So my second interview was at Stanford, and I think it went reasonably well although I haven't yet heard their thoughts about it. However, I realised that the lab in Davis is much better fit for me, so if nothing shocking happens, I think Davis is my choice!
So now it's the final days in SF, and it's been just organising things, buying souvenirs and doing laundry. I managed to find a room in England too, so everything is looking sorted for the next couple of months again!
Thursday, 27 October 2011
Tuesday, 25 October 2011
Berkeley, Davis, Muir Woods.
I'm really tired at the moment so this will be really brief:
On Sunday I met up with a friend of mine in Berkeley area, and she showed me around that neighbourhood. Berkeley seemed like an interesting student area where everyone has an opinion and is willing to stand up for it. I really liked the feel of Telegraph Street, the little book and record shops and likeness to an oriental bazaar.
My next stop was Davis, a lovely little rural student town located in the middle of corn and tomato fields close to Sacramento. The train there took about 1.5 hours, so it's not too far from SF. I had a walk around the town, which appeared very clean, safe and full of lovely restaurants and pubs, although in a very small and concentrated area. I stayed at a hotel which had a complimentary happy hour, and very soft huge beds, which meant I had a really good rest.
So the reason why I was there is that I interviewed at UC Davis for a job. The interview went really well. I surprised myself with how calmly I managed to get through the long day of meeting people and presenting my work, as I usually get very nervous. I love what I work on, and I love learning about what others work on, but closer to 9 hours of paying attention really exhausts me! So in the evening I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow (back in SF).
This morning I woke up and started chatting to one of my dorm mates, and it turned out that she was headed out to Muir Woods to see the redwoods with some friends of hers. There was space in the car for one more, so I joined the group and had a really good day with kind, friendly people who I had never met! So most of today was spent walking in the restful woods and driving around beautiful scenery; beaches, coastal cliffs, hills, forests, and of course the Golden Gate bridge! It was wonderful to get out of city properly and get some fresh air!
Tomorrow is my second interview at Stanford, so I'll need to go and prepare (=sleep).
On Sunday I met up with a friend of mine in Berkeley area, and she showed me around that neighbourhood. Berkeley seemed like an interesting student area where everyone has an opinion and is willing to stand up for it. I really liked the feel of Telegraph Street, the little book and record shops and likeness to an oriental bazaar.
My next stop was Davis, a lovely little rural student town located in the middle of corn and tomato fields close to Sacramento. The train there took about 1.5 hours, so it's not too far from SF. I had a walk around the town, which appeared very clean, safe and full of lovely restaurants and pubs, although in a very small and concentrated area. I stayed at a hotel which had a complimentary happy hour, and very soft huge beds, which meant I had a really good rest.
So the reason why I was there is that I interviewed at UC Davis for a job. The interview went really well. I surprised myself with how calmly I managed to get through the long day of meeting people and presenting my work, as I usually get very nervous. I love what I work on, and I love learning about what others work on, but closer to 9 hours of paying attention really exhausts me! So in the evening I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow (back in SF).
This morning I woke up and started chatting to one of my dorm mates, and it turned out that she was headed out to Muir Woods to see the redwoods with some friends of hers. There was space in the car for one more, so I joined the group and had a really good day with kind, friendly people who I had never met! So most of today was spent walking in the restful woods and driving around beautiful scenery; beaches, coastal cliffs, hills, forests, and of course the Golden Gate bridge! It was wonderful to get out of city properly and get some fresh air!
Tomorrow is my second interview at Stanford, so I'll need to go and prepare (=sleep).
Sunday, 23 October 2011
Homeless, sunshine and Exploratorium.
The Friday night ended up being a long and fun one, although the conversation ended up revolving around homelessness all the time. Is it ok to give them money? How about food? How to really help - giving money to rehabs? But are they all drug-addicts? Are some of them part of mafia-run money-making machine, like most beggars in Europe? Have the numbers increased with the economic down-turn, and how much? They still scare me, and the idea of a wealthy society where so many have to live on streets is a weird one.
