Only One More Week!

It's true, a week from now I'll be heading back to Michigan! I'm looking forward to seeing family and friends again after three months away. Luckily, Jordan will be flying out Friday night to drive home with me and I can't wait to see him!

I spent the past week in Arizona for one of my clients. The team was nice and we had a good time but I was so exhausted by Friday night. We were a bit spoiled at our hotel with two pools, the lazy river, a 24 hour gym, and lots of gathering places. I did get to take advantage of the lazy river on Thursday and it was amazing. So relaxing! It helped us cope with the 110+ degree temperatures.
I flew back to San Francisco late Friday night and finally got a good night of sleep. On Saturday I headed downtown with Kimberly and Jason to Duboce Park where one of their friends was having a birthday party. There were a bunch of people there so we all hung out for a few hours talking, eating, and playing various lawn games (cornhole, bocce ball, and some crazy frisbee game). It was a lot of fun! The birthday boy's wife had made delicious birthday cupcakes. In addition to the cupcake mix, she dropped a dollop of chocolate chip cookie dough into the mold so part of the cupcake was like a cookie! They were so good and looked adorable. Here's a picture of one, and me devouring it.


Duboce Park also happens to be a dog park, so a lot of people had brought their dogs and there were plenty of others to watch. It was fun to play around with them and watch them antagonize each other. After it got a little too chilly outside, we headed to someone's house nearby and hung out for a few more hours and then ordered a bunch of Indian food for dinner. It was my first time eating Indian food and it was pretty good! I was nervous that it would be super spicy but it wasn't any worse than Thai food, which I eat a lot.

Today I'm planning on hanging out by the pool and getting ready for my last week of work. I'm excited because this week I'll actually be working in the city! And I will even have a bit of downtime, so I can do some last minute exploring and hang out with the other interns. By Wednesday I'll be done doing client work and we'll just be wrapping things up. I'll be completely done by Friday afternoon and then I'll go pick Jordan up from the airport that night. Yay!

Recap!

It's been a busy two weeks! Work has been really busy (a good thing!) because the client I was on was going through their quarterly review process. I've gotten exposure to what the job is really like and what I'd be doing as a new accountant. The best part is I work with a great group of people and so even when work is frustrating, I enjoy being there.

The other big change is that I'm now staying in Walnut Creek at Kimberly and Jason's house. The lease on the apartment I was subletting ended this week and since I'm only going to be in Cali for two more weeks, it was just easier to stay here for a bit - and they were nice enough to let me!

Last weekend my big outing was up to Berkeley on Saturday to walk around the city and campus, and meet up with a friend for dinner and drinks. Oddly enough, my friend's name is Jordan, so every time I mention her in conversation I have to clarify who it is! I met her in a history class last fall at Michigan and we hit it off because we both love baking and both were visiting San Francisco over Fall Break in October. She moved here after graduating in December and has been working at a small public relations firm. She has been staying at her parent's house up in Napa but she is moving to an apartment in the city this weekend!

Next week I will be starting to work on a new client and I get to travel to Arizona for four days. It's going to be unbelievably hot. Luckily, the hotel that they picked to stay at has a lazy river and water slide! How hilarious is that? Who knows if I'll end up taking advantage of the amenities, but hopefully we get off work early enough one day that I can use it :) I'll let you all know how that goes!

Quirky Things about California

Things I've noticed so far...

1) It has rained three times since I've been here, and by rain I mean a little sprinkle. So there has been no rain, no unbearable heat wave, no tornadoes, AND no earthquakes this summer. Take that Michigan.

2) When you drive into the state along I-80, they check your car for "agricultural products", much like a customs check. Apparently they have one on every interstate as you enter the state! I lied and said I didn't have anything when I very well had THREE apples in my car. Oops.

3) The most depressing thing of all...there are no cider mills in California.

4) Also, as Kimberly pointed out to me, there are no Buffalo Wild Wings either.

5) Even WORSE, no Potbelly Sandwich shops either!

6) It's not that warm. In fact, it's downright cold sometimes. I did a poor job of packing - I brought one fleece blanket and one pair of non-work pants. Yes, just one.

7) No one has ever been to Michigan, except for the people from Michigan who moved here.

8) Oddly enough, I have seen a decent amount of UofM t-shirts and license plate frames. Go Blue!

9) The speed limit is 65 on highways. And people follow it. It's painful!

