The San Francisco trip was an eye-opening experience for me.
I started that morning with an exploratory bus ride through the city to get to Diridon Station and when I got there, I discovered that I was the first person to arrive. I was only 15 minutes early, so I was surprised to find none of my peers there. Shortly after, I found Joe and soon, the rest would come.
Once we gathered, we waited for the train to depart. During this wait, I purchased a train whistle that I blew on for the entire day. We also had interesting conversations about our schools. Most of what we talked about was the gossip, but learning the highlights of other schools gave me some new perspectives.
When it was time to leave, we funneled into the train and seated ourselves. I sat in the aisle seat next to Manasi, in front of Emily, and across from Patricia. I loved my time on the train because these three made the experience even more fun for me. Patricia and I sat and talked the entire time, with Emily making a couple trips to the restroom and Manasi falling asleep.
We spent the entire train ride talking about sports, high school experiences and future careers. I brought up the topic of careers when I asked about everyone’s dream jobs and real jobs.
I asked them, “What do you guys want to do in your careers as far as your dream jobs and your practical jobs?”
They didn’t really understand what I meant by “practical jobs,” but I explained that practical jobs are the jobs that are stable and more achievable. And to my surprise, we had a common field of interest with our dream jobs. We all wanted to create things. Emily wanted to be a screenwriter, Manasi an author and I a voice actor. We all shared our motivations for these careers too.
Soon after we left the train, it was time for lunch. Patricia and I decided that we wanted to try something new and different, so we went and bought vegan noodles. Eating was a blast because we both really enjoyed our meals. I mentioned that my meal tasted like my grandma’s cooking which got Sarah and Manasi to steal a little bit from my bowl and try it. They enjoyed it, too.
After lunch came the race up the stairs, which I won by almost a mile. I didn’t feel too good about it though because I had eaten a lot more than I normally eat and could feel the food whirling in my stomach as I sprinted up the stairs. The stomach pain and the cramps haunted me, stealing away the joy of the victory.
When that was over, we walked through Union Square and took pictures, walked through Chinatown and took pictures and then we came to the mural depicting the time period of the Chinese Exclusion Act. That was where Joe told us what I like to call his “origin story.”
After that, Patricia, Aaron and I walked into a souvenir shop where we bought gifts. When we came out, our entire entourage had disappeared down the street. We spotted them walking away, and as we moved toward them, we forgot to keep our eyes on them. By the time we realized this, they had vanished.
We wandered around looking for them, and we could not find them. Finally, we realized that we had Joe’s phone number and called him. He gave us a street to find and that was all we had to work with. Patricia, Aaron and I continued our search for this street and only managed to stay lost. We went in circles until we decided to use GPS, which directed us in one direction.
We walked for at least a mile before we decided that the group probably moved. We were right. I called Joe again and he told us to go to City Lights bookstore, but before we got there, we passed an ugly, naked guy in the street. The image was quite traumatic for us all, but it will be a fun story to tell and a good laugh to have when the three of us look back on it.
When we got to the bookstore, we walked in and found everyone. Joe told us a little about the bookstore, describing its layout and where things were. He mentioned poetry, and immediately, my interest was piqued. I immediately decided that I wanted to go upstairs and read the poetry. Patricia went with me. I found this book that detailed the stories of San Francisco, and I shared this with Patricia.
We sat down together, in one chair, and we took turns reading pages in the book that I found. As we were reading, we couldn’t help but notice a common theme among these stories. Each story started in a good way with a happy note, but ended in doom and gloom. We found that interesting and I theorized that the author was trying to send a message about San Francisco.
Shortly after, we left and went to Ghiradelli Square, ate fortune cookies and enjoyed a busker, or a street performer. He played guitar, sang and tapped a tambourine and a kick drum all at once. He sang interesting songs that were impactful. Eventually, he wrapped up his performance and we wrapped up our time in the square.
Later though, we walked past the beach and watched life as it happened, saw some more street performances and found a stopping point where Joe told everyone that they could do as they please for the next 30 minutes as long as we all came back to the same spot in time. As he was talking, I noticed what I thought was a carriage. When he let us go, I invited anyone to come and ride in the carriage with me. Patricia and Aaron took me up on the offer and we met with the man standing by the carriage.
We learned that it was actually called a Pedicab and paid $20 for a fun ride around the pier. We learned about the submarines and the history and about him. The man’s name was John Wagner, a 26-year-old Pedicab driver with two degrees.
After this, we came back to the pier and got on the bus to get to the train that would get us home. When we got on the train, the ride was much more mellow than it was on the way to San Francisco. I think it’s because of how busy our day was and how tired a good amount of us might have been.
We arrived back at Diridon Station right on schedule. I had to wait for Joe because he was my ride and he needed to make sure everyone got home.
After that, Joe took me home, and we shared stories of how we learned to drive and the changes made in our local history.
When I got home, I got a message from Patricia, and we ended our night with a fantastic conversation about how much fun we had. In the end, the day smoothed out to a pleasant and clean conclusion.