Then to happier topics: Saturday was another very sunny day at 27C. I can't believe the weather is so beautiful in late October, maybe it would be great to live here after all. I had to change rooms at the hostel, so I ended up getting up after only a few hours of sleep. As there was no point of going back to bed, I headed to the Exploratorium with my high school friend. We walked some of the way there, from Fort Mason on Marina Blvd. It was so beautiful by the Bay, people were out en masse in the parks and the sky was the prettiest blue. And the Golden Gate Bridge looming in the background wasn't an ugly one either!
The Exploratorium was exactly like described to me, interactive displays of magnetism, optics, mechanics, plant biology, optical illusions, hearing, sensing, how our mind works... almost too much to see in there! My favourites were the visualisation of the sound wave (a long tube of water that formed longitudinal waves, something I never truly understood in high school) and the magnetic liquid that you could play with a strong magnet. I really recommend this for anyone with even a slightest interest in how the world around us works!
The evening was a very short one, as soon after my late lunch/early dinner taco I fell asleep on my book and slept for 14 hours, once again. Today I'm meeting up with another friend, and finally getting out of San Francisco for a bit! I was meant to explore the Bay area much more, but somehow there has been so much to see in the city itself.
Then to happier topics: Saturday was another very sunny day at 27C. I can't believe the weather is so beautiful in late October, maybe it would be great to live here after all. I had to change rooms at the hostel, so I ended up getting up after only a few hours of sleep. As there was no point of going back to bed, I headed to the Exploratorium with my high school friend. We walked some of the way there, from Fort Mason on Marina Blvd. It was so beautiful by the Bay, people were out en masse in the parks and the sky was the prettiest blue. And the Golden Gate Bridge looming in the background wasn't an ugly one either!
The Exploratorium was exactly like described to me, interactive displays of magnetism, optics, mechanics, plant biology, optical illusions, hearing, sensing, how our mind works... almost too much to see in there! My favourites were the visualisation of the sound wave (a long tube of water that formed longitudinal waves, something I never truly understood in high school) and the magnetic liquid that you could play with a strong magnet. I really recommend this for anyone with even a slightest interest in how the world around us works!
The evening was a very short one, as soon after my late lunch/early dinner taco I fell asleep on my book and slept for 14 hours, once again. Today I'm meeting up with another friend, and finally getting out of San Francisco for a bit! I was meant to explore the Bay area much more, but somehow there has been so much to see in the city itself.
Friday, 21 October 2011
Red hair, modern art.
Last night I found myself staring at the ceiling at midnight again, so I tried out the melatonin. Didn't help me fall asleep much (3am), but waking up in the morning was heaps easier. None of that "it's still in the middle of the night, let me sleep" fogginess at all!
The morning started off with a brunch date with a friend of a friend, and it was good to get to yet another area of SF, this time Mission. I got off BART (local underground) at 16th St Mission, and Mission St itself seemed rather rough. The train station was surrounded by homeless people, and I was actually slightly disturbed to stand around there. Surprisingly the next street along, Valencia, was lovely and had a safe feel to it. It all seems to vary street by street, like the weather varies suburb to suburb. This is one funny city!
After the brunch I went and got my hair cut and coloured. It's bright red now, I feel like myself again, and it changes the random comments I get on the street from "wow you're tall" to "wow I like your hair".
Late afternoon I spent in the Museum of Modern Art. Some modern art I've really enjoyed (like what I saw in Manila), but this just left me feeling blank. Black squares on the wall? Black circles on the wall? Yeah that's really expressive.
Tonight the plan is to go out for a dinner and a couple of drinks with my high school friend, so probably better to go now and get pretty!
The morning started off with a brunch date with a friend of a friend, and it was good to get to yet another area of SF, this time Mission. I got off BART (local underground) at 16th St Mission, and Mission St itself seemed rather rough. The train station was surrounded by homeless people, and I was actually slightly disturbed to stand around there. Surprisingly the next street along, Valencia, was lovely and had a safe feel to it. It all seems to vary street by street, like the weather varies suburb to suburb. This is one funny city!
After the brunch I went and got my hair cut and coloured. It's bright red now, I feel like myself again, and it changes the random comments I get on the street from "wow you're tall" to "wow I like your hair".
