Serena, who was there for a work conference, and made my way from SFO to meet up with her while she was on a lunch break from sessions and presentations. I'm not sure what I pictured in my mind when I thought of San Francisco, but while I was there, I kept feeling like I was in Philadelphia for some reason. Palm trees and the Pacific Ocean helped me acclimate, though.

A good time was had in San Francisco, the Windy City*. I feel like we hit the appropriate amount of everything we set out to do: shop, touristy things, eat, randomness, and Berkeley.

Shopping:

• Amoeba in Haight/Ashbury (or "The Haight" as I guess I'm supposed to call it) where I found the most amazing imports and out of print CDs. I had to put blinders on to get to the cash register.
• KidRobot and Giant Robot (did I get those names correct?) I bought the little "No Smoking" guy.
• Whatever store that I found Cold War Unicorns for Ali!
• The vintage store where I bought a skirt for $1!

Toursity Things:

• Fisherman's Wharf- Cool for the boats and seeing Alcatraz**, but a bit overrated and also mfing hot when there!
• Cable cars- Yes, we rode one. Almost ran over some guy, too. I kept wanting it to go faster, though.
  
• Lombard Street, the most crookedest street- Holy hell do legs burn after walking up this! I felt like jelly on the walk back down.
  

Eat:

• The BEST Italian food and cocktails at a restaurant in North Beach with an incredibly sexay waiter.
  
• Mexican in the Mission area.
  
• Iced coffee wherever we could find it.
• Carl Jr.s in the middle of the night (See "Berkeley")

Randomness:

• Vesuvio
• Specks- Don't go there. Definitely don't order a Jack and Coke there!
• Sneaking into a fancy hotel for the restroom and then asking at the front desk how to get to the Bart.
• The Bart
• San Fran Barnes & Noble!
• Bums. A lot of them. Who like to talk to you. And come right up if they think you're a tourist.
  

Berkeley:

• What happens in Berkeley stays in Berkeley, but I will say that it was a kick-ass time.
  
• Oh, and we got stuck there.
• And had to find a way back to the city.
  
• And I found out I like feta!
• Party People!
  

All in all a fun trip! Take a look at my pictures.

XO,
SVR

*Just kidding. I know that's Chicago, but my mom kept calling it that and it cracked me up.

**Cue Mr. T!

In The Fade

School is kicking my ass. No, let me rephrase: School is trying to kick my ass. I won't let it. I'm working on what is currently a 16 page paper that isn't even near completion. After this I have to write a 3-5 page paper for Thursday, and a presentation for the following week (that I have to meet with my partner for on Wednesday morning). Meanwhile, I need to be thinking about two research papers...no, three a few more baby papers and at least three annotated bibliographies.

1) I feel busier than ever and I'm not sure why. I had to email my paper partner my schedule and I apologized for the lack of free time. Now that school and orchestra are back in session, my hours unplanned are severely limited.

2) I loathe group work. With such passion that I can't think of words bad enough to describe it. It's not that I dislike working with others or get bad partners, I just feel like it takes more time than it could if I did it by myself. And I don't like being told when to work. I would rather procrastinate on my own!

3) I think a class that is on a Saturday from 9-430pm is cruel.

4) THIS IS MY LAST SEMESTER!!!!!!!

OK, #4 really helps. Back to writing this paper because as soon as it's done, I can write about San Francisco! In the meantime, go look at my pictures and comment, please.

XO,
SVR