It's been a while since I blog eh? I had a good week and just finished orientation last week. This week is going to be three days of Counseling classes where new students are expected to make educational plans for the first quarter.
Sounds depressing huh?
Anyway, my weekend was awesome. Just on Friday, my parents, me, and Elda took a trip to San Francisco. It wasn't initially a vacation though, since we only came to San Francisco to report ourselves to Indonesian consulate. Yeah, that's quite a proof of us being a law abiding Indonesian citizen even though we're out of the country.
We took a train from Sunnyvale all the way to the last stop: The city famous of its long red bridge itself.
This is my first time going by train in the US, and it was exciting! The train might be as convenient as Indonesian executive trains, but well, it consisted of two stories! I decided to take a seat at the lower story though.
First impression when arrived:
FREEEEEEEZZZZZIIIINGGGGG
San Francisco was just different from this small town of Cupertino that I live in, obviously. It was more crowded for sure, tall buildings, narrow roads, more cars, and livelier than my town. But since it was located more in the north, the air was chillier and it was cloudy, unlike Cupertino.
And even better, it was a place with sooo many beautiful photography spots and objects. The sceneries, the buildings, the roads that go up and down, the trams, the people and their activities, and well...just so many things. It's common if you see people carrying their cameras all around and tourists from various countries!!
First stop was the consulate, as that's our main destination to this place.
The procedure didn't take a long time and it was nothing close to tenseness like applying for visa or passport. The thing is, the place itself didn't look like a formal place, but more like a normal quiet office with strong Indonesian vibe. We even had a short conversation with the officer. I'm sure he must be darn lonely too behind the counter.
He said that we had to come back to the consulate around 4pm to pick up our signed passports. While waiting for our passports done, I was thinking if we could stroll around the city just to sightsee. Then this lady came out and I asked her if it was far to go to the Fisherman Wharf (it's like a market with many restaurants and good places to hang out).
She was like "Oh you don't need to take a bus to get to Fisherman's Wharf. Just walk a few blocks away from here."
And that's what we did. She was right though. The place ain't that far. ^^
Before reaching the place, we happened to stop at some souvenir shops and took a look around. My mom ended up buying a few fridge magnets.
The lunch time was just before we hit the Fishermen's wharf and we had no idea what to eat since there weren't restaurants around, just the crowded streets and small stores.
So here's what we came up with our lunch:
The lunch time was just before we hit the Fishermen's wharf and we had no idea what to eat since there weren't restaurants around, just the crowded streets and small stores.
So here's what we came up with our lunch:
In and Out (Jumbo) Burgers and two fries.
Look, they have this red container instead of tray.
Later on, we went strolling the rest of Fisherman's Wharf places. Then I was reminded my friend, Vania, recommended me to visit Pier 39 whilst visiting Fisherman's Wharf. Excitingly though, the pier was much more crowded and it was even more thrilling, sort of reminded me of Kuta Bali, strangely.
They even have this kind of trampoline stuff where you'll be bounced up in the air but you're tied to two belts. I watched someone doing this and it was funny, since her friends kept encouraging her to flip upside down while she was on the air.
Sea Princess liner docked at the pier.
The largest ocean liner I've ever seen so far. Wish I could see what's inside it and joined the cruise
Pier 39 is also a nice place to view Alcatraz from afar. I didn't get to take its picture, but again, another strange sighting here occurs when pelicans were seen flying over and even walking on the streets. Some were even found to be actually swimming on the water.
Anyway, we got off at Union Square and walked back to the consulate, which was a looong way to go, not to mention that we got lost midway and we had to pass around more than 6 blocks that went up and down.
Oh. My. God.
That was exciting. I mean, the roads of San Francisco are really steep! Even I wonder why those cars could stop at a traffic light on a steep road.
It's like climbing a mountain, only better.
Well, I got to see what my dream university are like from up close, which is Academy of Art University. What a very valuable experience, because I actually used to look up to its campus just through the website or its catalogue book.
This is an EPIC feeling. See? I got to take the picture of its logo, and I already felt ecstatic!!
Hopefully I would be able to transfer to this university two more years.
Shortly after that, Elda and I obtained our visas back, had a nice chat with the lady we met earlier and showed us the direction to Fisherman's Wharf and turned out she was an alumni from my high school! But she graduated like long ago already. keke...
We caught a 5.00 pm train and headed back to Sunnyvale.
Short trip but very memorable. I was even thinking to explore more of San Francisco especially Union Square, because basically what we did there was just a transit then we walked back to the consulate without even bothering to see what was there. As far as I could see, there were so many branded shops there, including Victoria Secret.
An hour later we arrived at Sunnyvale and it was already time for (early) dinner. We stopped at an Indonesian and Thai resto called Bayleaf near the train station and I had myself a bowl of Lontong Cap Go Meh.
Felt like home all of sudden, but not really though, since I haven't tasted this food in Indonesia before. :p
All in all, it was a great one day trip but I wasn't satisfied since I haven't got to see the landmark of the city itself which is the Golden Gate, and I even haven't got to taste the famous Clam Chowder of the Fisherman's Wharf.
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