Late afternoon I spent in the Museum of Modern Art. Some modern art I've really enjoyed (like what I saw in Manila), but this just left me feeling blank. Black squares on the wall? Black circles on the wall? Yeah that's really expressive.
Tonight the plan is to go out for a dinner and a couple of drinks with my high school friend, so probably better to go now and get pretty!
Thursday, 20 October 2011
Perth, in respect to SF.
Being in SF and in America has put a lot of things about Perth into a respective. Now that I think about Perth, I see it as a clean and tidy city with no homeless people, or maybe some, but they never were in your face. People there dressed nicely, but not necessarily with class though, as everyone who I'd still call girl (people up to my age) bared a LOT of leg.
As probably mentioned before, Perth is a wealthy city making most of its money with mining. This leads to a situation where many relatively uneducated people become wealthy and even people in WA joke regularly about the tastes and the classlessness of their upper class. Somehow their working class men have become the rich, and just as in many other countries, the favourite past time of this type is drinking too much beer on Fridays. Although binge drinking appeared to be a huge problem in Perth, it seemed to be very clean with regards to other drugs. The word on the streets was that the Perth underworld was mafia-run and they were dealing crystal meth to people fallen off the honest/working life to keep them good addicted customers.
The contrast of Perth with SF couldn't be bigger. It seems to me that everywhere in SF it smells of weed and people openly talk about having access to marijuana for medical reasons (to relieve stress, anxiety and depression!?). And then there is a lot of homeless people on the street and they are in your face, asking for spare change, continuously. I haven't yet seen drunk people on the streets yet, but I haven't really been out after nine at all. Daytime everybody dresses down as dirty t-shirt and jogging bottoms seems to be the top fashion. Somehow I feel that people dress down just not to attract attention to themselves, but honestly, you could at least wear a clean shirt from this millenium!?
I think I just now felt my first earthquake! Eek! To be sitting in a basement internet cafe and suddenly imagine the whole weight of this building on top of me...
It seems that this post ended up being a drug-related one. Well I guess it tells something of the attitudes and the demographics in these areas so similar in climate but so different in economics. Four days is a really short time to say anything yet about SF, but it definitely can clear my thoughts about Perth and how safe it felt! Already a few times in SF I've had a bad feeling of someone; the way they look, their facial expression, just the general air. Then I've looked him twice: he's wearing a gun... as he's the private security man assigned to my train or bus. I hate the feeling of thinking that someone's a threat already (feminine sixth sense?), but realising that that person is also carrying a gun makes me dizzy!
As probably mentioned before, Perth is a wealthy city making most of its money with mining. This leads to a situation where many relatively uneducated people become wealthy and even people in WA joke regularly about the tastes and the classlessness of their upper class. Somehow their working class men have become the rich, and just as in many other countries, the favourite past time of this type is drinking too much beer on Fridays. Although binge drinking appeared to be a huge problem in Perth, it seemed to be very clean with regards to other drugs. The word on the streets was that the Perth underworld was mafia-run and they were dealing crystal meth to people fallen off the honest/working life to keep them good addicted customers.
The contrast of Perth with SF couldn't be bigger. It seems to me that everywhere in SF it smells of weed and people openly talk about having access to marijuana for medical reasons (to relieve stress, anxiety and depression!?). And then there is a lot of homeless people on the street and they are in your face, asking for spare change, continuously. I haven't yet seen drunk people on the streets yet, but I haven't really been out after nine at all. Daytime everybody dresses down as dirty t-shirt and jogging bottoms seems to be the top fashion. Somehow I feel that people dress down just not to attract attention to themselves, but honestly, you could at least wear a clean shirt from this millenium!?
I think I just now felt my first earthquake! Eek! To be sitting in a basement internet cafe and suddenly imagine the whole weight of this building on top of me...
It seems that this post ended up being a drug-related one. Well I guess it tells something of the attitudes and the demographics in these areas so similar in climate but so different in economics. Four days is a really short time to say anything yet about SF, but it definitely can clear my thoughts about Perth and how safe it felt! Already a few times in SF I've had a bad feeling of someone; the way they look, their facial expression, just the general air. Then I've looked him twice: he's wearing a gun... as he's the private security man assigned to my train or bus. I hate the feeling of thinking that someone's a threat already (feminine sixth sense?), but realising that that person is also carrying a gun makes me dizzy!