10) The temperature difference between different parts of the Bay Area is huge. For instance, I work in San Ramon right now which is 30 minutes inland. One day last week I got in my car after work and the temperature was 99 degrees. By the time I got to Oakland, it was 81 degrees, and when I got downtown for the Giants game, it was 72 degrees. You have to wear layers out here!

11) They make you enter your zip code before you pump gas. Why?

There's lots of wonderful differences too, but I just wanted to point out the quirky stuff.

Sisters in San Fran

I had a fantastic weekend. My sister flew down from Seattle on Thursday night so we had 2 and a half days to have fun in San Francisco. We were quite productive!

On Friday, after Katie had shopped downtown for the day while I was at work, we went out for the night in Jack London Square. We had dinner and drinks at a great restaurant called Bocanova. Then on Saturday we got up and took the ferry into downtown. I had never taken the ferry before but it was pretty nice! It's just a 30 minute ride to the Ferry Building, so the commute isn't that much longer than what it takes for me to ride BART. Unfortunately though, it's twice as expensive. So the boat dropped us off at the Ferry Building where the Farmer's Market was going on. This farmer's market is like the mecca on Saturdays in the city. It was so crowded! But there's also tons of vendors so you can pretty much find anything you want, and more. We started off with breakfast, a doughnut muffin and apricot jam pocket. Side note: guess what Pioneer Woman's recipe was for today? Muffins That Taste Like Doughnuts..mmm. At the market we stocked up on all sorts of picnic supplies and then headed off to Golden Gate Park.

Just outside of GG Park, we rented bikes (the park is waaay too big to walk around). So we biked into the park and found a place close to all the museums to have a picnic! Here's our masterpiece of a picnic lunch, complete with sourdough and rosemary herb bread, gruyere and chevre cheeses, proscuitto, wild arugula lettuce, a peach, almonds, olives, dark chocolate, and a travel container of Chardonnay. Best lunch ever! Also, check out the Michigan beach towel/picnic blanket. Go Blue! After eating and people watching for awhile, we headed over to the de Young Museum, a pretty new art museum at the park. Part of the building is a 9-story tower that's free to access and has beautiful views of the city, so we headed up to take a look. Here are some of the pictures from atop the tower:


Needing to burn off some of the calories from lunch, we continued to bike around the park for an hour and then turned in our rentals. We walked over to Alamo Square, home to the Painted Ladies, which might be familiar from the Full House opening credits.


It was time to make our way back to Oakland to get cleaned up for dinner! That night we headed back down to the Mission district where we met Jordan's friend, fraternity brother, and fellow Rochester native Andy and his girlfriend for dinner and sangria. We went to a tapas restaurant and ordered the meat platter, which is literally what it sounds like. I think I ate more meat than night then I usually do in a two weeks, but it was so good! Afterwards we headed over to a bar in the mission to meet up with one of Katie's Clemson/Seattle friends for a bit before we had to catch BART back to Oakland! That's one of the few unfortunate things about BART - that it doesn't run past midnight so you pretty much have to fend for yourself and cab it if you end up staying in the city past then.

Sunday was even more adventurous than Saturday. I drove over not one, not two, but three Bay Area bridges, including the Golden Gate bridge. It might not sound all that impressive to you, but I had been terrified all summer to even attempt to drive into the city. Good thing we were just passing through on our way up to Muir Woods, a national park about 15 minutes north of San Francisco. It's one of the few places in the Bay Area that has the giant redwood trees. It was beautiful! Katie and I even did a little bit of strenuous hiking in the park around Muir Woods. I'm still sore today! We made it up to the Panoramic Trail where you supposedly can see the ocean. We weren't that lucky. Look at the view though!


After about 2 and half hours at Muir Woods, we hopped in the car and headed back to Oakland where I dropped Katie off at the airport. Then I pigged out on all the leftover picnic supplies, including the bar of chocolate. It was a great weekend.

Wine Country

I spent a big chunk of the day on Saturday up in Napa, going wine tasting. It was wonderful :) Kimberly and Jason were heading up to their favorite winery, Trefethen, to pick up their quarterly shipment since they're wine club members. Members get free tastings too! My favorite wine was probably the Quandary, which is a blend of 3 different white wines with a fruity taste. After Trefethen, we headed over to another of of their favorites, Napa Cellars. I really liked that one. It had a laid back vibe and the guy who served us was really nice and informative. Plus, he gave us sufficiently more than the standard 4 tastings, so maybe that's why I liked it so much!! I ended up buying a bottle of red wine from there (which was also a blend of 3 different wines, oddly enough). The weather was absolutely gorgeous up there and I can't wait to go back again!

