Time flies

I'm less than two weeks away from finishing classes, exactly three weeks away from finishing all the final projects and exams, and less than two months away from going back home.  This has made me think a lot about my amazing experience here and also about some routines I am going to miss when I leave Berkeley.

Mainly, I am going to miss living in ihouse.  I am gonna miss the Wednesday 9 pm to 10 pm coffee hours, the meals in the dining hall surrounded by friends, the 12 pm happy-birthday cakes every time it is someone's birthday, the cultural experience and the people.

I am also going to miss my class.  We rarely do stuff together outside Davis Hall but the truth is that we spend so many hours a day together that we became incredibly close.  We know how to make fun and which reactions to expect from each other, so we end up having fun while working.

Another thing I am going to miss is the weekly Thursday lunch out with my classmates.  No matter what, on Thursdays after our CE227 class, we leave Davis Hall to have lunch somewhere in Berkeley.  If we don't have much free time, we eat something on Euclid Ave, right by Davis Hall;  if we do, we go and explore different places.

I am going to miss the college life in general, including the huge amount of people quickly walking in every direction on campus, the people laying under the sun in the afternoon, the frisbee dudes, the campaigns, performances and advertisements all over Sproul Plaza, the rollerbladers, the skaters and the runners annoying normal pedestrians, the backpacks in everyone's back, the coffee cups in everyone's hands, the caps in every guys' heads, all the athletes walking in and out Memorial Stadium, and so on.

I am going to miss my 7-day workout routine, mainly our Insanity workout sessions under the sun.

I am going to miss writing an e-mail to my family every night and a post on this blog every once in a while.  Even if I am going to be back home, I might miss the morning Skype session with my mom, while I am getting ready for the day.  I am definitely going to miss the constant chat in our family Whatsapp group.

I am going to miss getting a good surprise letter or present in the mailbox every once in a while.

I am going to miss cottage cheese.

I am going to miss much more.

From now till June 17th, all I have to do is enjoy the entire list of things I just said I am going to miss, and also stuff that I might not miss but that makes me grow by being very culturally different to what I am used to.

Three in one

Today was a three-in-one day for me, in many senses.

Three big events took place in Berkeley today: Cal Day, International House Spring Festival and 4/20.  Cal Day is the day of the year in which the whole university is open to the public, presenting everyone with over 300 free lectures, tours, concerts and different types of performances.  It is also the day in which all the brands one can imagine have their own booths on campus to give free stuff to people, and in which the fraternities get specially wild.  It is basically a happy day on campus.  I wish it was Cal Day everyday!

The International House Spring Festival, formally called the Edith Coliver Festival of Cultures "Springfest" is, as ihouse likes to claim, an amazing "celebration of the life and culture from all over the world", where "attendees are treated to tantalizing delicacies from Armenia to Zambia".  Neglecting the exaggeratedly elaborate description, that's pretty much the truth.  This springfest, among all the ihouse events I've been to, was probably my favorite one.  Seeing the residence totally full, being able to check all the booths offering info, handicrafts and food, watching all the performances, tasting all the different types of food, and being part of the multicultural fashion show, made me realize I actually live in the coolest place on campus and beyond.  I live in such an international place that I pretended to belong to three different nationalities during the springfest (three-in-one day again).  I was the only Portuguese person in ihouse, as I have been the entire school year; I pretended to be lebanese and helped Nathalie out serving mediterranean food to visitors for over an hour; and I modeled in the fashion show in a vietnamese costume.  The real vietnamese girls actually said I looked like them, except from the fact that I am a foot taller than them.

The third event of the day was 4/20, a famous event in the hippie Berkeley campus, since it is the cannabis counterculture's international holiday.  The festivities included fire alarms echoing throughout the dorms, students from Sensible Drug Policy trying to hold events at Sproul Plaza, and tons of people smoking weed in the Memorial Glade (one of the campus gardens) around 4:20 pm.  I guess I don't have to mention I didn't participate in the celebrations but I am happy to say that I went there to see how it was.

The weather was amazing and this was probably the happiest day I experienced on campus.

More trophies and stuff

Gosh, I wish I could start this post from the end of it!!!  What a weekend!

Friday after lunch, Nico and I headed south.  Both of us were looking forward to leave Berkeley for the weekend, but for different reasons.  He wanted to meet his (now our) Venezuelan friend Marco, and surf and party hard with him in Monterey, while I wanted to get some fresh air and watch Pedro play the Western Intercollegiate at Pasatiempo Golf Course.

The trip was fine and relatively short, which gave us the chance to enjoy a late afternoon and evening in Monterey.  We went to the beach and stood by a bonfire, chatting, drinking bears and eating hot dogs and s'mores (ew!!!) - exactly my idealized idea of an evening in that area.  That was the only thing I did in Monterey, apart from being awaken and made fun of by tipsy Marco and Nico both nights, around 2:30 am, when the clubs closed and they went back home.

My ride to the golf course both on Saturday and Sunday was with my favorite Pinizzotto family, meaning Matt's mom and dad, the ones who welcomed Pedro and me in their place in my the first weekend in California last summer, and who took us out for dinner in El Pastaio in Beverly Hills during spring break.  However, on Saturday, we arranged to meet at the 101 Highway entrance so I made Nico wake up at 6:45 am to take me there.  He did it.  Gracias amigo!

