When I first arrived here in Berkeley, I was disappointed that I was not going to be living in the actual city of San Francisco. Over the past few weeks I have gotten over this. Berkeley is a lot of fun. For one, the campus is right next door, which makes for an ever changing tide of students throughout the day. Our house is up on a hill, and people watching couldn’t be better. Since we are in a college town prices are cheaper than they would be in the city, and the food is fast (Chinese delivery in under 15 min!) We can see San Francisco across the bay from our house, and most mornings when I wake up I look out and see a dense fog bank surrounding the city. Not so over here, we are getting nice sunny weather every day.

I joined the California Sailing Club, which gives me access to a wide variety of boats and windsurfing boards whenever I get the drive to bike to the marina. I also discovered the best rock climbing gym I have ever been in today. It is massive. I showed up and paid $10 for a day pass because the guy at the counter told me the registration fee would be discounted $50 starting in October. I bouldered around for a while, then worked out on equipment they have. They have a sauna, showers, free weights, machines, treadmills, cycles, and classes. Everything I could want from a normal gym, plus a massive amount of climbing. Perfect!

Berkeley also has a challenging disc golf course that I found today, and the whole town is bike friendly.

Berkeley Disc Golf Course

I do not need a car at all. I can go from my house to the bay in under 20 minutes, back takes longer due to hills, but it is a good workout.

Getting to San Francisco takes about half an hour on the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) and puts you out wherever you want to be. The only bummer is that it closes down around midnight, making late weekends a challenge. Luckily I happen to work for an organization that knows a lot of people with spare couches to crash on!

Since I broke down before Burning Man and bought a crappy little point and shoot, I have been able to carry it around with me all the time and take random shots of whatever I want, which is a different experience for me. Not that I took pictures of the interesting things, but there was this little guy on the tree next to where I locked up my bike.