Carnival!

 

Just like Fresher's Week at home, the university puts on a few events - including a carnival!

 

My personal highlight was the laser tag, in which we spent the whole time running around the inflatable 'battleground' screaming, then just standing in a circle shooting each other with the laser. Needless to say, it was hilarious.

 

 

My roommates and my Italian friends!

 

Yes, that is also a bouncy castle in the background.

 

Valentina and I, loving the free candyfloss!

This is basically horse-racing, on inflatable horses. Yeah.

 

Fun fun!

All Moved In!

Now that my holiday's over (boo) and my family have gone home, the real work begins! But not until tomorrow...

in the meantime, this past week has been 'Orientation', mostly just 'getting-to-know-you' type-stuff. It's been a bit of a snooze to be honest, certainly no Hull freshers! Don't worry though (Emily Tams), there's been SOME organised fun!

 

I've also moved into my 'dorm' room! I know a few very nosy friends and family members will love to see this, so here's my apartment tour...

 

Welcome to my room!

 

 

This is the view as you first walk through the bedroom door (my room-mate's bed is just out of shot on the left!):

 

And this is my bed:



 

Close up photos!

 

 

Nana and Grandad, see if you can spot my tiny pink picture frame!

 



 

Presents from Katie and Maddie! Very much appreciated.

 

I have a walk-in wardrobe! (well, nearly)...

 

 

...and we share the bathroom between two, which isn't bad at all!

We also have a living area and kitchen so it feels like a real apartment!

 

 

Now that the holiday is over, I'm looking forward to starting my classes and being a real American student!

 

San Francisco - The City In Which I Will Become Fat

Food in San Francisco is a HUGE thing - there's about 5,000 restaurants. And in the past few days, we've managed to sample about 4,000 of them.

 

Since North Beach's near to our hotel, we went for some Italian:

 

 

The way to know if you're in North Beach is to check the lampposts - they all have an Italian flag painted on them!

 

We loved this...San Francisco's very own version of a parmo!

 

 

...so of course Emily had to order one.

 

We had some seafood at Joe's Crab Shack on Fisherman's Wharf...

 

 

 

 



Coconut Shrimp (yes, I've stopped saying prawns already), fries and 'slaw!

We also had some great Vietnamese in the Sunset District - my first Vietnamese! It was a cross between Chinese and Indian really.

 



 

Tofu and Vegetable Curry.

 

One day we headed up to Napa, about an hour and a half of San Francisco - but the difference in temperature was amazing!

 

We had lunch at a lovely French restaurant - Napa is a pretty fancy place in general!

 

 

So sunny!

 

 

I was obviously a bit overdressed.

 

Tartine Au Tomate.

 

In case you didn't know, the Napa Valley is also a really big wine area, so there are grapevines EVERYWHERE.

 

 

 

We had some meze last night in the Sunset District, at a place called Troya - so lovely!

 

 

Pitta and dips (I forget their names! - But the top one is hummus, the second one was tomato-y and the third was yoghurt of some kind!)

 

Falafel and Boken.

 

I am officially going to become fat in San Francisco.

 

 

 

I took these two pictures because they reminded me of my friends - miss you!

 

 

'Which flavour crisps don't belong to you? NACHO CHEESE!'

 

 

Slightly superior to Titus!

San Francisco 101

So we finally made it to San Francisco! (a few days ago; I just wasn't able to publish this until now!)

And so far, I love everything about it. It's a beautiful city! Although currently it's a lot colder than what we've been used to - it's about 15 C!

We've been staying in the Fisherman's Wharf area while we do all of the touristy stuff. It's also not far from North Beach, which is San Francisco's Little Italy!

It would pretty much be a crime - no pun intended - to go to San Francisco and not go across to Alcatraz, 'The Rock'. It's less than 2 miles off the coast of San Francisco, and has served as a US maximum security prison and an Indian Reserve in the past century.

 

 

 

Inmates.

 

 

I thought this was funny.

 

And we've also been getting a feel for the city itself too!

This is Lombard Street, the most crooked street in San Francisco (and that's saying something!):

 

The hills in San Francisco are absolutely crazy.

 

Pier 39 on Fisherman's Wharf is probably the most touristy area of San Francisco - people come to see the sea lions alone, as they swim right into the harbour.

 

Chinatown in San Francisco is the second-biggest (after New York) in America!

 

 

The Transamerica Pyramid is the tallest building in San Francisco - the top is usually covered in fog, so I got it on a good day!

 

Cable cars are a San Francisco icon! They have the normal streetcars (first below) and then the historic ones (second below)!

 

 

And of course another SF icon... the Golden Gate Bridge! Although once you've seen it for the first time, it's not that impressive anymore. After all, it's just a bridge!

 

Covered in the famous San Francisco fog...

 

...and on a slightly brighter day!

And there it is!


A quick note to my #1 readers, my Nana and Grandad - Miss and love you both loads! (and the same goes for all of my family, actually!) xxx