First impressions...

First of all, the flight... I don't know what I did to the woman who served me at check-in, but she must have had some beef against me, because on both flights I was stuck in the middle seat between 2 huge blokes and with no elbow space, total nightmare! Thank god, on the first flight to Atlanta, the movies were good and free so I was able to catch up on the movies Paul, Limitless, Hannah and The Lincoln Lawyer. Also, It didn't hurt that one of the guy was rather cute and into photography, so we ended up having a rather nice chat about the various cameras we each possess. Not so lucky on the second flight... When we arrived at Atlanta, we had to wait an extra hour on the runway as they didn't have space for us apparently and once we finally got off the plane, we found out that we had to go through security all over again (including a full body scan) to finally be allowed onto american soil. Once in Atlanta's airport, I decided to get some cash out for the next few days, only to find out that my card, unlike what I'd been told before leaving isn't accepted by most ATMs, because they don't have chip and pin technology in the US. Ensued a moment of panic when I started freaking out about how I was gonna pay for my taxi to the hostel once I arrived in san francisco. Thank god, I then remembered that my friend Nick had very kindly given me a $50 bank note as a leaving present, which was more than enough to cover the $17 shuttle bus fare from the airport. I can tell you that Nick will be the first to get a big thank you postcard! After some more delays leaving Atlanta, I finally arrived at San Francisco and got to my hostel just after midnight. I checked my watched at this point and realised it was 7am in the UK, which meant that I'd been awake for a full 25 hrs. I think this is the last time I'm ever doing such a long trip in one go. I'm definitely including a stop-over next time. The only good thing about arriving at that time is that as a result I went straight to bed and wasn't too badly affected by jetlag. The next morning, i tried using my card at the ATM at the hostel and miracle of miracles, it gave me cash, so i was able to stop panicking about how i was gonna get by with only $30 to my name (since then I've also found out that my card works fine in shops, so things really aren't as bad as I first thought). I made it my priority nonetheless to get myself a bank account as soon as possible and so set out to find an HSBC, which has been recommended to me.



First thing I saw when I walked out my youth hostel, made me feel right at home, at least for 5 mins until I walked out a few blocks down the road and realised I was in the worst neighbourhood of San Francisco...



I had quite a bit of time to kill after a great breakfast of bagels and cream cheese as check-in time at my new accomodation wasn't until 3pm. I decided to use that time to go to the bank and find my bearings around San Francisco. I worked out the route I needed to take on Google and wrote down the directions as i didn't have a map of the city then bravely set off into the unknown. At this point, I soon realised that my hostel's neighbourhood wasn't as safe as I thought with lots of crazy homeless along the pavements black guys just hanging around on street corners. I soon got lost, saw a fight break out between homeless crazies and retreated back to the hostel. Once I was there, i regrouped, had a second breakfast, found myself a map and headed out again armed with my MP3 player to block out the sound of the city. This time, I managed to find my way quite comfortably, feeling much more in control with a proper map and a few blocks later got to a nicer neighbourhood and finally to the financial district. The city was beautiful, the weather was glorious (the sun must have been stronger than I thought, cos i ended up with mild sunburn over my previous tan).







There are amazing murals all around the city, they are so colourful and vibrant!



I first found a T-mobile shop (to be pronounced "T-mobul") and found out about some great pre-pay monthly plans with unlimited calls and texts in the states, but also unlimited calls to european landlines, so I'll be able to call you whenever I want. I was hoping that I would be able to use my UK phone as it is with T-Mobile already, but I found that it would need to be unlocked and unlocking it would cost $89, so instead I got a simple Nokia phone for $17, which is the most low tech phone I've had in years, not even got a camera... I then went to HSBC and got an appointment, so i should soon have an american bank account, which will make my life so much easier. Once those bits were taken care of, I was able to have a wander around the city and do a bit of sightseeing. I went past a farmer's market which had the most amazing looking fruit and veg i have ever seen, made your mouth water just to look at it. Then I went to Union square where I had lunch on the terrace of an italian cafe, which did great food ( I think that's when i got sunburnt, as there was no shade where I was sitting).




A couple of sculptures on Union Square





Art work on sale by local artists at Union Square



birds picking over my left-over food

 On union square, there was a group of artists selling their art work, so I had a look around and then I headed to Chinatown, which is a great district in san francisco. I totally loved it there, the buildings were so kitsch and colourful, I found a shop that sold only kites, but really beautiful and elaborate ones. I definitely want to get one of those some day soon.



Kite shop...



They also had the most weird and wonderful foods, which I'm dying to try out the next time i'm there. Eventually i made my way back to the hostel, passing through one of the big shopping districts with Macys, Bloomingdales (yes, San francisco has one too, so I'll be going to check out the hats for you Emma, or does have to be from the new york one?).

At 3pm, I checked in at the Vantaggio suites, my accomodation for the rest of my stay and I must say that so far I'm pretty pleased. I have a nice biggish room, which is quite similar to many of the bedsits where I've stayed in the past. It's got its own fridge and microwave, an ensuite bathroom with all the amenities, TV, a chest of drawers, double bed, nice big closet and a table and chair. The kitchen which is shared is pretty small considering the number of us using it and from what i can see so far, no one bothers too much with cleaning it, so thank god there's a cleaner who takes care of that every morning. Nonetheless, I think i'm gonna try and use it as little as possible, cos I just can't stand a dirty kitchen when I'm cooking. My room is on the 6th floor of the building, so I'm glad they have lifts (by the way, you know how you always see people using the stop button in lifts in the movies, but there's no stop button in our UK lifts? Well I'm happy to confirm that all the lifts seem to have stop buttons in america and I'm just dying to press one...). After settling into my room, i went to the local supermarket to get supplies. The store is called Whole Foods and was completely overwhelming. You know how they say that America is a pretty unhealthy nation, well you'd never believe it from this store, everything was wholesome and organic and fresh and looked amazing. I bought the most tasty and gorgeous fruit I've ever had. However, I did get a bit of a wake up call when i saw my bill at the end and I definitely think this store is more in the marks and spencers/ waitrose range rather than your average supermarket (they even had a guy bagging my groceries for me...), so I think I might need to have a look around for a slightly cheaper store (by the way, please note how the american linguo is slowly leaking out onto the page, it took all my efforts to write lift instead of elevator, it's like years of watching american TV programs has been stored up in expectation of this moment and now my brain just can't wait to try these words out :-) Today, I'm gonna try to go to the San francisco museum of modern art and also try to figure out how to get to my school from here, as I've got my orientation at the school tomorrow.