'Frisco Living

I have been here a little over two months now and i think that i can safely say that i am managing to settle into the swing of things. I have now moved away from the feeling of Euphoria about being in a new place, that tourist feeling where one still harbours thoughts in their minds that they will be returning to the land that they came from. Instead i have now fully realised that i won't be home for the best part of 7 months. In my last post i mentioned that it was starting to dawn on me that i was actually living here, but i feel now, in retrospect, making this claim was not completely accurate at the time.

About a month and a half in to my stay here was when i begun to feel that i was actually living here; when everything about being a tourist began to wear-off, when i began to feel like part of the American furniture and no longer felt as if i stuck out like a shadow in a flock of angels. Granted, people still stop me in the middle of conversations with a wild-eyed look of an excited child like when i first arrived here, but this occurrence has simply become part of everyday life for me; actually i can proudly say that i'm using this accent to my advantage, i'm sure you can all guess what i mean by that, i'm not going to spell it out for you. There is also the odd time when i get a similar bewildered feeling of anticipation when going to do something that i haven't yet done, but it is not the same as when i first got here. At this point, it feels like i have been here for much longer than 2 months; in-fact it feels like i have been here at least half a year. I am able to get around the city with ease and am getting to the point where i am beginning to recognise people in the streets all over the city (for those that don't know, San Francisco is only 7 by 7 miles, so running into people you know isn't that hard). The thing that i'm still finding it hard to get accustomed to is the manner in which people act toward one another here, they are so startlingly friendly that it almost seems like a gigantic facade. They are so open and bubbly in conversation that i have found myself many times thinking that i am acting withdrawn and coming across as rude by not being as joyful as they appear to be; as qualities go however, this isn't the worst thing to be trying to get used to.

The people in general here are all very approachable, i can't even count the number of times i've been queuing up for something or other, and someone has just struck up a conversation with me. Actually, a few days ago i was in line waiting to order some chai tea (thanks Slumdog Millionaire, i owe you for that one!) when the person in-front of me turned around and said 'Lets make this a bit more fun huh? I'm Jessica, what's your name?'. To this i replied 'I'm Archie' and without saying anything else got that same excited look before hearing her say 'Wow, i just love your accent, can you just talk to me some more?'. It really is as easy as that to make friends with people (in my case, particularly girls). But, as with anywhere, not all people are the same, and in San Francisco's case, there is an abundance of what the locals call 'crazies'. Partly down to the acid trips of the 60s and 70s, San Francisco is teaming with people one egg short of an omlette. It seems like the best place to find them, as with most nut-jobs, is on public transport. My stories of the amount of crazy people on the buses, trams and munis (a sort of underground, overground bus-like train system) are seemingly endless, but i'll give you my two favorites. I was on the bus on the way back home from downtown when one traveler decided to give everyone his rendition of Poison by Bel Biv Divoe that he was listening to on his ipod. To my surprise, another passenger behind me thought it would be a good idea to join in with the singing stranger, and before i knew it three others had decided to sing the melody, making for a very entertaining bus journey. Another time, again on a bus, a Chinese lady appeared to be suffering from a common cough. After about five minutes of listening to this lady pathetically trying to clear her chest, a man at the back of the bus got up and shouted 'Hey Lady! Get off the damn bus! I don't wanna die, you hear me? I don't want this swine flu thing everyone's yammering on about!! You gotta get off the bus right now!'. The Chinese lady just ignored the man, who then stood up, shot a stern look towards the woman before proclaiming 'I'm outta this rat trap, ya'll are crazy!' and jumping of the bus at the next stop, only to wait for another bus i presume, where he would probably have exactly the same problem. If i could say anything to people thinking about coming here, it would be that they would not be short of entertainment on their travels, thats for sure.

