Escape to the Hills

First of all, "Georgia" is my favorite font. So this blog-site already gets my stamp of approval for offering the use of this fantastic font. Now onto more relevant things.

The city of Berkeley is a wonderful place. Thus far, I have eaten some delicious food at Naan N Curry, Smart Alecs, Cafe Intermezzo, and tasted some sushi at Akosoko (best name EVER) which is conveniently located 2 blocks away. Also 2 blocks away is Berkeley Bowl, a huge market with the cheapest produce I've ever witnessed and every type of orange/tangerine/satsuma variety on the planet. Heavenly.

I am blown away with how close food, shops, museums, and CAMPUS is to me.

I ride my beautiful $60 road bike from Craigslist (vintage French Mercier bike from the 70's in great condition) everywhere I go with a jerry-rigged light (helmet + head lamp=bike light) because until I get a job, I can't afford to spend money on anything but food (I miss my Outback Gear Shop income).

The Berkeley career website brought me to an internship with the Geography Department working on digitalizing Aerial Photos and Topographic Maps...after 1 hour of work I decided that working in the basement of a library with no human contact is very NOT ME. This inspired me to take a visit to Disneyland AKA REI to apply for a part-time job. We'll see if it works out.

Today was a frustrating day. I think UC Berkeley has a mission to make my life a living hell. Okay, so that's pretty extreme, but I feel much less than "welcome" in the College of Environmental Design. With hardly any access to classes and roadblocks to enrollment at each attempt, I may end up having to take meaningless courses unrelated to my original reason for coming here. I find that when I get super frustrated I just start to tear up (a wonderful confirmation of my womanhood) which only proved to the staff at CED that I am a scared and lost child. BUT I am determined to get what I want, so have no fear! I WILL take the classes I want which are:

1. Computer Applications in Environmental Design (GIS, basically)
2. Transportation Planning

I am already enrolled in:

1. Intro to City Planning
2. Intro to Landscape Architecture
3. People and the Environment
   

Classes up here are packed with more material than UCSD classes (semesters are longer, so it makes sense) which is slightly intimidating and also exciting because I really get to absorb myself in the subject instead of skimming the service. Most classes involve papers, projects, and field trips (sick!). The professors are great so far, but it's week 1...so they may be trying to impress us.

Roommates are awesome. Jennifer, Madison, and myself are Berkeley students and Mary, Anna, and Anna are CCA (California College of the Arts) students and are SUPER talented in their various specialties. We stay up late drinking tea and watching movies most nights so far. We all appreciate good food and have ZERO cabinet and fridge space...literally.

Weather here is frigid. I am getting used to it as the days go on, but it doesn't get above 55 degrees. I miss you San Diego sunshine!! The rain is inconvenient to ride around in, but I thank my NorthFace raincoat for being a loyal friend and keeping me dry. Last weekend the weather was GREAT and Madison and I went hiking in the Berkeley Hills which is where the picture was taken. It was breathtaking. There were so many people outside enjoying the views which made me so happy. I miss the beach, but the change in scenery is refreshing.

Last night I went to a show in San Francisco with Madison & Herky (Psycho ultimate friend) at the Rickshaw Stop on Fell St. and saw The Buttercream Gang (from Napa)---they were awesome! Also awesome was being able to buy drinks, yeah Kamikaze soooo good. Although drinks are pricey so I don't think it'll be a regular occurrence.

Whenever I miss home or want to relax, I listen to James Taylor's Greatest Hits album and it calms me like a hot cup of tea. He is a golden god.

This weekend is the Sonoma Environmental Film Festival where "Meat Jim", mine and Madison's film will show on Sunday. We get free passes to the whole festival, so we are going to hit up some great films on Saturday and Sunday YAY!

I'm off to read and be a good little student. Then to a party with Jenn Westhoff (Y&G friend from LC).


"How sweet it is to be loved by you"-James Taylor,

Katie