Thursday, 28th


September 2017


info@eastcorkjournal.ie East Cork Business Post Summer In California – San Francisco From A Student Perspective by DR ROSARII GRIFFIN


California As a student, I was at-


tracted to California. One had the


image


sandy beaches, surfing, and ‘the easy life’. Not surpris- ingly, I was keen to visit California. When I had the opportunity to attend a conference in Lake Ta- hoe, a mountainous area East of the State of Cal- ifornia, I jumped at


it. I


applied and was accepted. Once accepted, I arranged to extend my stay beyond Lake Tahoe, to include my summer holidays and take in San Francisco and LA on the return route. As a young woman from rural Ireland, these


cities had


huge appeal, as they fea- tured regularly in films and TV series, so I was keen to explore them and see them for myself. By this time, I had already been to Bos- ton and NY on J1 visas, so to make a change from the East Coast, I was keen to visit the West coast of the USA.


San Francisco As a student, I did not


have much money, so I had to budget everything care- fully. Still, I was optimistic and once I got to Lake Ta- hoe, and attended the con- ference, I was looking for- ward to exploring the rest of California. Luckily, my brother had some friends living in San Francisco, so I arranged to stay with them following the conference. I flew into San Francis- co from Lake Tahoe, and made my way to Noriega Avenue, where my contacts were staying. I was given a warm welcome, and a comfortable sofa to crash out on. I was only going to be there for less than a week, and so that suited me just fine. Mike, my broth- er’s friend (who hailed from Youghal) was very helpful and made me feel at home. He introduced me to his Irish friends from Youghal, Midleton, Cork, as well as other parts of Ireland. But the friend that I hit it off


of long


with best was an Ameri- can, Mike’s co-worker and friend, Victor. Victor kindly invited me to a whistle stop tour of San Francisco, and I was delighted to take up the invitation.


White Russian It


turned out that Vic-


tor was, in fact, of Russian origin. His parents defect- ed from the Soviet Union during the Cold War, and settled in California. His family appeared to have integrated well into Amer- ican life, possibly due to having a strong work ethic. Victor was born and raised as an American citizen, and for all intents and purposes, he was very American. He was tall, had a gregarious laugh and piercing blue eyes. Better than that, Vic- tor had a good sense of hu- mour that I enjoyed. Victor was successful in his own job, being part of a start up IT company, and rose up in the company ranks pretty quickly. After all, this was the land of opportunity. As Victor had just come out of a long relationship, and I was in one, there was no chance of any romance, just a nice time out on the town as friends. That suit- ed us both very well, and so once we both agreed on the ground rules, he set about planning our tourist route in San Francisco. Victor was very proud of being American, and he was also very proud of being from San Francisco, and with good reason, as I discov- ered whilst exploring the city.


Exploring San Fran Victor first brought


me down to Fisherman’s Wharf, which is a busy boardwalk on the sea front, with lots of


shops, a fun


fair and a walkway, which stretched for miles along the seashore. It was lovely to walk along the sea front, admiring the iconic Gold- en Gate


Bridge (which


was red in colour!), all kinds of sailing and fish- ing boats, and feel part of the cornucopia of life there – with skaters, joggers and walkers, and women pushing buggies. We then


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headed to ‘The Stinking Rose Café’, a very famous restaurant in San Francis- co, as they infuse all their dishes with garlic, even their desserts! The logic is that garlic is OK if every- one eats it, then nobody notices the stench! While I thought the food would be a lot more pungent, it was in fact great. However, we nibbled on sprigs of parsley afterwards to kill the garlic odour, as the Stinking Rose Café was not our final des- tination that evening! Next, we headed to ‘Beach Blan- ket Babylon’, which was, at


that time, the world’s


longest running musical, playing since 1974. That was a fun and colourful sa- tirical production depicting American life. The actors wore flamboyant costumes, mimicking politicians and famous celebrities in the USA. Following the show, we headed for the ‘Jungle Bar’. That was themed as if one were walking into the Amazon Basin, which was very impressive, locat- ed within a local hotel. We had a nightcap there before heading back towards Nor- iega Avenue.