On Sunday I headed back out to Walnut Creek to watch the World Cup final and hang out with Jordan's cousin Melissa and her fiance Eric at Kimberly's house. All in all it was a super relaxing weekend. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures from Napa, I guess I was to busy drinking. Maybe next time!

Fourth of July Weekend, Part 2

Another long delay in between posts, sorry! It's been a busy week. I started out at the client on Tuesday in San Ramon which is about a 30 minute drive from my apartment. So far it's going really well! The team seems like a fun group and I'll be out there for a month.

I'm catching up a bit but my mom and I did squeeze even more things into last weekend. On Saturday we drove down to Monterey, which should only be 2 hours from here but it was more like 3 with traffic. Monterey is right on the Pacific coast, which is BEAUTIFUL! Unfortunately I didn't think Monterey was that wonderful. It was super crowded and it was very very touristy. There's only so many stores with t-shirts and trinkets that you can look at. There are a lot of activities you can do in the area: biking, swimming, whale watching, and going to the aquarium. But we were only there for the night so we just walked around for a bit and decided to leave.

We headed south toward the 17 Mile Drive, which is the coastal drive through the Pebble Beach golf course property. There are beaches, picnic sites, and lookout points along the way, and the view was incredible. The last stop on the drive is the Pebble Beach lodge, where Judes and I got out to look around. No golfing for us though! Here are some pictures:
On Sunday we headed into Carmel-by-the-sea, which is at the end of the 17 Mile Drive, south of Monterey. It's such an adorable town! There's tons of great boutique shops, cute restaurants and bed & breakfasts, and it's right on the beach! We were smart to get into town early because by noon the traffic getting into the city was backed up for a mile. We shopped around for a bit, grabbed lunch, and then decided to head up highway 1 back to San Francisco!

When we got back to the Bay area mom and I had dinner in Jack London Square, right by my apartment in Oakland. On Monday we spent some time in the East Bay and then hung out by the pool for a few hours! We had sunny weather all weekend, but it was actually quite chilly. So we took advantage of the fact that it was finally up to 80 degrees. Around dinner time I had to say goodbye to mom and go back to the apartment to get ready for work in the morning. I'm so glad I got to spend time with her for a few days and see more of California.

I've got a busy weekend ahead and then Katie will be visiting next weekend! Wooo!

Fourth of July Weekend, Part 1

I apologize for not posting anything in awhile. My mom came to visit for the weekend so we've been busy doing lots of fun stuff, with very little internet access. But happy belated Independence Day! I enjoyed a wonderful 4 and a half day weekend, thanks to no work on Friday or Monday and not much work to do on Thursday! Here's a recap of what I did Wednesday through Friday:

Wednesday was the day that mom flew in, but I actually had a busy day on my own. My "buddy", who is a first-year accountant who's tasked with helping me out, invited me to a Giants game with the team that I'll be working on for most of the summer. It was nice to take a break from the intern project and it was my first experience at AT&T Park! It was gorgeous (as long as you were sitting in the sun), but the Giants sucked. I think they lost 8-1, I lost track after awhile. Not that I really cared because the Tigers will always be my team :) Here's a quick picture I took of the view from our seats:
After the game I headed back to the office to finish up our project and then finally met up with mom!! I was so happy to see her. I was tired from a long day and still had work in the morning, so we just went and got some food and then watched TV in the hotel. Even though I claim to not be much of a TV fan, whenever I'm around one now I'm glued since I don't have one in my apartment.

On Thursday we presented our intern project to a group of partners in the office and then I finished up a few things before leaving at 1! The hotel we were staying at downtown was in the Union Square area, which is where all the big name stores and shopping is. We wandered around through some stores that night and I bought not one, but two new pairs of shoes: a pair of good walking shoes and a pair of heels to go with the only suit I brought to California. Why I chose to bring the one suit that didn't have shoes to match is beyond me, but oh well.

