After nearly three weeks in this part of the world, things are starting to get a bit calmer. Things are still not "normal" or even near to what this semester will be like, but at least I feel that things are settling down. After moving in to Sherman Hall, the Co-op where I will be spending most of my time, and starting classes (the US by the way has an extremely complicated and inefficient way of signing up for classes) I have even found the Martial Arts Centre and will be taking Taekwondo again :)
The most stressful thing is that there is way to many things one can do here!! It is a cultural overload. There are museums, cinemas, art classes, dance classes, D-Cals (different classes you can take at Berkeley that is taught by students and you can get university credits for them, they even have wine tasting as a class!) amazing nature right outside your door, breweries where you can taste wine, beer and spirits, yoga classes, hiking, sightseeing, and all this is just in Berkeley, never mind San Francisco or Oakland.
This is the Co-op that I live in. Its Sherman Hall and has 40 resident girls in it. All the students that live here run the co-op and that is why the rent is so cheep. To stay here you have to complete 5 hours of work shift every week and this can include cooking, washing dishes, toilets, gardening ect. There is one hot meal served every day and there is always loads of leftovers to eat the next day for lunch. What i found very interesting is that all the food here is organic and as there are may vegetarians there is also a very good vegetarian alternative for every meal.
Right beside our co-op we have Memorial stadium which is where the Football season is played. Unfortunately the Cal Bears are very bad at Football so the season only lasts for 2 months. The stadium is beautiful though!
We went on a trip to SF the first week here and saw some of the sights. This is on the Golden Gate bridge with Frederikke from Germany. She is also here as an exchange student and studies Psychology. She is also my roommate in Sherman.
When getting rooms in the co-op one goes through room bids where the people that have been here the longest get their first choice of rooms and the us new ones can select rooms. This is our new room that we later painted blue. Freddie is using the hoover that looks mysteriously like the gadgets from Gostbusters :)
on saturday last we decided to take a road trip to Big Sur wich is located like 3 hours south form Berkeley. This place is absolutely beautiful, and Dad if your reading this we definitely have to go here when you guys come to visit!
As always it is very important to take mustache pictures when one travels!
Have to run to next class which is Gender, War and the Militarization of Society :)
Chao!
