My experiences here have definitely changed within the last week or so. Since the initial excitement of being in a new city (or just a city, period) has worn off, I've gone through times of complete fulfillment but also points of frustration and loneliness. To start, today was the first day of my job where I knew I had learned all that I could. A brief summary of everything I've done basically consists of (1) calling people on the phone and (2) looking stuff up online. There's no scientific analysis, no policy making, nothing really intellectually stimulating in the least. I desperately need to go back to school.
There's also the lack of good friends in the city. Or maybe it's just a longing to be back at Williams with the people that I love to spend time with. And people that I can really connect to. My roommates are great, but they're certainly nothing compared to good friends from high school and college. The people I work with are mostly in their thirties, and we have vastly different outlooks on life in terms of what we want to accomplish and how much intellectual capacity our daily lives and jobs require.
Finally, I realized that I truly miss fall and winter. Especially the beautiful Berkshire/Williamstown fall. The weather here in San Francisco is fantastic, but there's nothing to compare it to, nothing to make one appreciate the summer. So my new goal is getting back to New England or somewhere close next year.
Anyways, those are my ramblings that have led to moments of frustration and loneliness. Despite this, I've had some great weekends that I need to catch up on (which I will get to shortly). I also have to constantly remind myself that things could obviously be much, much more difficult. I have to give Beeler mad props for what he's been doing, since I think I would go absolutely crazy out of loneliness there, especially because of the language barrier.
We rejoin at Fleet Week, which is essentially a week long event where the military and other flight teams (Blue Angels, etc.) can showcase their stuff directly over the bay. Below is a picture of the marina in the Marina district:
Some fishermen on a boat in the bay:
Kids on the beach:
The first act of the afternoon (the Snowbirds from that country up north):
Views of the Golden Gate Bridge from the beach and marina:
And a better one to give you a sense of scale:
An act in the middle (F-16 Viper left and something else right):
So you realize how low the planes flew (Blue Angels below):
There were a lot of people, not sure if you can see them in this but the entire beach was just packed:
So yeah, that was Fleet Week. I also met Mike Davitian '07 there for a bit, which was nice. We walked down to the Fisherman's Wharf hoping to eat at In and Out Burger, but since there was a line, we ended up going to somewhere on Russian Hill.
I'll end this post with a picture of the city from the top of Buena Vista park at night (30 sec exposure). The photo does not capture how nice it looks in real life, but it gets close. The bigger version is better.
Another post soon, still have a lot to catch up on.
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