I did not know whether I would be back in the United States so soon, but my internships have once again led me to the bay area, this time in the heart of San Francisco.
Living with three other roommates from back home, my friends and I found a place in Height-Ashbury, just east of the Golden Gate park. The majority of us are working on Market street and we’re transiting to and from work. I have never lived in a major metropolis before and the city life is very different from both Waterloo and Palo Alto. The architecture, atmosphere and culture of the city often changes from street to street and it is a powerful experience to live in a city that is filled with such burgeoning wealth juxtaposed with the poverty of many parts of San Francisco.
I have been missing the freedom of movement that having a car in Palo Alto allowed us to take advantage of during our previous co-op. The transit in the city is good, but going somewhere outside the city for hikes or touring has become something that requires much more planning than our spontaneous attitude that carried over from last term.
I have also been missing the company of some of our good friends who are not joining us down here this term. In Palo Alto we had a posse of Waterloo friends in the surrounding area spread out through the city, Menlo Park and Mountain View. It was an amazing opportunity to have the same people we would hangout with on Friday nights back home join us in our Californian Bungalow for meals, games and socializing.
This is our last co-op and it is already almost half-over. It will likely be harder to come back to the United States after graduating and we will certainly be more dispersed than we are today so I’m trying to cherish every moment of it.
I have recorded some of the things that we have already done on Unsplash. This time the images are mostly of some day trips through the city, as well as a hike we made across the bridge in the Muir Woods.