It seems that past two months just flew by without blog updates! Work has been keeping me busy and maybe a bit too stressed, and I did have my one cold of the year over the Easter weekend. March and April have been very sunny and pleasant, and I think spring might be my favourite time in California. The flowers on the many fruit trees lining Davis streets looked and smelled wonderful. Strawberries and asparagus have been in season. The weather has been sunny and warm without being too hot and exhausting, and there has been great days out with picnics, hikes, bikes, just spending time with friends. One great day like that was UC Davis 99th Annual Picnic Day.
Picnic Day is an UC Davis tradition where the university showcases some of it's aspects for general public and alumni, but it felt moreover a country fair with some of the animal shows. The queues for most interesting things were incredible, so we ended up just soaking up the sun and strolling through the campus, instead of spending hours in lines for Doxie Derby (dachshund race, video from 2009) or Chemistry Magic Show. For the afternoon, we sat down in the Arboretum for a picnic and the Battle of the Bands (video from this year), where marching bands from UCD and other nearby universities compete until the bands can't come up with a song to play that hasn't heard before that day!
I had a great day with my friends and campus activities were very much geared towards families. However I kept hearing that non-university affiliated locals dislike the Picnic Day as it jams the traffic completely, and because the student population goes absolutely crazy with drinking. I thought that it can't be that bad and people were exaggerating, but I did spot drinking games and drunken students already at 10am. However, we downtown area and didn't see the worst of it.
Today the temperature hit 30C and next week seems to be very hot, so I would be tempted to declare that summer has now begun. The sunshine and warm weather have been making me more energetic and happier, so I wish sunshine to all my readers too!