Academy of Sciences and Botanical Gardens
The sleep came all too easily without melatonin, but waking up in the morning was a struggle even after 12h sleep. Eventually when I had managed to force myself out of bed, I headed towards the huge Golden Gate Park (which is logically not next to the bridge). Getting out of the Union Square area was a relief - actual people and not just tourists and shops! Height St seemed like an amazing area, and the houses near the Golden Gate Park were beautiful three-story wooden pretties in pastel colours.
In the park itself I visited Academy of Sciences, and it was not exactly what I expected (I think I was described the Exploratorium by the boyfriend and I got the two mixed up). This first made me rather disappointed, but then I realised that the Academy had amazing birds, butterflies, chameleons and other reptiles, and much better aquarium than the one I visited on Monday! My favourites were electric eels, as well as the jellyfish (Pacific nettle?) once again. But what made the visit great was the very impressive Life: A Cosmic Story shown in the planetarium. The show began with a redwood forest and continued with zooming in all the way to inside the leaf through stomata, and then into the cell and the chloroplast to see photosynthesis as a molecular level animation! Most of the rest was stars and galaxies, and I was totally immersed into the show and not able to walk straight for the next hour. All in all, the scientific content and topics like climate change and evolution were well presented and I think the Academy is awesome. Oh, except there is a cafe where everything is sold in plastic cases, just next to the climate change exhibit urging people to use less plastic.
My second stop in the park was the Botanical Gardens. The first area I happened to walk into was Australian flora, and it had quite a few familiar banksias and kangaroo paws, which made me smile. The main attraction obviously was the sequoias, or the coastal redwoods. They were red and huge, as expected. The weather wasn't the greatest, so I headed back home after relatively short time in the gardens. I did have time to notice great numbers of squirrels who started following me in the hopes of a snack, which was slightly disturbing. I'm not squirrel food! The rest of the gardens seemed to contain plants from other Mediterranean climate areas in addition to California and Australia, namely South Africa, South Americas as well as Mediterranean itself.
On the way home I did a spot of shopping for good quality skincare products, as my skin seems to hate long-distance flights and is about as jetlagged as rest of my body. I also ventured into Tiffany's to declare their selection all too small for my tastes! Right now I'm doing laundry and I think it's the time to put my washing into the dryer!
In the park itself I visited Academy of Sciences, and it was not exactly what I expected (I think I was described the Exploratorium by the boyfriend and I got the two mixed up). This first made me rather disappointed, but then I realised that the Academy had amazing birds, butterflies, chameleons and other reptiles, and much better aquarium than the one I visited on Monday! My favourites were electric eels, as well as the jellyfish (Pacific nettle?) once again. But what made the visit great was the very impressive Life: A Cosmic Story shown in the planetarium. The show began with a redwood forest and continued with zooming in all the way to inside the leaf through stomata, and then into the cell and the chloroplast to see photosynthesis as a molecular level animation! Most of the rest was stars and galaxies, and I was totally immersed into the show and not able to walk straight for the next hour. All in all, the scientific content and topics like climate change and evolution were well presented and I think the Academy is awesome. Oh, except there is a cafe where everything is sold in plastic cases, just next to the climate change exhibit urging people to use less plastic.
My second stop in the park was the Botanical Gardens. The first area I happened to walk into was Australian flora, and it had quite a few familiar banksias and kangaroo paws, which made me smile. The main attraction obviously was the sequoias, or the coastal redwoods. They were red and huge, as expected. The weather wasn't the greatest, so I headed back home after relatively short time in the gardens. I did have time to notice great numbers of squirrels who started following me in the hopes of a snack, which was slightly disturbing. I'm not squirrel food! The rest of the gardens seemed to contain plants from other Mediterranean climate areas in addition to California and Australia, namely South Africa, South Americas as well as Mediterranean itself.
On the way home I did a spot of shopping for good quality skincare products, as my skin seems to hate long-distance flights and is about as jetlagged as rest of my body. I also ventured into Tiffany's to declare their selection all too small for my tastes! Right now I'm doing laundry and I think it's the time to put my washing into the dryer!
