Back home in Southern California! I made fairly decent time, completing the trip in about 7 and a half hours. Though I also spent nearly $95 in gas. Ugh! I do have to say that iPod’s are the BEST invention ever for road trips though. On the way down, I blasted through 192 songs. Nice! Anyway, after spending 6 hours on the road, mainly driving through nothing but farm fields, the following view just makes me think, “almost home!” The Tehachapi Mountains are basically the border between Central California and Southern California, and when you see them towards the bottom of the San Joaquin Valley, there is still about 2 hours left before you’re home. Still, Southern California is almost within reach!
Of course, once you cross over the Tehachapis and San Gabriels, you *should* see the San Fernando Valley/LA. Instead, I saw:
Ah yes, smog! How I missed it. This view almost made me turn around and drive straight back to San Francisco! What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger. Besides, during the last four months I’ve missed not having a fine coating of particulate matter all over my lungs.
After I got home, Nic, Nate and I went out to eat at TGI Friday’s to catch up on old times. We called Dan to see if he wanted to go, but he was sick. I’ve never been there, evidentially that is the happening spot for the college crowd in this area. The food is okay, but I can think of much better places to spend my time and money at.
I also have to say that I absolutely love craigslist.org. In the last 4 months, I have used it to buy a desk for my room, sell a guitar, find an apartment, find someone to sublet my room and now find a place to stay near UCLA. Starting Tuesday, I will be staying in an apartment with 4 ladies from UCLA during my internship, subletting while someone else is moving out during the summer. At $500/mo, it isn’t that bad of a deal, especially for being right across the street from UCLA.
I went down to check the place out last night and it was a nifty little apartment. It seems like a decent place to spend the next 11 weeks or so and a friendly group of people too. After this, I walked around campus for a bit to get my bearings. It is a very awesome campus, but I still think UC Berkeley is probably the most beautiful university I have ever seen. I walked through their massive geology building and found the office I am supposed to go to on Wednesday. Right down the hall is the office of Dr. Keilis-Borok, who’s team predicted the San Simeon earthquake and is predicting an earthquake this summer in So. Cal. Being the geeky person that I am, I kind of wanted to take a picture in front of his door. Ah well, maybe next time! =]