Showing posts with label San Francisco. Show all posts
Showing posts with label San Francisco. Show all posts

Saturday, 19 May 2012

Hey batter batter batter...Swwiinngg

A day early! Oh my god. Still ploughing away at all these papers. I feel bad that I want the next few weeks just to fly by so that they are out of the way, but at the same time that means that I would have finished at UCSC! I have bought my ticket home now as the camp never got back to me and I was just getting so stressed out about it. So, for those in America, the last time you will see me is July 4th, for those in England, I will be back July 5th:)

A few interesting things happened this week. Firstly, we were learning how to dive on Wednesday in my swim class, off of the starting blocks which felt very professional! A few belly flops, a lot of bruised shins from dragging yourself out of the pool for an hour, but by the end I had it perfected...the coach even said so herself;) Watch out Tom Daley.
Also on Wednesday I went on a rec trip to watch a Giants game at their stadium, AT+T Park, in San Francisco! I love baseball. I love the atmosphere. I love the chants. I love the food. I especially love the entertainment. Kiss Cams, where they zoom in on couples in the audience while the rest of the crows chant 'Kiss Kiss Kiss' and show it on the big screens, the mascot (a giant seal) paddle-boarding in the bay just next to the stadium, sing alongs to Journey's 'Don't Stop Believing', such fun! There is no half time as there are 9 innings and people just come and go as they please which means...no lines for toilets, small lines for food stands (mexican, sushi, burgers, hot dogs, churros, pretzels, nuts, hot chocolate, soup in bread bowls, chilli, anything). It was really foggy in San Fran that day so it was pretty cold and the fog was billowing into the stadium creating a great atmosphere! Pictures include the stadium, a bunch of kayakers who were hanging out waiting for 'out-of-the-park' balls to come their way, chili bowl, and a video of some chanting and a guy resembling a serial killer waving a flag. The Giants were playing the St Louis Cardinals and lost 4-1, I didn't mind. By that time, it was really cold and they had been playing for 2 hours 45mins.








Thursday I was up early to get to physical therapy. I use that zipcar service that I have talked about before. The car that I use is parked in a parking lot by the gym but when I walked down to try and get to it, a cop was standing in the middle of the road, yelling at people to move away, and that the area would be closed for a number of hours. I was like ooohhhkkaaayy, how am I going to get the car then? His attitude was 'not my problem'. I walked round the back to the gym where loads of people were just standing around and this one girl told me that it has all been evacuated because they found 'a suspicious package' in the gym. I scoffed. What constitutes a suspicious package anyway? I was more worried about how to get to physio. A few phone calls, another car booked on the otherside of campus, I got there 45 minutes late. I was pissed that this 'package' had messed me around. Turns out it was a grenade! I felt bad for my skeptical attitude. The university were quite open to what it was as well. They send text alerts, emails, even call you to tell you to stay away and what it is! I was too busy trying to re-route my morning that I ignored these alerts. Never again!

Last night was spent at an outdoor movie screening of Ferris Buellers Day Off. Free popcorn and hot chocolate, blankets, a VERY young Matthew Broderick and a cameo by a stoned looking Charlie Sheen (nothing new there then) made for a relaxing end to the week.
Tomorrow I am hopefully off to Monterey Bay Aquarium! (Hence why I am writing this early) I have been wanting to go there for months. Stay tuned for numerous pictures of fish. I'm sure you are excited.








Sunday, 13 November 2011

Don't you love having a student id card!

Happy Remembrance Sunday/ Veterans Weekend/ 11-11-11!
Last week was stressful and long and hormonal. You know when just everything that can go wrong, goes wrong! Sorry if this sounds repetitive. Uni life is a mixture of ups and downs both at home and away so nothing new there, just going through the motions in a slightly sunnier and warmer climate!
We had the day off on Friday for Veterans Day so although all I wanted to do on Thursday was curl into a ball and say goodbye to the crappy week with TV and ice-cream, me and my roommate drove to San Francisco! and I am so glad I went! It took my mind off of everything.
On Friday we loaded up and headed out to start the first sight-seeing day. We headed over to Golden Gate Park and the deYoung museum to go to the observation deck at the top. Aaammaazzziinnnggg view over the city!

We walked down haight ashbury, a popular district in the 60s and 70s. Really cool area with a real hippie vibe. there were shrines on the street dedicated to dead musicians, including Amy Winehouse! Did a bit of shopping before heading over to Japantown for some Ramen noodles and to hit up the cheap $1 Japanese shops for items like Japanese sweets, white boards and sponges! We also stopped off at Alamo Square where those famous San Francisco houses are located (any fans of Full House, Party of Five, or any other show based in San Francisco will have seen these houses in the opening credits!)



We hopped on a bus to Union plaza where by this point it was absolutely chucking it down! We hopped into a few high end shops, including a home and kitchen wear one that was giving out hot apple cider...we hung out in there for a while! We then barged our way into a really posh hotel to take the glass lift that is on the outside of the hotel, up to the 32nd floor to get a view of downtown San Fran! We tried to make it look like we belonged in this hotel but we clearly didn't...rucksacks, raincoats, and soaking wet girls did not fit in with the uber posh, upper-class, older couples sitting in the wine lounge at 3pm. Too wet and rainy to go wonder round China town so we headed over to the Ferry Building to sample lots of deli foods! Went back to my roommates sister's apartment and watched Crazy, Stupid Love...hilarious film! I have always been in love with Steve Carrell.

Supposed to get back to Santa Cruz for midday on Saturday as we both had a lot of work to do, but we heard about a Green festival on 8th street which  was only a few blocks away so decided to go check it out for a bit. Well, we must've spent 2 hours in there! We got in for free because we were students and  this place was absolutely enormous, stalls stretching for about half a mile! We picked up some free tote bags and worked our way down, picking up samples of ice cream, protein powders, raw and natural fruit drinks, granola bars, chocolate, kale crisps, rice, licorice samples, apple sauce, literally anything that was natural and sustainable, we picked it up! We filled up two bags, went home, dropped them off, then went back again for round 2! We came back with 5 bags full to the brim of free stuff! It was amazing. We didn't get back to Santa Cruz until 9pm even though San Francisco is only an hour away! I love Californians and their love of natural, greeness;) Means that I don't have to ever buy apple sauce or bags of red licorice (retail price $6!) or energy bars or laundry detergent again! I have no idea what to do with my hemp seeds though. I'm sure someone in Santa Cruz can tell me.