San Francisco
I arrived in San Francisco on November 21st in the late afternoon. I took the BART train and arrived at Powell Station. From there, to avoid getting lost, I took a taxi that, for $15, took me to the hostel. I arrived in a room with bunk beds, and of course, mine was one of the top ones. Well, I put everything under the bed, locked it with my padlock, and went out to find something for dinner.
The hostel is really nice. There’s a big common room with a kitchen, sofas, tables, a pool table, and a ping pong table. It’s very cozy, everything is clean and orderly, breakfast is included, and you can cook your own meals. There are refrigerators and shelves for guests, so overall it’s great and very affordable, just $30 per night, which is cheap for San Francisco. The only downside is the lack of an elevator, which made dragging my huge suitcase up a real pain.
I expected a chaotic, very large city. As usual, I go to places without researching beforehand, which makes the visit a big surprise. I don’t know why, but I’m old-fashioned like that, I love the element of surprise. With the internet and Google, we’ve kind of lost the joy of discovering new places—when you arrive, you’ve usually already seen everything on a screen.
There’s a lady in my room, also over 20;) and I asked her for some information about San Francisco, wondering why everything seemed so calm and where all the people were. There were very few people around, I was expecting the chaos of New York. She’s lived in San Francisco for many years and couldn’t really answer me. This happens when you don’t do any research before arriving in a place ;) When we met again a few hours later, she told me that the city is small compared to other American metropolises and not very densely populated. I was pleasantly surprised by this, and I started to really like the city and Ingrid, my temporary roommate :)
I thought that staying in a hostel would mean I wouldn’t have the chance to connect with the locals, but that wasn’t the case at all, thanks to Ingrid. She’s temporarily living in the hostel due to some twists and turns in her turbulent life. Ingrid is truly a special person; it would take a book to describe her, and in fact, she’s writing one herself. If you’d like to support her, you can follow this link: https:/tinyurl.com/yp555nbs.
Ingrid introduced me to Polina, a girl with some brilliant ideas, who is working on a big project she needs to present soon in order to start raising interest and funding. Then, the night before I left, I met a guy, Puneet, who had just secured funding for his own project, with an ease that apparently isn’t common. I’ll soon hear more from all of them, and I’m sure the projects they’re working on will come to life. Puneet promised to develop a program for architects, and I’m really curious to see it. This, as Ingrid explained to me, is San Francisco—a city where everyone encourages you to follow your dreams. It’s a positive city, which, like all places, has its dark sides, but overall, it’s very sunny—both in spirit and because the sun shines frequently. When I arrived, however, it was pouring rain, and with my canvas shoes, my feet were completely soaked, along with the rest of me, so I had to buy a pair of winter shoes. They’ll also come in handy in New York. I’m currently on a plane to New York with Alaska Airlines, a 5-hour flight. I’m flying over the United States from West to East, and from the plane, there’s nothing urban visible—just canyons, valleys, mountains, snow, and a few isolated roads in the middle of nowhere, stretching for probably thousands of miles.
But let’s return to San Francisco. This is the city where artificial intelligence, like ChatGPT, and robotics are born. There are completely autonomous taxis that are booked via an app, and they pick you up and take you to your destination without a human driver. The first time I realized this, I was quite surprised. I’d heard about it, but seeing them in action was a lot of fun. I wanted to try one, but I couldn’t download the app because my Apple account wasn’t eligible. I would’ve needed a new account, but without an American phone number, it wasn’t possible. Well, it looks like I’ll just have to come back and try again ;)
The city looks completely different when it rains versus when the sun is out. I went back to the same places when the sun finally came out, and I almost didn’t recognize them. When it rains, you can’t see the bridges or the sea—they all disappear into the fog, which is fascinating, but I have to admit that it’s much more beautiful with the sun.
I also went to Sausalito by ferry and returned by bus, crossing the Golden Gate Bridge. San Francisco has many attractions, beautiful museums, and a lovely waterfront area with beaches, marinas, and piers with shops.
I also went on the Ferris wheel—it had been ages since I last went on one. It was nice, and the person who helped us onto the ride was so cheerful. Every time we went around, he reminded us to smile. I don’t know how he managed to stay so upbeat the whole time, but he really seemed happy.
For the rest, I walked a lot, took buses, trams, metro, ferries… One time, though, I got lost. The internet stopped working, and I was in a residential area outside the city, with no one to ask for directions. I was already resigned to walking a long way before finding a bus stop when I saw a man working in a garden and asked him for help. Unfortunately, he didn’t know exactly where the nearest bus stop was, but he assured me it was very far away. So, I asked him to point me in the right direction, and I was about to start walking when he called me back and said that if I waited a few minutes, he’d give me a lift, as he was headed in that direction anyway. His van was holding together by the skin of its teeth ;) There are so many wonderful people around. This, in general, is something I can say after 5 months of traveling.
Thank you, San Francisco!!
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