The visit-pictures on facebook!
Brian's visit to the Bay Area went by really fast. Here's what we did:
Sunday: He arrived sometime in the afternoon, and we just hung out at the condo and hit the pool. Dinner was chicken enchildadas (yummmmm....), then arriving late to 6:13. He comes from a really conservative Lutheran church, so I thought it'd be interesting to take him to our 'contemporary' church service. Then we drove out to Pleasanton to visit a little with my uncle, aunt, grandparents and baby cousin.
Monday: was a free transit day, so BART, the ferry, buses, etc, were all free. We had already planned to visit San Francisco that day, so it worked out very nicely. We drove up to Jack London Square, took the Ferry to Pier 39, walked around there and Fisherman's Wharf and to the end of Muncipal Pier. Then we took the Cable Car down to Union Square, and hung out around Yerba Buena and the Metreon, eventually going into the Museum of Modern Art because it's free admission for the last half hour. Dinner was at the huge food court in the mall under by Bloomingdale's and a bus trip back to the ferry concluded our day. Even our parking at Jack London Square turned out to be free, so all we paid for all day was food. Pretty sweet.
Tuesday: We headed up to Berkeley, and got lost...twice. The first time was as we were trying to find parking and got pulled over by a cop. Fortunately, he explained that he was tenured and not concerned with giving out tickets, but instead helped us find parking. We walked around Telegraph Ave, where everything was closed at 10:30 in the morning, then wandered around the campus, eventually meeting Peter and Ferg for Thai food. We saw their dorm room and hiked the top of this huge hill. Along the trail, we ran into this old guy with a cane who asked if we'd spare some time to hear 'The Story of the C.' He explained that Berkely used to have an annual 'Rush' where the freshmen and sophomore classes would basically just fight all over campus until all the freshmen were tied up or...else. In 1905, some offical guy within the system asked the classes of '07 and '08 if they'd be willing to stop the tradition of the rush, and they agreed. SO...up on the hill there's a plaque 'in memory of the Rush' and the classes who buried it. He seemed very excited to pass on this bit of oral tradition with us. We thanked the guy for his story and went on our way, half expecting to hear him laugh and turn around to watch him disappear. Anyway, we found the plaque at the top of the hill. Pretty cool. We saw the Cal Boys off to their O. Chem lecture and got very lost trying to leave Berkeley, leaving around 2:30 and arriving back in CV at 4:45 after getting very bad directions and that took us North into Albany, and then not seeing a freeway forever. It was an incredible time that we understood was absolutely absurd. Because we were so late, we missed Steven's volleyball game. We did, however, make it to Crossroads, and then were reminded of the fact that it's impossible to find anything to do on Castro Valley Blvd. after 10 other than Baker's Square, which closes on 11:00 on weeknights.
Wednesday: Brian was originally supposed to leave today, but my parents agreed that his visit went by really fast, so we just hung out, went to the pool and watched 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding' as a small illustration of what my extended family is like. That night we grabbed dessert at the Ice Creamery with Kelly and Malachi and watched Ferris Bueller's Day Off, which I'd never seen before.
Thursday: We burned some CD's to remember each other by, and walked around the condo complex. We climbed some stairs facing southeast so I could show him what Hayward looked like. Steven had a game in Milipitas that I was going to, and he was going to see Yosemite before heading up to Colorado to see a friend, so we said good bye for potentially four months.
the end.
I miss him so much. And I don't know whether it'll get better or worse as the summer goes on, or which I want it to. I'm not unhappy, really, and clearly don't want to be. We're very good at staying in touch, though, through Facebook messages and e-mail and phone conversations (hooray for Cingular), and potentially AIM. Still, it's not the same as having him here. My condolences to anyone who has ever had a long distance relationship. I don't really feel like I have a right to complain since we've only been apart for about 3 days.
Sunday: He arrived sometime in the afternoon, and we just hung out at the condo and hit the pool. Dinner was chicken enchildadas (yummmmm....), then arriving late to 6:13. He comes from a really conservative Lutheran church, so I thought it'd be interesting to take him to our 'contemporary' church service. Then we drove out to Pleasanton to visit a little with my uncle, aunt, grandparents and baby cousin.
Monday: was a free transit day, so BART, the ferry, buses, etc, were all free. We had already planned to visit San Francisco that day, so it worked out very nicely. We drove up to Jack London Square, took the Ferry to Pier 39, walked around there and Fisherman's Wharf and to the end of Muncipal Pier. Then we took the Cable Car down to Union Square, and hung out around Yerba Buena and the Metreon, eventually going into the Museum of Modern Art because it's free admission for the last half hour. Dinner was at the huge food court in the mall under by Bloomingdale's and a bus trip back to the ferry concluded our day. Even our parking at Jack London Square turned out to be free, so all we paid for all day was food. Pretty sweet.
Tuesday: We headed up to Berkeley, and got lost...twice. The first time was as we were trying to find parking and got pulled over by a cop. Fortunately, he explained that he was tenured and not concerned with giving out tickets, but instead helped us find parking. We walked around Telegraph Ave, where everything was closed at 10:30 in the morning, then wandered around the campus, eventually meeting Peter and Ferg for Thai food. We saw their dorm room and hiked the top of this huge hill. Along the trail, we ran into this old guy with a cane who asked if we'd spare some time to hear 'The Story of the C.' He explained that Berkely used to have an annual 'Rush' where the freshmen and sophomore classes would basically just fight all over campus until all the freshmen were tied up or...else. In 1905, some offical guy within the system asked the classes of '07 and '08 if they'd be willing to stop the tradition of the rush, and they agreed. SO...up on the hill there's a plaque 'in memory of the Rush' and the classes who buried it. He seemed very excited to pass on this bit of oral tradition with us. We thanked the guy for his story and went on our way, half expecting to hear him laugh and turn around to watch him disappear. Anyway, we found the plaque at the top of the hill. Pretty cool. We saw the Cal Boys off to their O. Chem lecture and got very lost trying to leave Berkeley, leaving around 2:30 and arriving back in CV at 4:45 after getting very bad directions and that took us North into Albany, and then not seeing a freeway forever. It was an incredible time that we understood was absolutely absurd. Because we were so late, we missed Steven's volleyball game. We did, however, make it to Crossroads, and then were reminded of the fact that it's impossible to find anything to do on Castro Valley Blvd. after 10 other than Baker's Square, which closes on 11:00 on weeknights.
Wednesday: Brian was originally supposed to leave today, but my parents agreed that his visit went by really fast, so we just hung out, went to the pool and watched 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding' as a small illustration of what my extended family is like. That night we grabbed dessert at the Ice Creamery with Kelly and Malachi and watched Ferris Bueller's Day Off, which I'd never seen before.
Thursday: We burned some CD's to remember each other by, and walked around the condo complex. We climbed some stairs facing southeast so I could show him what Hayward looked like. Steven had a game in Milipitas that I was going to, and he was going to see Yosemite before heading up to Colorado to see a friend, so we said good bye for potentially four months.
the end.
I miss him so much. And I don't know whether it'll get better or worse as the summer goes on, or which I want it to. I'm not unhappy, really, and clearly don't want to be. We're very good at staying in touch, though, through Facebook messages and e-mail and phone conversations (hooray for Cingular), and potentially AIM. Still, it's not the same as having him here. My condolences to anyone who has ever had a long distance relationship. I don't really feel like I have a right to complain since we've only been apart for about 3 days.