djkr and friends take on Life

i have about 3 minutes to write all this before pamy comes out of the toilet.

leaving san diego on a cloudless sunday afternoon, and with a heavy sadness in my heart, pamy and i took a plane to chicago to meet my friend shaun, who is studying at the university of chicago. who  kind of lifted my sadness a tad bit.

now chicago at first glance strikes you like any normal city, but is charm grows on you slowly. it has beautiful gothic inspired architecture and the buildings look aged from the vigours of time.  we visited john hancock observatory, which offered great views of chicago as well as an informative audio tour; walked the millenium mile (think orchard road) and ate deep dish pizza at the first restaurant that invented it in chicago. deep dish pizza is an interesting one; it was invented in uno pizzeria in 1943 and the crust tastes like pie. and it is filling. 2 slices of just plain pepperoni pizza will fill you up. but it is oh so good!

for today, the places we are going will be numerous and i sure hope i wouldn’t tire out by the end of the day. the art insititute of chicago, hull house (anyone find this familiar?), threadless store, navy pier and possibly a trip to a live jaz bar tonight.

and now, from shaun’s 23rd storey apartment overlooking lake michagan, i am about to set off for another day in the ‘second city’.

tomorrow will be my last day at san diego state, effectively ending my exchange program in san diego, california. this sunday, i will be leaving california for chicago, new york, washington dc, philadelphia, toronto, ottawa, montreal, boston and new york in an 18 day whirlwind tour.

i feel…. conflicted. about leaving..

and just before i leave san diego… bad luck seems to be haunting me.

it is only where i look back at another’s journey do i realise that i will indeed miss san diego sorely.

all that is familiar to me now; the trolley, the commons, the weather, the hills, the beach.

i think i might even cry.

for more pictures look at my facebook account. but here is a sample of what i did during spring break (a tad late eh)

for spring break we visited san francisco, yosemite, napa valley, humboldt red woods, oregon sand dunes, portland, seattle, vancouver. for this break, it was more cultural and nature appreciation more then anything else, with the number of parks and natural attraction we visited.

san francisco has to be my favourite city in america so far. clean, bustling but yet with plenty of character. you can just feel its warmth and soul in when you enter the city. lay your eyes on the golden gate bridge, or better yet, cycle on it during sunset (like we did) to truly get the entire package. add in eating garlic fries and garlic crab in fisherman’s wharf, taking the cable car, visiting the museums and watching the sea lions in pier 39. absolutely beautiful.

the plane that looks like a club: virgin air. you really wonder what goes through richard branson’s mind when he comes up with ideas for his businesses.

san francisco. it is a lovely city with plenty of soul (as i have mentioned 1000x times before)

look familiar? i saw the actual painting; personal values, in the SF Museum of Modern Art. the museum was an awesome experience with pieces from picasso, duchamp, among others.

alcatraz, also known as the rock, was a maximum security prison located off san fran. the tours within the cell blocks were mostly memorable for me and the audio tour would make bree proud.

the SF trolley, though outdated in this day and age, still functions perfectly well and its a thrill to ride it, especially hanging on its handlebars as it glides down the hill.

the golden gate bridge in all its splendor.

the bridal veil falls in yosemite.

driving pass the redwoods just makes you gasp in awe. you ask God why did he plan to make this giant trees. the only reason i can really think of is so that i can see them during spring break.

this is the landmark of seattle, the space needle. built for the world fair where it hit seattle in the 1950s, it stands as a symbol of the future which it now exists in.

we saw a few bridges along the trip (including a drawbridge!) and this is yet another famous bridge. this is the lions gate bridge in vancouver, british columbia, canada and its green coat just stands out beautifully at night.