Home sweet home. Now, who wants to do my laundry?
Confession time: I wasn't just traveling to San Francisco. I also made an all-too-brief stopover in Chicago. But, I had to keep it hush-hush, since it wasn't really a social visit. The University of Chicago program I'd applied to was allowing me to stopover for one day to interview with faculty and students. It was a quick in-and-out affair... I didn't even get off of Pacific time. I'm very impressed with the program, though... here's hoping I get an offer.
As for San Francisco, I popped in Thursday through this morning. In a word: STUNNING. Of the five programs I applied to, UCSF, I was told, was "stretching it." Confused? To clarify, here's what many folks told me: "You won't get in, James. So don't even bother applying." Well, I'm not in (yet), and I'm not out (yet). But damn, what a city! What a program! For my first time in California, it was indeed an enjoyable occasion. I saw a few familiar faces from my interview with the University of Washington's Molecular and Cellular Biology program a few weeks ago. And I bonded with and befriended a genius recruit from Montréal/Toronto who happens to share my name. We became "American James" and "Canadian James." Friendly, funny, cerebral, supportive, blessedly nonjudgemental, and thankfully as disinterested in discussing "science" as I was. He was impressed that I know the name of the current Canadian Prime Minister (and several of his predecessors). But seriously, if you're an American and you don't know even the basics of the Canadian government, shame on you.
As for San Francisco itself, pleasant surprises lurked around every corner. I believe I became "hooked," though, after a drive up to Twin Peaks at night to get a better idea of the city's layout. WOW. Different from Seattle, but still "West Coast" in feel and atmosphere. Don't get me wrong - I'm not about to pack up and move there right now or anything. But, no matter where I end up this autumn, I've found a new city to romp around in, even if only for a vacation to visit friends down there. I spent Saturday evening catching up over dinner and Coke-floats (since the dessert place was out of Root Beer) with a close friend and her boyfriend. They gushed and gushed about the city, understandably, and I appreciated getting an unbiased local's view of the area.
But, as my plane back to Seattle broke through the clouds approaching SeaTac, I took one look out of my window, saw the modest skyline, Seattle's bone-on-bone outline, and water water everywhere... and thought, "I'm home."
And I love that feeling.
Posted by James at February 27, 2005 05:23 PM