California Dreamin’
Now that it has been almost two months since we’ve returned home from the Trip, it is a cool thing to notice that the memories of sunshine and warm Californian air still makes me feel warm inside. As a quick recap, we packed 15 people in total into airplane, flew to Los Angeles and made a road trip towards San Francisco. We made stops in Santa Barbara, Monterey and San Jose along the way, visited top notch companies, saw some amazing scenery and had lots of fun.
It’s funny how you can really get to know people when you pack them into a car and send them to drive for a few days. I did never in my wildest dreams guess that we would sing so much karaoke or tell so many inappropriate jokes during the drives. I also had originally created a playlist for my own personal escape route, but as soon as we realized that we could connect smartphones into cars audio system, it really got out of hand. It really brings the best out of people when you also give something from yourself and just be open minded around others. At points the discussions turned into quite philosophical as we talked how much language can affect how we interact and how we create the reality around us. So our group got pretty nicely knit together before we hit the streets of San Francisco.
During the trip I had two particularly amazing moments that I want to share with you. The first one was when we were driving through Big Sur towards Monterey and raced out from the woods to find a good spot to watch the sunset. And boy did we find one!
Say what you want, but to see the Sun set into the Pacific Ocean was all kinds of awesome (and also something to cross off from the bucket list).
San Francisco is well known for the Golden Gate bridge. To walk on it and see its Art Deco-style decorations up close was cool but what was even cooler was to stand on the bridge and watch (and feel!) U.S. Navy’s flight demonstration squad Blue Angels perform just overhead. The rumble and the overwhelming noise that six F-18 Hornets create really woke up the little boy inside me and we were giggling like bunch of ten-year-olds during the whole performance.
San Francisco in general was pretty much everything I hoped it to be. Cool bars, excellent variety of restaurants, nice cafes, and lots of shopping possibilities to spend your money to. The gods of weather were in favor for us and we got to enjoy sunny days in Crissy Field, Union Square and Market Street. The steepness the streets was really something else. Seeing them from TV or pictures really won’t tell you the whole story, you really need to see and walk them yourself. But make sure you get to spend more than just one weekend in there, otherwise you will just want to get back there.
To sum it up, the Trip was awesome. Next year, don’t be a fool and apply for this adventure. You won’t forget it and you will definitely not regret it!
p.s. If you want to be part of planning and making the Trip (and other events too) to happen, apply for Piste board! As a board member you get to influence how the next year will look like for our subject club and also get to know our faculty’s students and staff and maybe even your future employer. Now is your chance!