Friday was our BIG day. I still can't believe how much we did! We got up early and boarded a cable car to take us to the Fisherman's Wharf area. Yes, I finally got to ride a cable car! It certainly isn't the most efficient means of transportation, but it was fun. We were smart and each bought the 1-day passport that gets you unlimited rides on both the cable cars and buses in the city. After getting to Fisherman's Wharf we walked around and ate breakfast at the sourdough bread factory. They had the cutest loaves shaped like animals!We trekked on over to Ghirardelli Square, and then caught a bus to go to the Marina district, which is closer to the Golden Gate Bridge. This is the area of the city where a ton of young professionals live, and one of the places Jordan and I are considering getting an apartment next year. It's a really cute area with adorable townhouses, a beautiful waterfront, and a cute downtown area with shops and cafes. Not far away was the Cow Hollow district, home to the Union Street shops (not to be confused with Union Square). We visited a bunch of boutique stores, and even a few bridal shops, but I ended up just buying a summer dress that was on sale.


Next up we hopped on a bus and went to North Beach for lunch. We perused the City Lights bookstore and then took a bus back to Union Square, where we stopped in two more bridal dress stores but I didn't really like anything, or the prices. At that point we quickly decided that a trip up to Sausalito would be nice for dinner. Sausalito is the city just north of San Francisco, across the Bay. You can get to it over the Golden Gate Bridge or by ferry. Not having my car at the time, we went by ferry! It's such a cute little town and would be nice for a weekend getaway. I had been before when I came to visit San Francisco last October with Jordan, and I ended up eating at the same restaurant again! There are great views of the Bay and the city from Sausalito. Here are some pictures:

After dinner we caught the ferry back to the city, stopped at Ghirardelli Square so I could get a cupcake, and got on the bus headed back to the hotel. Whew, what a day.

OH, and I got the best news of all on Friday. We were able to put an advance reservation down for the beach house we wanted for the wedding in Emerald Isle next year. So the wedding is officially June 26th, 2011! Yay!

I'll post again soon about our weekend trip to Monterey/Carmel but for now I have to get ready for my first real day of work tomorrow!

Happy Birthday Jordan!

The view from my apartment complex of San Francisco in the distance, on a non-foggy day!

Jordan turns 23 day and I wish I could have been in Boston to celebrate with him. Luckily his parents went to visit for the weekend so he wasn't all alone. I did enjoy a very sunny weekend in California though, which was nice since last week was coooold. Like, colder than Michigan! On Saturday I headed over to Walnut Creek early to go watch the USA vs. Ghana game at a local bar with Kimberly and Jason. Unfortunately, the game did not go our way so we cheered up by spending the rest of the day at the pool.

Today was another gorgeous, sunny and 80 degree day. I headed over the the Farmer's Market this morning where I got some goodies to make a salad with and then ordered a delicious wood-fire grilled pizza that I had been eying last weekend. Mmmmmm...


I had thought about taking a kayaking class today but when I went to sign up for it, the class was full. So maybe I'll have to settle for just renting a kayak for an hour by myself sometime. I did notice today that they have a special discount if you take your dog with you on the kayak. Look how cute this is! If only Reba was here with me :) She would love it!

After that I drove over to Alameda and went to their outdoor shopping center that has both a Safeway (the Kroger of the West) and a Trader Joe's. I've spent the rest of the day cleaning up, doing laundry, and cooking (attempting at least). I've got a four day week coming up and I'll still be in the office doing more orientation type stuff and an intern group project. Then on Thursday my mom is flying in, yaaay! She would be proud that I caught this grammar mistake today on a Domino's ad...not that it was hard.


Really? Two topics? That sounds delicious.

Week One = Done!

I finished my week of training today. The week started off a little rough, but it got much better as time went on. On the first day, all of the interns in the SF office were together in a big room, and it seemed like everyone else knew each other from home, school, or recruiting events. It was more of an orientation day, so we did kind of silly group activities all day. Starting on Tuesday, we were broken up into much smaller groups that would be permanent for the rest of the week, so I actually got to know a few people. So for the past few days I've been going through actual audit training and I admit, it was hard to pay attention sometimes because the view outside our training room was b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l. My office is in the Financial District close to the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge. From our training room, I was constantly staring at the Bay, a cruise ship docked at one of the piers, Navy ships and submarines going by, and Coit Tower on top of Telegraph Hill. I don't think I'd ever get work done in an office with a view like that. Here's a glimpse, but the picture doesn't do it justice.

As for the other interns, nearly all of them are from California and go to to school in the area. They're also all a grade lower than me, because California has different requirements than Michigan so students can be CPA-eligible after only four years of school, whereas I have to do the final fifth year. The ones I've had the chance to talk to seem like nice, fun people! The only problem is that everyone is so spread out (living at home, school, or someplace random like me), so I doubt there will be much socializing going on once we're all out at clients. I won't actually be starting client work until after the July 4th holiday because next week we will all be back in the office working on an intern case project. They do this since so many of their staff take the week off for vacation, so it would be hard to send an intern out to a dead project.

