So Far...

Hi Everyone,
I hadn't realized that it had been so long since I posted last. So, life here is still pretty boring, but I have been a little more adventurous. I've become friends with another student in my classes. Her name is Tammy, she's from Chicago, and she's the only other person in my group who is not from this area. I was getting so bored and antsy last week that I decided to email her and see if she wanted to hang out. She was very excited because, like me, she isn't from the area and didn't know anybody. She is living with a family across the freeway from the school so just going to her house was an adventure from what I had been doing before. I got to meet Angie, the daughter of the family she is living with, as well as their parrot, cat, and dog. Their dog, Nova, is just about the cutest thing ever. I'll try to take a picture of her so that you can all appreciate her awesomeness. Last Saturday, Angie was nice enough to take us on the bus to the Lake Merritt Farmer's Market where I got a delicious gyro. We walked along the shores of Lake Merritt near the bird sanctuary and then hopped a bus for Piedmont, which is one of the rich areas near Oakland. We bought some ice cream at Fenton's, which was amazing, and ate it on the front lawn of the Piedmont School. If you've ever seen the movie Up, the main characters share an ice cream at the end. The place they're at is Fenton's! On Sunday, we had coffee at Cafe Galleria, which is next to the Safeway that I always go to. I've spent the majority of my time since then reading and working on my homework.

Lake Merrit

I'm not particularly pleased with my time here. I've been here for a month and I feel like I've hardly learned  a thing. The school is isolated and not really set up for grad students from out of state. They were not very clear about some of the information that really should have been on their website and their organizational skills are somewhat lacking. While I just had to deal with their extremely sluggish work ethic and their lack of communication, Tammy and some others have had a seriously hellish time getting into the system. I'm excluding Marion and Wendell from my list of people/things who have made this transition stagnate. I just hope they're enough to redeem this experience.

Oakland/San Francisco in the Fog

And on a happier note, the city sometimes looks really cool in fog or at sunset. Here it looks like the shining city of Oz off in the distance...except it's not green. In case you're wondering, that floating bit in the middle is not a UFO or even an airplane. It's the Hangar Vodka blimp that often comes to visit. Yes, it totally makes me want to purchase their alcoholic beverage. Not.