Instead I am in San Francisco. This is a city I love for it's charm, it's street cars, the food, and the native transplants. Allow me to explain. The first big city I spent time in was NYC. It didn't take me long to fall in love with it but I would be lying if I didn't stipulate that it is a love-hate relationship. NYC has showed me good times (my 21st birthday involving African food, Russian dancing, and a legitimate speakeasy for one), but also many bad times (getting spit on, being set on fire briefly, and having been locked in a Starbucks bathroom- all in the same day!). Everyone in NYC is from NYC. You end up looking up the noses of a lot of snobs who feel that their status as a "Native New Yorker" deems them more worthy than you to silently wear their earbuds or to rudely shove past you to get on the 6 train. The striking contrast between NYC and SF for me is the attitude of people. The people I've met in SF could not be nicer. The majority of people here are not from San Francisco and freely admit that. They don't think they are any better than you because of their "native" status. I would say that 75% of the people I've met here have had some legitimate connection to Wisconsin. They are excited that I am visiting San Fran and they strive to make my experience better.
The people I have interacted with here in San Francisco in the last 36 hours have increased my excitement in traveling yet again. The 50 something year old Italian man who visited this city at 24 and swore he would never live anywhere else that I met in his Italian Wine store on Van Ness Street. The similarly aged pair of men from St. Louis who were exhausted after climbing Nob Hill, not to mention hopelessly lost. One wanting to show the other where he had spent time as a young man in the Navy. The young waitress who was so intrigued by my journey to Taiwan she stayed at the end of her shift to sit down and have a glass of wine with me. The elderly lady who sat at the other end of my bench at the park for an hour today who left only after giving me one of the most insightful and memorable compliments of my life. I can only hope that Taiwan will be as kind to me as San Francisco has been.
The view from my hotel room on the 26th floor certainly hasn't been difficult to enjoy. It was a cloudless, warm day today and thus the sunset was extremely bright.
Behind those trees, just below the sun is the Golden Gate Bridge. Certainly not a bad sight for being my last sunset this side of the International Date Line.
Tomorrow, or rather some strange confusing version of tomorrow, I will have my first experience of Asia.
Wish me luck! Next time you hear from me I'll be further from home than I've ever been before.
B
What's the furthest you've been from home? Did you enjoy it? Or could you simply not wait to be back in a comfortable place? (I am going to try to pose questions when I can in effort to stimulate comments and conversation! :D )
I am going to Dubuque this weekend, does that count as far away? :p
ReplyDeleteI think that San Fran should use portions of your blog post to promote their city. As for the distance question - hmmmm after looking it up I believe it would be Hawaii. That doesn't sound like it is a great big adventure. I was thinking it would be Caracus Venezuela but Hawaii is much farther. Yes I greatly enjoyed Hawaii and have many good memories from several trips there. Looking forward to your posts.
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