Besides all the boring training stuff, I did some fun things this week too! On Tuesday, as a social event for all the new Assurance interns, I went on a scavenger hunt around the city to find clues at certain locations. Here's one of the clues we had:

"From where the father of our country meets the power source behind a hard-charging rabbit, head south towards a bridge. Before you reach the "Castle" that's paired with a pachyderm, you'll find "treasure" at your feet. What's buried here?"

Translation: At the corner of Washington and Battery streets, head south until you reach the bar called "Elephant Castle". Look down and you'll find that the General Harrison ship was unearthed here. We ran around for an hour and a half trying to solve these clues, and it was pretty fun! At the end we all met up at North Beach Pizza for dinner, but sadly my team didn't win.

On Thursday night after work I actually met up with Kimberly and Melissa (Jordan's cousin who lives in the city) for happy hour at a little bar on Pier 23. It was super fun! We got to talk lots about weddings since Melissa is getting married in August, and about different things to do in the area. Hopefully we'll all be able to meet up again before I leave! Since training ended today, a bunch of the interns went to a restaurant/bar nearby for a few drinks after work. I didn't stay for long because I wanted to get back to Oakland while it was still light and have time to catch up on things (blogging..), but I think the internship is off to a pretty good start!

A Conversation

Other Intern: What school do you go to?

Me: I go to Michigan.

Other Intern: Oh! But where are you from?

Me: Yeah I'm from Michigan.

Other Intern: Ohh. What made you come out to San Francisco?

Me: Well, I'm getting married next year...this is usually followed by some variation of exclamation like ooo, awww, whoa!, or for one girl, screaming...and my fiance is a computer engineer so the jobs he wants are all in the Silicon Valley area. Plus, we both thought it would be fun to experience something new since we've both always lived in Michigan.

Other Intern: So where is he working now?

Me: Well he's actually in Boston right now, interning for Qualcomm.

Other Intern: Oh wow. You guys are far apart. Are you getting married here or in Michigan?

Me: Umm, neither, we're getting married in North Carolina on the beach.

Other Intern: Ohh...

At this point they just look at me and smile with a slightly dumbfounded look on their face. I think I've had this conversation 20 times in the past 3 days (usually with girls). Oh well, I'm fine being the intern from Michigan whose fiance is in Boston and is getting married next year in North Carolina :)

Festivals and Farmers' Markets

I had a pretty relaxing weekend! Aside from making sure all my dress pants and shirts were ironed, and dropping a few things off at the cleaners, I did a lot of wandering at the Danville Wine and Art Festival and the Jack London Square Farmer's Market. Kimberly and her husband, Jason, let me tag along on Saturday when they went to Danville for the art fair. It's a really cute town about 15 minutes south of where they live in Walnut Creek. We wandered around the art fair for awhile until they got what they had come for - buying a new patio set! They ordered two unfinished wooden Adirondack chairs, a bench, and a coffee table. We headed back to Walnut Creek and spent the night watching movies!

Some cool sidewalk chalk artists at the art fair

On Sunday morning I headed over to Jack London Square to check out the farmer's market. It was impressive! I wasn't really prepared to buy a lot but next week I will definitely do the bulk of my grocery "shopping" there. They had everything from fresh fruits and vegetables to homemade pasta, meat, jams, breads and pastries, and beautiful flowers. Not to mention the food tents they had that made me wish I hadn't eaten such a big breakfast. It was fun to wander around for awhile and get free samples! I also stopped in the California Canoe and Kayak store and found out that they're offering one of their Kayak Basics classes next weekend, so I'm thinking about signing up for that.

I spent the rest of the day figuring out all the logistics for work this week and making sure I had everything in order. Orientation & training are this week, but I'll update more on that later. Too bad I can't be a bum all summer!

The Rock

Yesterday I ventured into downtown San Francisco again. I had big plans to ride my first cable car, visit Ghiradelli Square, and then breeze through Fisherman's Wharf to take pictures before heading to Pier 33 to catch the boat to Alcatraz. I got off the BART at the Powell stop near the cable car turnaround and much to my dismay, there were already hundreds of people in line. The line stretched clear to the next block. Bah. I've been to San Francisco on three separate occasions now and still have not ridden a freakin' cable car. I tell myself that someday I will, but am I ever going to be patient enough to wait in that horrible line? Probably not. To make matters worse, it took so long to figure out how else to get to the waterfront that I ate up most of my pre-Alcatraz sightseeing time. So I eventually hopped on the right bus and just went to Pier 33.

