One thing you expect from an American city is the skyline of ridiculously tall buildings mixed with slightly medium sized buildings. (Nothing comes small in the United States). It’s usually a breath-taking scene and San Francisco sure as heck delivered. Inside the buildings are mostly bankers/financial type people- nothing out of the ordinary, but the view is what always gets me excited. Majestic doesn’t seem a strong enough word but it’ll do for now as I’ve been up since 3am this morning (long story involving my dad and his habit of snoring. It sounded like someone was strangling E.T. No joke). Another thing that got me hyped up was the big yellow sign along that freeway that read ‘San Francisco is Bear territory’. For anyone who doesn’t know- the Golden Bears are UC Berkeley’s football team, and in America sport is a massive massive thing; EVERYONE gets involved, and I literally mean everyone- even the pet goldfish. Every email I’ve received from the uni has been signed off ‘Go Bears!’ This is one of the things that attracted me to the states- the patriotism and the effort they go to, to celebrate team spirit and to support their team players. They do nothing by halves here. Berkeley’s biggest rivals are Stanford University who wear the colour red- hence this colour is near enough banned on our campus. The other day, a Berkeley student told a few of us (I think jokingly but I can’t be sure) “If I see you wear red, me and my friends will make sure you have a bad day.” So you could say they take it pretty seriously.
My parents came with me for these first couple of weeks and we’ve been staying in a hotel next to Berkeley marina as I can’t move into my accommodation until this Sunday. The first night we arrived we went for a little walk and discovered how hilly this place is. The climbs are worth it however, as the views from above of the Frisco bay are stunning. The Golden Gate Bridge, which I will come to a bit later, is difficult to see from a great distance; this is because, even though inland it’s been very warm and sunny, by the bay and the bridge it can be extremely foggy and the bridge can literally disappear. San Francisco Bay is famous for its fog. Because it’s right next to the Pacific Ocean, how much fog is undeterminable and it can change each day and throughout the day.
The UCB campus is, again, gorgeous, and I don’t think it’s sunk in yet that I will actually be studying here. There are pictures on my facebook if anyone is interested in having a look for themselves. Continuing with the American tradition, the buildings are large, grand and pretty overwhelming, but I am excited to get into classes (although not so excited at having to read the 30 odd books that I had to buy the other day, possibly in a short amount of time as classes start next Thursday!) I was told yesterday that I’ll be popular in class because of my accent- I think my fellow Brits will join me in saying ‘EH?!’ I’m not sure what it is about this accent that they love, but maybe that’ll have to be something I ask them to explain. The main feature of campus is the Campanile clock tower, known to play tunes at random times such as Hey Jude or the Hedwig theme from Harry Potter. It’s an impressive building and adds a noticeable amount of character to campus.
As for the liberal and artsy San Francisco itself- there is a crazy amount going on with this city. I think the album on facebook should do most of the talking, because otherwise we’ll be here forever. I did take photos of literally everything. I’m a big movie fan, so I was excited to hear how many ‘magical movie moments’ were filmed right here. To name my favourite- Mrs Doubtfire’s house is here, sitting at the end of the row of Painted Ladies; a row of houses worth over $1 million dollars. Robin Williams himself is an inhabitant of SanFran, and if there ever is a sighting, I’ll be sure to let the world know. Other films include- George of the Jungle, Godfather 1+2, The Wedding Planner, Towering Inferno, Sister Act 1+2, and although I haven’t seen it, I think the Golden Gate Bridge also featured in the latest X-Men film. George Lucas has a studio here, as do Pixar, although photos of these are yet to be taken.
A couple of other cool things about SanFran- The FBI headquarters is right here, and the largest China town outside of Asia. We also have one of the fastest lifts in the world and a cheesecake factory if anyone cares to know that.
So hows about The Golden Gate Bridge, that is, infact, orange. Me and the rents did the typical touristy thing and hopped aboard an open topped bus tour. One of the routes took us over the bridge, and on this particular day, the wind was certainly a’blowin’! I thought Chicago was pretty windy, but this was like Gforce winds. Still, going over that bridge was an incredible experience and I’d recommend it for sure. Sightseeing has been the general gist of the first few days here and as I say, the photos give a better idea of what’s been going on.
Monday and Wednesday I went to the international students orientation and I’ve met a few lovely people from Mexico, the Netherlands, France, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Turkey, Japan and obviously a few Brits! It’s a real cultural shenanigan and it’s great to be meeting and hearing about other people’s backgrounds, interests etc. I’ve also been in contact with my roommate for this year, Amy, and I’ve got moving in to look forward to and meeting the rest of my flatmates.
I apologise this has been a lengthy entry but I’ll try to be more frequent and less rambling in future blogs! I hope everyone is having a great summer- I already miss seeing all your faces at the pub! Take care all,
Lots of love, Bee x
