By Balan Selvamuthukumaran ’27
I had never actually been to San Francisco since this most recent winter—I hadn’t particularly wanted to go, to be honest. I liked (and like) Southern California and there is already so much to explore around here that I just didn’t see the need to venture further north. However, as with all things, I read a few books (more Kerouac, other Beat) set in San Francisco, and I felt that I had to go. I took a long road trip up there—about seven hours—with some friends over the summer, and we had a great time exploring the city and the Bay Area at large.
However, I definitely wanted to go back. So when my girlfriend’s sister invited us to come up and hang out with her for a weekend, we jumped at the chance. One of our major concerns whenever taking a trip somewhere is having a place to stay—now that we had one for sure, there were no worries for us to go. Transportation was not a huge deal either. Flight tickets (round-trip) on a budget airline to San Francisco are actually quite inexpensive, especially if you book in advance. If you have somewhere to stay and a plan for food, you can head up with no problems.
We had a great time in San Francisco. It was only a forty-five minute flight, and we got to spend Thursday night, Friday, and Saturday in the city. We spent a lot of time hunting around at vintage stores, looking for furniture and interesting art to furnish her apartment. I had not visited a lot of antique furniture stores, and it was an interesting experience haggling with shopkeepers to get good prices on old tables or ornate-looking desk chairs. We also got some great food—delicious Asian fusion brunches, home-cooked tacos, and even Yemeni coffee. Finally, we visited Golden Gate Park and took long walks around the area—the weather was absolutely perfect for it.
When it came time to go back home (and do problem sets for class) we were certainly disappointed. The only thing to do is go back again.