Jet lag stories.
First night in SF was 15 hrs of sleep, waking up at 8am.
Second night was 14hrs of sleep, waking up at 1pm. Huge mistake. Yesterday was spent in confusion resembling hangover, sunstroke, being woken up too early and pms.
Third night... what night? 2hrs of sleep in the evening, then rolling awake in the bed, reading Catch-22 and plotting for world domination for seven hours... until the sleep came at 7am.
Luckily to keep me from sleeping all day I had a breakfast date with a dear high school friend who I haven't seen in three years. Luckily she and her sister are still awesome, and we went shopping for all day. Or rather, they shopped and I decided to come back later when my final salary had hit my bank account! It didn't prevent me from enjoying the supremely capitalist country in the best way capitalism works - the huge variety of clothes, shoes, bags, cosmetics, cocktails, cheesecake, Mexican food...!
Just about the only thing I bought today was some melatonin to try out for jet-lag; it's meant to do wonders for falling asleep and changing the circadian rhythm. We'll see! I guess I'll try sleeping without it first, 4hrs of sleep last night should make me fall asleep anytime day or night! Yesterday I bought this awesome handbag as I was too confused to go too far from the Union Square!
Second night was 14hrs of sleep, waking up at 1pm. Huge mistake. Yesterday was spent in confusion resembling hangover, sunstroke, being woken up too early and pms.
Third night... what night? 2hrs of sleep in the evening, then rolling awake in the bed, reading Catch-22 and plotting for world domination for seven hours... until the sleep came at 7am.
Luckily to keep me from sleeping all day I had a breakfast date with a dear high school friend who I haven't seen in three years. Luckily she and her sister are still awesome, and we went shopping for all day. Or rather, they shopped and I decided to come back later when my final salary had hit my bank account! It didn't prevent me from enjoying the supremely capitalist country in the best way capitalism works - the huge variety of clothes, shoes, bags, cosmetics, cocktails, cheesecake, Mexican food...!
Just about the only thing I bought today was some melatonin to try out for jet-lag; it's meant to do wonders for falling asleep and changing the circadian rhythm. We'll see! I guess I'll try sleeping without it first, 4hrs of sleep last night should make me fall asleep anytime day or night! Yesterday I bought this awesome handbag as I was too confused to go too far from the Union Square!
Monday, 17 October 2011
First impressions on San Francisco.
Sunday was epically long for me, it started in Perth with my alarm clock going off at 2:45am after maybe three hours of nervous sleep, and carried on til 30 hours later me falling asleep in San Francisco. I have to recommend the power of a good book at keeping me entertained: I didn't even want to sleep during the 13hr flight from Sydney to LA. Also, I have to recommend Qantas for long distance flights; not only do they serve two top quality meals on a long flight, they also serve a range of snacks, including toasties, fresh fruit, hot chocolate with marshmallows, caramel slices, ice lollies, cheese and crackers... and the items that I missed as too engrossed in my book! They also kept people updated on the results of the rugby world cup finals!
The first impression on San Francisco is very casual (people), very sunny (October weather), steep (hills) and cheap (America). Obviously these perceptions are through a haze of jetlag, which didn't exactly go away with the 15 hours of sleep I had straight after my arrival. My sleeping rhythm might be good now (waking up at 8am), but my body keeps telling me it should be in the middle of the night!
Random note: I eat a lot, and I am yet to finish a main course at a restaurant in America.
Today I had the most touristy day ever: taking the cable cars up and down the hills, visiting Fisherman's Wharf, visiting the Aquarium (cool jellyfish and anchovies), looking at the sealions, going on a cruise under the Golden Gate bridge and around Alkatraz. All of it was very pretty and picturesque, but my mobile phone was out of battery so there will not be pictures. I bet there are already about 2 million pics of the bridge in the interwebs! Tomorrow's plan includes the Academy of Science and Botanical Gardens, or potentially meeting up an old friend who happens to be in SF!
The first impression on San Francisco is very casual (people), very sunny (October weather), steep (hills) and cheap (America). Obviously these perceptions are through a haze of jetlag, which didn't exactly go away with the 15 hours of sleep I had straight after my arrival. My sleeping rhythm might be good now (waking up at 8am), but my body keeps telling me it should be in the middle of the night!
