Im in Davis yo! It is almost like i expected, much warmer though and the campus is bigger than i though, im getting lost all the time…=) but lets start from the beginning:
So I took the BART-train from San Francisco Airport to Rockrigde were a 2nd year student, Emily picked me up. When I purchased train tickets I got help from two guys in my age that was just coming back from their Europe-trip. They were very friendly and we exchanged facebook/emails so we hopefully we will go out one weekend in San Francisco. When they left the train I talked to another guy who apparently worked as a job recruiter for IT people, so he said that i should contact him when i have my degree, so that is nice :) He gave me his business card and he also knew some places in San Francisco were they play good house music, so hopefully we will go there one day… I feel so lucky and happy. People are so friendly here! Love it!
At Rockrigde trainstation Emily picked me up and we went to Davis! Emily is an amazing girl from the Bay area, she has helped me really a lot here! Thank you so much Emily!
Now im staying at another 2nd year student, Peter “Potter” Weber! He is a very cool and interesting guy! Im sleeping on a couch in the living room, so that is perfect! Thanks Potter! When I arrived at his house it was 9pm in the evening, so local time for me was like 6am in the morning. But we went out anyway because it was Mojito Thursday :) I don”t think I need to say that i was pretty tired when we went to bed that night! The crazy jet lag made me wake up 4:30am and then i was completly awake! Grrrrr!! :P
Yesterday was a really intense day! I went to look at some apartments, posted ads on craigslist and other places. Bought a bike (so now im on a bike yo:), went to my school to have a look. Got lost on campus/city like 10 times and all this in 40 degree heat! Biking is a really big thing in Davis. In contrast to the rest of US, Davis has bike lanes on almost every street, amazing, America is learning! ;) I bought my bike for $90 and from Davis Bike Exchange and they promised to buy it back for half the prize, so practically it is like renting a bike for $45 for 3.5months, sweeet!
The building I will be studying in is completely new, it doesn”t feels like a school, it feels more like a hotel. I will take pictures of it later and show how beautiful it is! In some strange way it feels like i have to perform better in a building like that, it feels so professional! :) Next to the school is a real hotel, a Hyatt hotel, so if anyone wants to come and visit me and have too much cash it would be an option :) And the size of the campus is 2,100 ha or 210km^2!! exclamation mark!! they have pools, fitness center, stadiums, cows, horses. It even has an own airport :)
In the evening I went with another guy that lives here, Jim and his friends to a place called Tacos and Beer and afterwards we went home to our place to have a few beers! Very nice!
Today I been looking at more apartments and and got lost on campus again :) The reason why it is so hard to find apartment is because there is not many furnished apartments and most places want that i sign a one-year lease. But I am getting closer for everyday and I will soon be successful, i hope :P
So to summerize my first impression of Davis
* It is hot – 35-40 degress in the shadow
* Campus is big – 210km^2
* Biking is easy – biking lane on every street
* People are very friendly – Thumbs up
* Difficult to find apartment – Thumbs down