Apparently, it didn't really start off well since my friends (who planned to go with me) gradually cancelled their trip plans just the night before the D-day due, leaving me on my own. At that time I was like “Fuck!” I was thinking to drop the field trip as well since I thought it was impossible for me to take off to SF by myself. But on a second thought, it would surely risk my grade. Even more, the day of the field trip was the day where I had to turn in my take-home exam. So it would surely cost a lot if I happened to be absent.
In the mean time, I came up with plan B: going to Asian Art Museum by myself. I quickly searched for the public transportations to take, the direction, and not to mention prepared the cash. If the plan worked (and it had to), it would be my very first solo (backpacking?) trip to a not-so-nearby city.
I took off early in the morning, counting myself on my phone's GPS. After all, GPS was all that I needed to avoid getting lost. I nearly lost my hope since the second bus that would take me to Sunnyvale Caltrain station hadn't come for almost half an hour, meanwhile the history professor wanted all students to be in the museum lobby by 10. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to make it in time. But just as my hope was about to leave, the bus came to my sight, much to my gratitude.
Going to San Francisco wasn't really as frantic as heading to the museum from SF Caltrain station (after a train ride which lasted approx. 1 hour). After all, I'd been to SF by public transport before, so at least I knew how to get there. Apparently, there was only one transport needed to go to Asian Art museum, which is by Muni (some sort of a monorail/subway). It wasn't really hard to go to Asian Art museum, as I only needed to get off in Civic Center station and walked less than a mile to my ultimate destination.
Despite being by myself at that moment, being inside Muni along with fellow Americans really gave me a strong impression as if I was one of them. It was a weird feeling, to leave my identity as an Indonesian for a while and allow myself to merge with them.
Took some pictures before entering the museum. The neighborhood that surrounded the museum offered a good deal of landscapes.
Guess what I found before entering the museum building.
Can't wait to see the Bali exhibition, but first, of course I needed to attend the field trip.
It was 10.30 am when I got there, which means, I was 30 minutes late. I quickly went to the admission and received my group tour badge. The admission guy didn't seem to know where the group was currently is.
Another problem: I needed to find the party on my own. Thus began my search of the group. I started from the third floor (the beginning of the whole exhibition) since I thought they have just started tour not so long ago. They should be around the beginning of the museum exhibition. The silence of the museum pretty helped me to find the group. Apparently I hadn't missed a lot so I was able to keep up with the tour.
The field trip itself quite left me with an ordinary impression. After all, it was a normal field trip, the kind of field trip you would usually involve in. Basically, with the history professor as the guide, my fellow classmates and I explored exhibition ranging from Chinese art, Korean art, to lastly Japanese art. It was impressive, still, but not till the end of the whole field trip.
The field trip ended with viewing Japanese exhibition gallery, which was located at the second floor (the main museum exhibition was located in the second and third floor. The first one is basically for special exhibition).
Anyway, after descending through an escalator and bidding my professor goodbye as well as my classmates, I thought for a second while looking at my watch. It was still 12pm. I had a club meeting in an hour and a half, but I thought if I took off back to Cupertino, I wouldn't be able to make it on time. So I decided to skip today's meeting (in fact, I already informed an officer and emailed him the presentation slides in case I wouldn't be able to make it to the meeting that day).
For a moment, I thought of visiting Bali exhibition wouldn't be troublesome. Instead of heading straight to exit, I stole some moment to go to Bali exhibition gallery. The gallery consisted of two galleries, when I was about to open one of the gallery's glass door, I spotted a security was standing at the entrance door side.
Security: “Do you have the ticket?”
Me: *dumbfounded and showed him the ticket I have*
Security: “Unfortunately you can't use this ticket. The privilege doesn't include this exhibition. You need to go to the admission and buy a ticket for this special exhibition.”
Me: “Alright. Thanks.”
So, I was thinking it would cost more for me if I spent more money. Well, I could always return to this place someday before September (when the exhibition would come to its end).
To be continued...
Part 2 >>
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