Let's move to the most important part of the weekend now: Pedro's performance in the tournament.  The tournament took place in an amazing golf course close by Santa Cruz, Pasatiempo Golf Course, designed by the same architect that designed Augusta.  Coincidence of the coincidences: this tournament took place during the Masters Weekend!  Who cares about the Masters if they have a champion playing another tournament during the same weekend?!

Saturday, they played 36 holes without stopping between rounds.  They arrived at the golf course before 7 am, had breakfast and practiced for a while, played from 8:30 am to 7:00 pm, had dinner at the golf course, and went back to the hotel to rest and get ready for Sunday's 18 holes.  Fans like me did pretty much the same, except from the fact that they arrived slightly later and did not hit amazing golf shots.

UCLA and Cal, respectively my favorite team and the team from my university, played together both days.  Pedro played incredibly well throughout the weekend but mainly between holes 4 and 20 of the first day and holes 2 to 18 of the last day.  He shot -5, +1 and -2, behaved like a gentleman and made me super proud.  There are some interesting facts of the weekend that I would like to point out.  1) Pedro played in the same group as the #1 player in college golf, Michael Kim (and, yes, he beat him!).  2) Pedro started the last round of the day in second place, one stroke behind his teammate and friend Pontus, and made double boogie on the first hole, which made the scenery look not so good.  3) UCLA started the last round leading by quite a few strokes but lost to Cal by a lot of strokes.  4) I don't think I have ever been so nervous in my entire life.  5) Michael Kim started the third round four strokes behind Pedro but he made it to hole 17 only one stroke behind.  That was the hole in which, in my opinion, Pedro won the tournament by making a great putt for birdie, pressuring Michael and making him miss his putt, which was shorter and easier.  6) It was the first time I watch Pedro win live such a good tournament, and I couldn't be more proud.  Way to go Figgy!!!!!

Dad in Cali

I'm chilling in my room and it seems way too empty.  Why's that?  Because Dad just left Berkeley after being here with me for two short amazing days.

Dad had to travel to Atlanta for business and decided to make a pit stop in North California to visit me first.  His plans where to arrive on Saturday late afternoon, be my date at my graduate program 1920's party, spend two entire days with me and leave to Atlanta on Monday evening.  The trip did not start quite as planned, since he lost his connection flight in Newark and consequently couldn't come to the party.  However, that was the only part of the trip that didn't go well.  I just wish he could have stayed here with me...

On Sunday, we started the day by walking around campus and getting to see a few of its most famous parts: Telegraph Ave; Sproul Plaza and its invisible monument to free speech; the campanile; the whisper bench; a few libraries; Haas School; Memorial Stadium; International House; and more.  Before leaving Berkeley, Dad had his first experience in ihouse's dining hall: the weekend brunch.  I think he liked it.  I used to like the brunches here too but, after a while, they get way to repetitive.  After that, we drove to two different outlets, did some shopping, and got to see very nice and diverse landscapes.  From herds of sheep to herds of cows, from farms with horses to agricultural lands, from flat areas to hills, and from vineyards to towns, we saw a lot.  We had lunch in the Oxbow Public Market in Downtown Napa and came back to Berkeley, where we went to 4th street before heading to ihouse again.

The evening was as good as the rest of day.  We did some food shopping in College Ave (drinks at Safeway, pizza at Zachary's and fruit tart at La Farine) and had dinner with the Villas-Boas family at their place.  It's impossible not to like going there, seeing how happy that family is, listening to the kids' jokes, and getting to enjoy a portuguese style meal, meaning a meal with no rushes.

Today was THE day!  We had breakfast in ihouse with some of my breakfast buddies, so that Dad could actually experience my daily life here.  After that, we drove North for a big adventure.  We went to Muir Woods National Monument, with the initial goal of going on a 1h/2h hike.  However, we missed the trail we wanted to take and ended up walking for three hours and a half.  We walked up, up, up and down, down, down the hill, on a muddy slippery ground.  We saw huge trees in a dense forest first and the bay under the sun later on.  The adventurous part of the hike included the sense of being totally lost, taking a non-active trail as a shortcut for a few minutes, and seeing a few animals (including a snake).  In the end, we were exhausted but kind of happy for having one more story to tell.  Haha.  We're sore already so I don't want to imagine how our body is going to be tomorrow.

At 1:30 pm, we were back on campus and had a grilled panini together before I headed to Davis Hall, for a class I could not miss.  Before 5 pm, we were back together and spent the last hours together organizing stuff and enjoying each other company.  How I wish I had Dad, Mom or Pedro here with me every week...

Thanks Dad for managing to come visit me.  It's good to show the people we love the most we are happy and safe.  Now, I'm happy to say that Mom, Dad, Mico and Pedro all can imagine correctly the descriptions I make when we talk through Skype, Whatsapp, Viber or e-mail.

unCivil Bash

Believe it or not, there are only 4 weeks left till the end of classes.  What does it mean?  It means it is time to have a big party for all the civil engineering graduate students!  That's what happened last night, at the beautiful Hearst Memorial Mining Building, very close to our not-so-loved Davis Hall.  Many graduate students from Environmental, Structural, Materials, Transportation, Systems and Water showed up wearing 1920's outfits and the night could not have been more fun, as you can see in the following pictures: