Our first few days...

When we first walked in our apartment in San Rafael, it was empty. Not a single piece of furniture in the entire house. It was completely unfurnished. Soon, It took sometime for us to get accustomed to this new place we called 'home', which is right on top of a huge hill in the heart of a 'jungle' inhabited by 'wild' animals. The better I got to know my surroundings, the more I wished I was back in Pittsburgh! I, for the first time in my life, appreciated the saying 'Ignorance is bliss!' I see wild turkeys, deer, stags roamly freely right below my apartment.


We once spotted a coyote and as days passed, the sight became more and more common! First, it was only a small one. Later, we noticed its 'parents' as well!


Jenny was so excited that she took a print-out of this picture and stuck it at her desk!! Some of my friends felt that this animal was cute. However, I leave that decision at your discretion!

The only thing that was 'cool' about our new 'home' was the much envied swimming pool. C'mon guys, there has to be some joy for people 'living on the edge' if I may say!


There lay great dangers close to our apartment. However, that did not stop me and my room mates from taking a huge risk to go to San Francisco over the weekend. We consulted Jenny who gave us her opinion of the various beaches in Northern California. Without much ado, Baker Beach was decided as our first destination. We decided that it would be ideal way to enjoy the sunshine in California. We should have known we were in for a nasty surprise!

We learnt it the hard way that Golden Gate buses are never on time! In fact, they are early. And they come once an hour. So, if you miss one and do no realize it quick enough, you can land up waiting for an 90 minutes. Luckily, we just had to wait for 50 minutes! We spent quite some time at the bus-stop!

The journey was okay. However, the closer we got to SF, the colder it seemed to get. When we got down, it was freezing! Luckily for me, I had got my sweatshirt with me and my room mates had not. Here, I have to tell you that I was the subject of laughter when we left home for I was carrying my sweatshirt. Who was laughing now??

Well, there was no looking back. We had come so far! We would go on with our quest. We moved steadily towards Baker Beach. It was a long but eventful walk. Prasann was all up for it. He was posing all over for a good picture.

And Arun was clicking pictures of anything and everything he set his eyes on!

After a long walk through the woods, we finally arrived at Baker Beach. Our first sight at the beach can be summed up with one word: Disappointing!! We expected lots of people, beautiful women, little children, lots of dogs, some guys playing volleyball. But, the beach was empty.



The only people in the beach were a group of girls at the far end of the beach. We looked around in horror as the cold winds made us shiver. However, the beautiful view of the Golden Gate bridge made up for everything.


While at the beach, I decided to have some juice, whereas Prasann was tired and decided to take some rest, while Arun went on to explore on his own.


Soon, it was getting dark and we headed back.

Before climbing the bus to head back to San Rafael, we explored the Golden Gate bridge. It was so foggy that we were not able to see the bridge in its entirety.

We had to wait for a long time for the Golden Gate bus as was expected. We were freezing and I just dont know how we survived the cold for 3-4 hours! As soon as the bus arrived, we were relieved, however, only for sometime. We still had to climb the 'mountain' and cross the 'jungle' to reach home safely.

You must have guessed by now that we reached 'home' safely. Else, I would not have been here to tell you the tale!!