Salutary Reminders En route home, Victor


showed me the Cliff House restaurant


overlooking


Ocean Beach. A restaurant that has been resurrected five times since 1858, in- cluding surviving both eco- nomic downturns as well as earthquakes! It is rather an emblematic hotel of San Francisco, standing alone on a cliff


top, white in


colour, and facing the sea. This hotel is also a salutary reminder of the very real dangers that lurk beneath the surface, as California is located on a fault line be- tween two tectonic plates. This can give rise to infre- quent but potentially dev- astating earthquakes (the last major earthquake was 1906, destroying 80% of the city, and killing over 3,000 people). This unnerved me somewhat, making me glad I was only visiting Califor- nia, and not living there. There are some reasons to be grateful for living in Ire-


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land, and that was certainty one of them. In Cinderella like fashion, I was back in Mike’s flat by midnight. Victor had work the next day, and I was exhausted after all my travels. It was a good evening, and we agreed to meet again for a drink before I left San Fran- cisco. I can’t remember if we did or we didn’t, but suffice to say, Victor and I remained friends thereafter, recalling the laughs and fun time we shared.


Fisherman’s Wharf The


following day, I


ended back down in Fish- erman’s wharf again, as I loved the area so much. Being a student, I had to budget each day. I had no credit, visa or ATM card, only cash so I had to mon- itor my time and spending quite carefully. A slight de- tail I forgot about America is that tax is added to bills at the end stage of a purchase, unlike in Ireland where tax is included in prices shown. So, it transpired I left my- self with too little money to even catch a tram back to Noriega Avenue. I was mad at myself. It was already getting dusky and I need- ed to get going on the long walk home to get there be- fore dark. Outside the hotel I was standing in front of, I asked a Limousine driver which direction I should take to get back to Norie- ga Avenue (these were the days


pre-mobile phones,


Google Maps, or the likes). He told me to take the tram. It was the easiest op- tion. ‘No’ I said defiantly, I’d rather walk’. ‘Well, he insisted, it’s a long walk, it will take you perhaps a cou- ple of hours’. ‘That’s OK, I insisted, just show me the way’. Intrigued by my Irish accent, he asked me, ‘Are you Irish’? When I nodded in the affirmative, he said, ‘My Grandmother came from County Cork, where are


you from?’ ‘County


Cork’ I said laughing. And the conversation com- menced. As it was nearly five o’clock, he said, ‘listen, I knock off in 5 minutes, if I don’t get a taxi fare be- tween now and then, I’ll drop you off at Noriega


Avenue’. ‘Thanks’, I said, ‘but I hardly have the mon- ey for a tram, not to mind a Limousine!’ ‘No bother, he insisted, I’m going that way anyway, so let me drop you off. Besides, I’m enjoying our conversation too much to stop now’. So, being safety conscience, I took his driver licence details, rang Mike’s house line from a public phone box, and left a voice message to say I would be returning home in a Limo with this registra- tion plate and with a driver that had that driver licence number xyz, along with my expected arrival time. Sure enough, I arrived back to Noriega Avenue in style, and met by Mike at the door who was mightily im- pressed! It turned out my Limo driver was a student who did this work part time to pay for his college fees. He was training to be a lawyer.