Then I took a 15 minute boat ride over to Alcatraz Island. After getting off onto the dock, they gave us a short spiel about the history of Alcatraz and how to proceed with the tour. Instead of making groups of people walk around together with a tour guide, they give everyone a little mp3 player and headphones to listen to a pre-recorded cellhouse tour at their own pace. I enjoyed doing it this way, especially since I was there by myself and wouldn't have had anyone to talk to anyway. Hearing the accounts from actual prisoners and guards who lived on the island and seeing the cells as the way they were decades ago was so interesting. It was almost eerie to look at the cells where guards were held hostage and shot during the Battle of Alcatraz. I also never realized that at one time Native Americans occupied the island as part of their civil rights movement and that originally the island had served as Fort Alcatraz to protect the Bay during the gold rush. The thing I was MOST surprised about though was that one of the four rows of cells within the cell-house was nicknamed Michigan Avenue, but I haven't been able to figure out why. The others were Broadway, Seedy Street, and the D-Block.

A typical cellSolitary confinementThe shower roomLeftover symbols of the Indian occupation

I spent over two hours on the island, touring the cell-house and watching a video on the history of island. But by then my back was killing me from being on my feet for two straight days so I boarded the ferry to go back to San Francisco. I should have offered to drive it, since I have so much experience driving ferries on Janelle's island! I made friends with a South African guy on the way back who had been on the same pace as me throughout the whole tour. Too bad he left for work to come to the US during the World Cup!

After that I went back to Oakland and eventually headed to Kimberly's so I could get up very early this morning to watch the US vs. Slovenia match. It was heartbreaking, but a good game to see. After this weekend my sightseeing will be less frequent..I start work on Monday, woo!

They Weren't Kidding About the Hills..

I'm not naive, I've seen pictures and heard stories about the hills in SF before. I've driven up and down them, and seen how steep they can be. What I did not realize was how tiring it was to climb up all of them, and how many stairs there were too! Today I ventured down into the city, taking the BART from Oakland into downtown and then walking all around the city. My first stop was the Ferry Building. The building reminds me of a smaller, indoor version of Pike Place Market in Seattle. It has a huge farmer's market three times a week that many restaurants use to get fresh produce and meat from farmers in the greater Bay Area. Next I headed to Pier 39, where the Alcatraz tour boats take off from. The tours were all sold out for today so I bought a ticket for tomorrow afternoon.





As it's name suggests, the Ferry Building is also the dock where the ferry takes off from, going to Sausalito to the north and Oakland to the South.








One of the many piers on the Bay, with a view of the Bay Bridge and Treasure Island.






After that, I wasn't really sure what to do. I could have continued on down the boardwalk and gone to Fisherman's Wharf, but Jordan and I walked through it back in October and it seemed overly-touristy and chintzy. So instead I decided to walk up to Coit Tower, which I could see in the distance. Notice how it's high on top of a hill? Yeah, I didn't think about that.


So I started my trek through the neighborhood called Telegraph Hill and climbed what seemed like 1000 steps and three giant hills. Because the streets are so incredibly steep, many of the sidewalks are actually just giant staircases. I think the purpose of that might be to control people going down the hill as much as it is to make it easier to go up the hill.







Ahhh, I'm getting closer!











Finally I made it to the top, sweating and out of breath. I decided that if I had made it that far, I should just pay the $5 to take the rickety elevator to the top of the tower. I must say, it was worth it. The views from the top are spectacular and I went on a very clear day. Here are some pictures to prove it!

In the distance you can see Lombard Street, "the crookedest street in the world". They had to make it zig-zag because it would have been too steep for any cars to drive down.

The infamous Alcatraz. I'll be visiting there tomorrow!


And the Golden Gate bridge! You can tell it's a little foggy, but still a beautiful view.

