Spendings
February 3rd-13th, 2022: What happened?
As my previous post was rather holistic and reflective, I'd like to document my activities and spendings in the Bay area in this post.
Whereas I liked taking afternoons by myself in LA, I was highly social in San Francisco. After the weirdness of LA, it was so easy to meet normal, decent people here. It’s pretty much thanks to the people that I had an amazing time there. The hostel group soothed my arrival as we went out for drinks in Mission District - where you could walk from bar to bar, it’s unbelievable. I also got some interesting feedback on my contribution to the group. I was the only new person in the group, yet I led most of the conversation topics and was also the loudest. I suppose this is the result of spending two years in retail.
We ended the night smoking at a Steinway piano in a house that looked like a museum. This resulted in the funniest Uber ride in my life where I couldn’t separate reality from imagination and thought my friends were conspiring with the driver to mess with my head. It turns out: the driver was just unnaturally talkative and I wasn't the only one questioning my sanity.
The next days I spent with my personal 'local', Anneloes, who is doing an internship at Berkeley. She showed me around the campus, which looked like a whole movie set. My campus in Australia looked like middle school in comparison. It also offered me a larger understanding of the pressure on students. Attending a university like Berkely is a rare opportunity and insanely expensive. You can't afford to fail a course and delay your progress. Talking to some students, I also realized that this is where our next Apple and Google employees are created. They're high achieving and seemingly indifferent about partying. They might grab a drink every weekend but they won't dance every week. They're keen on doing all the readings, are curious and also good conversationalists. Whereas Dutch students like to shit on institutions and pride themselves on their ability to write papers in one day and take exams while hungover, Berkeley students are proud of their university. This has not only to do with the school's prestige, but also the school spirit that is created with sports and events. When a girl asked how we maintain our school spirit in the Netherlands, I had to admit that we don't have any at all.
Later that week, after my migraine, I joined my traveler-group and went on an SF-tour with a local ‘guide’, who took us to the beach and to other fun neighborhoods in SF. That night we visited an After Dark exposition at the Exploratorium after chugging a can of weed-soda. This was fun, though I mostly enjoyed watching the aquarium with some strangers who were also high out of their minds and promised me that my dreams were attainable. In SF I would do that, talking to strangers. In LA, it's a bit more unlikely.
On the weekend, I went on a roadtrip with three friends to Monterey. Though being the solo-driver in Silicon Valley traffic was demanding, the scenic route largely made up for it. Driving in the US is still easier than driving in the Netherlands. The roads are bigger, the parking spots are wider and the fellow drivers are more chill. It was also nice to see that Monterey was indeed as nice as I'd remembered it, giving you instant holiday vibes. The ocean is insanely blue and the wildlife makes it so much fun. The people over there are also super relaxed. When I live in LA, I'm definitely going back there for a weekend trip.
So all in all, I had a great time in the Bay area. It felt a lot like a holiday - like an intermission from my extensive LA case study. Though I had to best time and didn't want to say goodbye to my friends, I couldn't help but feel like going home when I hopped on the night bus. And by home, I don't mean the Netherlands.