Learning here is very different to learning back home. For a start there is much more work here, something i have been both happy about and dismayed by. I actually feel like i am getting an education worth the money that i am paying for it, not something that i could have just done at home if i had really wanted to, as was the case with UEA. The way that essays are structured is quite different as well. It seems that they are made so that you are able to show that you have been doing work and doing what one would assume university life to be about, that you have been THINKING. Essays don't have to include any outside influences from renowned scholars, instead they are based purely on your reaction to the text, what you have managed to coign from it, and your personal analysis of it. I feel that this way students with creative juices are able to shine above so many of the drones that just copy out of books the ideas that others have created, effectively it gives people room to express themselves in their work. In my eyes, the way that people are tested here is also an improvement on the English system. Instead of having one big test at the end of the semester, there are many little tests and midterms, not counting for very much individually, spread out over the term. This takes off some of the pressure, meaning that if someone were to have a bad day, they can always make up for it a few lessons later when the next test arrives. In that respect, i feel that the UK could benefit from adopting a more spread out form of testing, taking the pressure off whilst somewhat increasing the workload. The lessons themselves are quite different as well. On first impression, one would think that many of the lessons aren't as structured as what students from England are used to, with teachers almost always digressing grossly off topic. Soon i realised however, that the professors were trying to get us to think about the wider ramifications of the topics they were teaching us, they were wandering off the issue to give us a wider insight into the way that the texts we were reading about had influenced our world. Often in my class i have thought 'what the hell are they on about now' and then, when thinking about it, realised that they were teaching me without me being aware of it. When the teachers are on topic and discussing what is on the syllabus, i have never seen such passion for anything in my life. These are people that clearly live and breathe for their jobs, they are not doing it because they could think of nothing better, they are doing it because there was nothing in life that they would ever or could ever want to do. To be taught by someone who exudes fresh excitement and bewildering energy about their expertise is amazing; it really changes the way that you learn about things. It makes you want to learn about what they are teaching even more, almost like they are on some kind of radical high that you should be experiencing as well. Most importantly, it makes you feel privileged, something i think every student serious about learning should feel if they are to achieve there goals, not the feeling of boredom and depression i see so many associate with their course.

"Education, as is taught today, is being safe in the knowledge that you know nothing; it is learning about how ignorant you are".

I can't take credit for the above quote, but i can say with some confidence that it is one that has changed my perceptions. It came from my favourite teacher here at SFSU, a man called Oba T'Shaka. To give you some background information, this is a man who has been through the whips and the punches like no other i have ever met. He is in his mid 70s, yet he stands at 6 feet 2, and i have never seen a man radiate as much power as he does. This is a guy that grew up fighting during the civil rights era in the USA, so he knows real bigotry and pain, yet he comes into work with the broadest smile and more passion than i thought possible. He teaches me in my Malcolm X in the context of black nationalism class and has had two assassination attempts on his life, obviously surviving both of them. Without sounding like i have too much of a man-crush on him, i have found every class with him enthralling, to me he is the epitome of what learning in America is. So often he wanders off topic; into the Obama health care debate, or the tax situation and budget crisis in california, but every time he does so, he explains to the class why. He tells us that he wants us to think, that he wants us to know what is going on in the world. So often he booms to the class of about 70 (there should only be 30 people in his class but due to the budget cuts he has let everyone he can into the small lecture room) what he thinks about the way things are going in the world. So often he has told us that 'You are not being educated, you can't be educated by someone else, you are being trained. You are being trained into a certain field of work. You are being trained by an institution designed specifically to keep you ignorant about the outside world so that you can't effect change. The only person that can educate you is yourself'. The first time i heard this i was completely entranced, it made so much sense to me and roused within me a burning desire to better myself. I think that it is this quality that makes him a great teacher. He is due to retire at the end of the academic year, and when the time comes to pick my units for the next, i am going to make sure that he is one of my teachers; thats how much the man has managed to influence me in such a short time.

At this point, i feel that i have managed to gain a good wealth of knowledge about my topics, but even more so about myself, something i am truly grateful for.

Thats all for now, but look out for the next one, thanks for reading, hope your enjoying my experiences as much as me!!

First Impressions

Ok, so i know its been a long time since i last put anything up on here but i've been acting foolish, something which i hope the following year is going to change, all apologies for the waste attitude i have been showing the last twelve months. Now that that little note is out of the way, i can get back to what's important, writing about any and everything that catches my eye or that i feel calls for an opinion.

So i have been in San Francisco for almost a month now and i can safely say that, although this is a by and large (note-able exceptions being the large numbers of Chinese and Mexicans) an English speaking city, it is not like England at all. So, being like most people and living on assumptions, i thought that the transition into American-living would be a seamless one coming from a 'similar' English culture, a place where we speak the same language, listen to similar music, have many transatlantic relations with and apparently aim for the same set of goals in life. I assumed that since England has so much in common with America, the country itself would not seem that different to what i have already experienced, what i have grown up immersed in; an 'Americanized' society. How wrong i was to have assumed such a thing, an Americanized society is little more than a pathetic imitation, a part of the jumping-on-the-bandwagon culture we appear to be growing into. The actual American society is not the same as the way it appears to be depicted in film, TV and print, it is something that only once experienced can be understood.