After I descended Telegraph Hill, I was a bit hungry. I walked around North Beach, which is like a Little Italy. On every corner there's Italian bistros and cafes, meat markets or coffee shops. I stopped in Cafe Puccini, a little hole-in-the-wall where I ordered a salami sandwich and a Coke. They had a TV propped up and a bunch of old Italian men were sitting together watching the Uruguay vs. South Africa World Cup game. They were adorable. When the ref gave South Africa's goalie a red card and Uruguay a penalty kick, they started shouting in Italian and mumbling amongst themselves. Oh, and did I mention we were watching it on the Italian channel? So I couldn't understand a word the announcers were saying. I so badly wanted to take a picture of them but I didn't want them to start yelling at me in Italian either, so I just smiled and left.

After that I walked through Chinatown, Union Square, and into Yerba Buena Gardens. It seemed more like a fancy park to me, unless I was missing the "garden" area. By that time I was exhausted so I decided to head back to Oakland. I'll be going back tomorrow anyway!

My Temporary New Home

Since my internship doesn't start for another week, I'm using the next few days to get settled in and do some touristy things. Today I had the chance to walk around the neighborhood, an up-and-coming waterfront area of Oakland called Jack London Square. It seems like there won't be a shortage of things to do on the weekends. They have an artisan's market on Saturday, a farmer's market on Sunday, bike and kayak rentals, boat cruises, and even outdoor yoga classes. I'd have to learn how to do yoga first, but maybe they're friendly to beginners. There's a bunch of fancy restaurants, but I probably won't be dining in them too often! Just beyond the Square are a few more stores that will come in handy as I'm getting settled it. There's a Bed Bath & Beyond (good thing I brought coupons), a Cost Plus World Market, and BevMo, which is a chain store out here that sells any beverage you could possibly want and snacks to go with it! My apartment, which is also on the water, is just a 5 minute walk from all the festivities.


The water you see here is actually an estuary that flows into the Bay. The land mass to the left is an island called Alameda. Just beyond that would be downtown San Francisco. If it weren't so foggy downtown I'd be able to see the skyscrapers! Just a little geography lesson for you :)
















While I was nervous about finding an apartment on Craigslist, I really couldn't have asked for much more (without depleting my bank account). The complex is gated and has a beautiful pool area and gym. My room is bigger than any room I've ever had, and I even have a walk-in closet! The girl I'm subletting from left all her furniture and cooking utensils, so all I really had to bring were clothes, shoes, and things to keep me entertained. Considering I fit almost everything I brought into the trunk, I'd say I packed pretty light. There's even a washer and dryer right in the apartment, which is a first for me since heading off to college! Check out my spacious room and slightly disorganized walk-in closet:

2400 Miles Later..

I MADE IT! Thanks to my future sister-in-law Pamela who drove out with me, my little Ford Focus that trucked through nine states, and a decent amount of caffeine, I am finally sitting in my new apartment for the summer! Google maps predicted the trip would take 38 hours, but even with some rainy weather slowing us down at times, we made it in about 35 hours including stops! And no Mom(s), we didn't speed too much. At least neither of us got a ticket :)

The road trip ended up being a ton of fun, although I think it will be a few weeks before I eat any more fast food. On the first day, we left Rochester around 9am with the intention of taking the day easy. We took a detour into Naperville, IL, to have lunch with my good friend Jessica. The conversation mainly focused around Seattle since Jessica is moving there shortly to work at Microsoft and Pamela, of course, lives there! We drove for a few more hours and then stopped in North Liberty, IA, to stay for the night at one of Pamela's high school friend's houses. They were so gracious and made us a delicious taco dinner, a nice break from fast food!

Day 2 was all driving, 1100 miles of it. We got through Iowa, Nebraska, and Wyoming before we finally stopped for the night. We did run into some rainy weather, but the drive itself was so easy. No traffic, a speed limit of 75, and only one highway the whole time! We saw lots of grass, fields, cows, horses, and even a truckload of the cutest baby pigs. Nebraska was probably my favorite to drive through because we had gorgeous blue skies the whole time. We got to the hotel around 9:30 and after watching a couple episodes of Say Yes to the Dress, we rested up for Day 3!

The next day we drove from Evanston, WY to Walnut Creek, where my other future sister-in-law lives. We made it in 12 hours and along the way saw the salt flats, a lot of Nevada casinos, and the Tahoe National Forest. We got to Kimberly's just in time for a real dinner! I am so grateful to both Pamela and Kimberly for all their help in getting me out here and making the trip so much easier. Today, on my first full day in California, I spent the day at the pool and then finally met up with my new roommate Abbey to get into my apartment. So far so good! I will post more details about that and photos of the place over the next few days. For now, I'm going to get some rest.