Random note: I eat a lot, and I am yet to finish a main course at a restaurant in America.
Today I had the most touristy day ever: taking the cable cars up and down the hills, visiting Fisherman's Wharf, visiting the Aquarium (cool jellyfish and anchovies), looking at the sealions, going on a cruise under the Golden Gate bridge and around Alkatraz. All of it was very pretty and picturesque, but my mobile phone was out of battery so there will not be pictures. I bet there are already about 2 million pics of the bridge in the interwebs! Tomorrow's plan includes the Academy of Science and Botanical Gardens, or potentially meeting up an old friend who happens to be in SF!
Wednesday, 12 October 2011
Final days in Australia.
The last few weeks have gone by in a flash. Finishing up at work and trying to do the final touristy things in Perth have used up some energy, as well as the numerous leaving drinks and especially the packing. Somehow we've accumulated once again all too much stuff, and even though we threw away kilos of stuff whilst packing, it's not enough. Posting things is extremely expensive and/or slow, so we decided to gamble and show up at airport with some extra weight. My boyfriend left already last night to Hong Kong, and I hear he had to threw away 5kg and hide another 5kg in his pockets to avoid paying 360USD for the extra weight. Honestly, since when has the long distance hand luggage limit been 8kg? I'm already dreading my airport experiences, given that I took most of our books and heavy items to carry as I don't have quite as much crap to carry with me.
Australia still keeps surprising me. The other night we walked by the Swan River and found some nice parks, and a few days later we went to barbecue some burgers in a riverside park in Peppermint Grove (free gas BBQs and clean toilets in most of the of parks in WA). We also went and took photos of the biggest roses I've ever seen in a public rose garden. In any other country, these facilities and gardens do not exist. Or if they do, they are not free to use. Brilliant!
Other surprises have included the ease of calling up gas and electricity for final bills, the change of address to an overseas address with tax office, cancelling my library membership - it's just been a matter of calling up and saying that I'm going. Email addresses and online accounts are valid ways for getting the information on final bills. This is hugely unlike leaving England, where you had to have a forwarding address in England. Also our English gas company tried to sell us more gas in our next address although we'd told them three times that you were leaving the country. And when we visited your bank to cancel our home insurance, they cancelled the direct debit for it instead and sent us a letter about how you're behind in your payments... I could keep going with the rant, but the point is in Australia everything has gone surprisingly smoothly this far.
And the final surprise Australia had in store for me: weather change from a blue sky and sunshine into black clouds and heavy rain... whilst I was cycling. When I got to work this morning I was soaking wet. Not a good way to start a day! Also the weather forecast is showing 33C for the day that I'm leaving, so I guess it's the time to celebrate me going with some proper summer temperatures!
Australia still keeps surprising me. The other night we walked by the Swan River and found some nice parks, and a few days later we went to barbecue some burgers in a riverside park in Peppermint Grove (free gas BBQs and clean toilets in most of the of parks in WA). We also went and took photos of the biggest roses I've ever seen in a public rose garden. In any other country, these facilities and gardens do not exist. Or if they do, they are not free to use. Brilliant!
Other surprises have included the ease of calling up gas and electricity for final bills, the change of address to an overseas address with tax office, cancelling my library membership - it's just been a matter of calling up and saying that I'm going. Email addresses and online accounts are valid ways for getting the information on final bills. This is hugely unlike leaving England, where you had to have a forwarding address in England. Also our English gas company tried to sell us more gas in our next address although we'd told them three times that you were leaving the country. And when we visited your bank to cancel our home insurance, they cancelled the direct debit for it instead and sent us a letter about how you're behind in your payments... I could keep going with the rant, but the point is in Australia everything has gone surprisingly smoothly this far.
And the final surprise Australia had in store for me: weather change from a blue sky and sunshine into black clouds and heavy rain... whilst I was cycling. When I got to work this morning I was soaking wet. Not a good way to start a day! Also the weather forecast is showing 33C for the day that I'm leaving, so I guess it's the time to celebrate me going with some proper summer temperatures!
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