Davis, my new home in America.

This blog was meant to be a travel blog, but now I've gone and settled down for a few years. So what to do? Can I keep writing to a travel blog if I'm not actively travelling? But I'm not exactly in my home country either, so does it count as travelling? I figured that I'd quite like to have a place where to write about my experiences here in USA, and all of the travelling and sightseeing I will hopefully do over weekends and vacations... so this blog going to stay alive!

After Bangkok I went home and visited as many friends as I had time for in four weeks. I also got my American visa and figured out all the paperwork... which was surprisingly easy in the end. I even had time to watch most of the European Football Championship matches with my mum and dad and have a bit of summer holiday at home. For someone who loves to travel, I love being at home ridiculously much! And then I packed up my room at home (not that there was much to pack up) and came to California.

I've been living here now for three weeks and I've settled in really well. My new hometown is Davis, which is a pretty little university town located in the middle of massive fields. Davis is supposedly the most bike-friendly town in the States, and I have to say that the quality and number of bike paths is impressive. The town itself is also small enough for cycling everywhere. According to wikipedia Davis is also the second most educated city in the States just after Arlington, Virginia (where e.g. the Pentagon is located). It seems that recycling is really fashionable here, as is locally grown and organic foods. The independent grocery store Nugget seems awesome although I haven't yet had a chance to shop there properly (as there is a Safeway just across the street from where I live). Politically, Davis is pretty liberal and people who I've met are friendly and more aware of the world outside the States than I would've expected.

Davis is just one-hour drive away from Berkeley and one-and-half hours from San Francisco. The Bay Area tends to be very cool and foggy, which I've noticed both times I've managed to get that far, but Davis is far enough to have incredibly sunny and hot weather. The daytime temperatures have been 30-40C and luckily during the night the temperature drops below 20C. I have to say that the acclimation to the heat that I still have from SE Asia is very useful here - I actually enjoy the heat and do not need to resort to taking a siesta! 

Sacramento, the capital of California is just 15 minute drive away from Davis, but I haven't managed to visit it yet. Supposedly it should offer nicer dining and shopping than Davis... however there is a lot of restaurants in Davis too. Other interesting things near Davis include Napa and Sonoma Wine Counties, many national and regional parks with redwoods, and Lake Tahoe for hiking and skiing. I'm really looking forward to exploring the area more! At the moment it has been quite busy with work, hunting for a flat and all the other things that need sorting when moving to a new country. And I need to buy a car before I really can explore!

The thing that has helped me most for settling in however, has been the people that I work with. I really enjoy their company, and luckily they've been inviting me to do fun things with them. They even found me a place to stay for the first two months. How much easier than this can it get?! Speaking of fun things, there's actually a pool-side barbecue party organised by my housemates about to start right now!