So, It's been a whole week since my feet first set down on US soil......and they're loving it! (well, not the whole walking for miles part, which is the best way to see San Francisco). It's been our orientation week at SFSU this week, which started out pretty dull it has to be said, being spoken to as if we were 10 year olds, with such advice as "don't wave your ipod in front of a homeless crackhead" (which there are many of, especially in the Tenderloin, which is incidentally where our hostel is) and "only cross the road when the green (actually white over here) man flashes otherwise you might get hit by a car" but after today I feel I judged sfsu prematurely. Imagine an American day time talk show with a presenter walking through the crowd with a microphone, talking about dating and sexual experimentation on your year abroad,who calls herself 'Mamma J' stating, in a true Southern accent "Now y'all dont go timbucktoo-ing till after at least 100 hours of conversation".....because you know, after 96 you might just realise the person's a pervert or just plain weird. This topped off by what I can only describe as the American version of Jo Brand mocking all forms of stereotypes, eg Valley Girls, North Koreans and Australians etc and hating on the American health system, frequently distracted by her new cat bag and a spanner on the table in front of her just made the 30 minute Muni (bus on rails) trip all that worth while. Oh and not to mention Mamma J's advertisement of 'Good Vibrations', a sex shop essentially, in which, 10 years ago she bought her own mother (a then 86 year old) a book about sex for those in their later years of life. Brilliant.
Also looked at a really nice house earlier, just outside of the Mission district (which is a much sought out area for sfsu students) with hardwood floors, granite work surfaces , a bedroom with an ensuite bathroom, and a garden in which the landlord has given us free reign to have parties and grow potatoes in if we so please, right by Mission street on which there are hundreds of charity/thrift stores, all resulted in it being pretty damn hard not to sign the contracts right there and then. Can't wait to have somewhere permanent! Living out of my suitcase, in rooms with strangers, and until last night having to share a bed with Harry due to lack of beds has really taken it's toll. So much so, that, that combined with the stress of house hunting has left me with very little appetite but a huge urge to drink wine all day. This is what happened yesterday, in Berkeley (where, once you come out of the train tunnel it is suddenly 10 degrees hotter and everything looks that little bit cleaner). Let's just say a bowl of porridge for breakfast then 2 glasses wine followed by a handful of fries for lunch, another 2 glasses then fries again for dinner don't constitute as a healthy balanced diet.
Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2011
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