Weekend in Berkeley, PART 2.

To read PART 1 of this article about my weekend in Berkeley, click here.

San Francisco Skyline

Saturday was a rather dull day… Mikey and I woke up late, grabbed some sandwiches, and went to Maddy’s game. Maddy is a high school junior, and he is the pitcher for the baseball team. Among all the American sports, baseball is the least appealing to me, but it was still nice to watch Mike’s younger brother play… For the first hour! It was a scrimmage game, and they played 11 innings, or, in other words, for 3 hours! 

In order of distance: me, Berkeley hills, Berkeley, Oakland (left), the Bay, San Francisco.

After the game, Mikey took me up on a hill in East Berkeley, from the top of which I was able to see the whole bay, including Oakland, Berkely, San Francisco, Alcatraz, the Golden Gate, and so on. It was such a breathtaking view, although pictures could not nearly portrait the beauty of the landscape. 

Later that afternoon, Maddy’s teammates came over, and they ended up spending the night, too. I have to say they are all very fun. While sometimes age differences are a burden to bonding and mutual understanding, Maddy and his friends are cool and they get along with Mikey and Mikey’s friends very well.

Sunday was the day when I finally got a chance to visit the town of Berkeley and the university. I met with Alessandro at Phi Psi, his frat. He was eating a salad on the roof enjoying the sun— which I thought was pretty cool. 

The walk to school wasn't too long, and Haas is the part of UC Berkeley closest to Greek Street, which is where all the frat houses are (good to know!). The campus is great but definitely different from what I expected. 

I have visited UCLA and USC in the past, and those two campuses, although somewhat different from each other, have a similar style. 

For some reason, I was expecting to find something similar at UC Berkeley, too, but obviously I was wrong. 350 miles apart, Los Angeles and the Bay Area have a different culture and a different landscape, which is reflected in the look and general atmosphere on the campuses. 

Cal is, in all aspects, more of a serious ambient. The people at Cal look very professional, and somewhat more focused. The spaces are smaller and more interconnected, while the campuses in LA have more… huge, wide open spaces. Also, while buildings and floors at both UCLA and USC are made of red bricks, most of Cal’s buildings are in the shades of gray, which is again a more serious, less fun color. 

Overall, Cal is a wonderful campus, with many trees, infinite resources (32 libraries! Not a typo), and a thriving atmosphere made up by go-getters and doers.

Nonetheless, I think it is worth mentioning that studying in Southern California has the valuable advantage of making me feel like I am on vacation, which in turn, makes me enjoy my studies more. Southern California, with its palm trees, colorful flowers, and bright buildings that reflect the sun, is a very joyful and relaxing environment, while Berkeley, with its pine trees, hills, and cloudy skies, is still very beautiful but does not feel like that paradise that is, for instance, Santa Barbara.

Later that day, Alessandro and I went to get Gelato at Caravaggio Gelateria Italiana, an ice-cream shop that was opened by one of my Italian old friends’ father— who decided to move to the States and open an ice-cream business. The Gelato (an American word that is nothing but the Italian word for ice-cream, with an American accent) was delicious, and on the house!  

As a way to demonstrate my appreciation for being their guest, I stopped to buy some flowers for Mikey’s mom, and she really appreciated it; when we got back home, dinner was almost ready, and it was something so delicious that it is worth mentioning. Mikey’s mom cooked homemade lasagna and barbecued three different types of steak: New York Strip, Ribeye, and Fillet Mignon. What a great way to end the weekend!

We left on Monday, which was a holiday, and the trip back was full with unexpected surprises… You can read about it in my next post!

A presto,

- Fede