Sonoma County At the weekend, my new-


found lawyer student friend invited me to visit Sonoma County. I agreed as long as I could also bring an- other Irish friend who was also crashing out at Mike’s place. I wanted to do it this way for safety reasons, but also because the more the merrier! He agreed, so on Saturday, Limo driven, we three headed north of San Francisco, over the Golden Gate Bridge, past the pic- turesque town of Sausal- ito, and headed north for Sonoma County. It so hap- pens that Sonoma County is


the largest producer of


wine in California, with over 250 wineries, and is endowed with very rich agricultural lands used primarily for grapes (but also for pasture and dairy). The three of us had a ball tasting and testing both the red and white varieties of wines. Some winery names sounded familiar, like ‘Dry Creek Valley’, ‘Bennett Valley’ and ‘Los Carneros’, with grapes varieties such as Cabernet


Sauvignon,


Zinfandel, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Merlot and Syr- ah. In any case, the range and breadth of wineries in the region was impressive.


Apparently, the climate


and soil conditions made it ideal terrain for grape production. I was a happy camper trying out all the different varieties. Unusual for me, I had a preference for white, as I found it far more refreshing in the heat and sunshine. But back home, red wine is typically my poison of choice!


Muir Woods On the return journey


from Sonoma County, we visited Muir Woods, which is a magnificent and im- pressive Ancient Redwood Forest. To arrive at Muir Woods, we went through the scenic Marin Headland Hills. The stunning beauty of this enchanted forest was breath taking, comprising of some of the oldest, tall- est and most amazing trees in the USA. Muir Wood had thankfully escaped the major logging era, as it was difficult to access. Now, it is a protected and reserved national park. Some trees stand as tall as 252 feet and 14 feet wide, and most trees are between 800 and 1000 years old, with some even as old as 1500 years. The bark alone, which is spongy, fibrous and moist, can withstand fires, as the bark is between 6 and 8 inches wide which protects the tree


against weather


erosion, disease and fires. By the time we reached San Francisco, the sun was already a red glow in the sky, just about setting, pull- ing the blinds on the end of another magnificent day in sunny California. We didn’t have time to stop off at the beautiful fishing village of Sausalito, which was on the opposite side of the Gold- en Gate Bridge. Another time, we agreed, as we were all tired at this stage, and anxious to get back to base. Another time it would have to be.


Beaches On my last day in San


Francisco, Mike, his friends and I went to a local beach. Mike insisted on climb- ing over some rocks going to a quieter part of the beach where you get ‘bet- ter views’. Before long, I


realised he and his friends, as a practice joke, brought me to a nudist beach antici- pating a reaction of horror. Realising this, I said, ‘Oh, it seems we have to strip off entirely here, come on so lads, off with your gear’. And I gestured as if I was going to strip off myself, when they laughed and said, ‘OK, you got us, let’s get outta here’. ‘Why? What’s wrong?’ I enquired, enjoying the fact that their joke was backfiring. ‘Come on, I insisted, off with your kit’. But I got the nod from the lads, so we packed up our stuff to leave.


As far


as I could see, the beach was mostly populated by older men, and mostly gay. As this was not particularly of interest, we moved back to the family-packed beach were we could relax and enjoy our time lapping up the sun and enjoy watching the surfers ride the enor- mous waves.


Reflections It was my last day in sun-


ny San Francisco. I would miss it - its hilly terrain, its misty, fog filled cool morn- ings, followed by its glorious sunny afternoons. I would miss its very European ar- chitecture, intersected by a quaint tram system which zipped up and down the very steep and rolling hills of San Francisco. It was a vibrant, liberal and colour- ful city. I knew I would miss it for its uniqueness. Never- theless, I was now looking forward to visiting LA, to see if I liked it as much. I wasn’t so sure that I would, but I was open to observing how different or the same it would be. For me, to date, California proved to be full of surprises, each area quite different or similar it would be from each other. LA was even more of a surprise for me than San Francisco, but those however are obser- vations for another article. For now, suffice to say, my time in San Francisco was very enjoyable, educative and insightful. And from a students’ perspective, it just gave me a yen to explore more. Contact: Rosarii at info@eastcorkjournal.ie or @rosarii_griffin.


Tel: 021 463 8000 • Email: info@eastcorkjournal.ie • Web: www.eastcorkjournal.ie


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