Granted, i was one of those young people who carried with them an picture of America being a Eutopia, a magical, romanticized image that i had concocted from the many films and TV programs that had engrossed me whilst growing up. That image that i once held about America has been irrevocably altered, but not in a negative way, just changed from what i thought it would be. One of the first things i noticed about this place was the atmosphere. Although welcoming, the overall feeling of this new place left me feeling both overwhelmed and in awe of my new surroundings. It was almost as if things had been created so that they were supposed to a big deal, although the people around me appeared oblivious to it. The airport itself was not anything particularly impressive, but the sheer vastness of the highways, the cars and the landscape conveyed to me that this was where the real world started. No disrespect to England, but on first impressions of San Francisco being made in the knowledge that this was a place i would be living, it seemed to me that the UK was almost like a training ground for people that wanted to make it big and be as successful as possible. The sheer enormity of everything made me think that this is where the serious people in the world come to show what they are made of. Driving down the highway, filled with a mix of child-like excitement and near-crippling apprehension i could view what America looks like to an outsider just entering, the idyllic enriched image that most people create for themselves in thinking that this is indeed the promise land. I had a sense (possibly mostly due to me having just exited a thirteen hour flight) that this was without doubt the fabled-land of opportunity, a place where wishes can be granted and dreams become reality.

I have been to America several times before, but in different circumstances; i had previously a momentary visitor whereas now, i was in-effect a California resident, an idea that probably coaxed me into the euphoric state i arrived in. On exploring the city for the first day i was definitely a tourist, so naturally i did all the things that tourists do; shopping, finding my way around the place (with the help of my friends who had been here a day longer) and sightseeing. Truth be told, San Francisco did not fit the vision that i had created for myself. There were none of the steep rolling hills or trams hurtling around the streets in my part of town; an area ironically named Sunset as it is notorious for having a completely different climate to most of the city and is constantly shrouded in San Fran's iconic fog. There were views of the hills in the distance, and on a clear day the shimmering Golden Gate bridge can be seen; so life in my quiet, mostly Chinese neighborhood wasn't bad, it just wasn't what i had been expecting. I thought i would be living in a flat up a steep hill, a building with a long fire-escape running down the side of it, tram-line right outside my door and lots of activity going on beneath my window; i appeared to have a slightly distorted image of Manhattan in my mind. I was instead on a quiet street, in a building that housed an upstairs and downstairs apartment (i did have a bus-stop literally outside my door however, still not a tram line though!).

My first full day of San Francisco was interesting to say the least, this is when i got to see the main city area or 'downtown'. Here is where my vision of what San Francisco should have looked like became a reality. The streets were incredibly wide and littered with Range Rovers, Cadillacs and the infamous cable cars. What was quite strange about Frisco, in comparison to London and many other major European cities, (as i have often found with big American cities), is that there is a serious poverty divide thus resulting in a big homeless problem. The centre of the city itself actually smelled like 'hot tramp' as strange as it may seem. It was a rather surreal sight to view a group of homeless men gathered outside Abercrombie and Fitch and American Eagle, collecting cans and trying to sell used bus tickets to people. What else is slightly strange is that when exploring the downtown area i wondered into one of San Francisco's worst neighborhoods called the 'Tenderloin'. The good and bad areas are literally divided by one street so it makes getting lost in the wrong place more than easy. I found myself walking in what could only be described as the 'hood'; all the street corners were teaming with mostly black people all wearing their thugged out, oversized clothing. The first thing that came to my mind was that i had wondered into 'The Wire', and justly got a bit overexcited. I was clearly not from around this place and some guys came up to me saying 'Ey Nigga, what you want, you aint from round here'. They actually turned out to be very friendly and asked me questions about England, so despite their reputation they were actually very nice. In comparison to areas like Stonebridge and Brixton, this 'hood' was visibly and atmospherically more ghetto than what people in England would consider rough. I think i can safely safe to people in England, particularly Londoners, ghetto life don't know you!

Being called Nigga (spelt that way because black people call each other the word in this way as a reclamation of the word, meant Never Ignorant of Getting Goals Accomplished) is something that i'm going to have to get used to; even in the teaching environment the black teachers will agree to my points by going 'shit nigga yeah!!'. As a whole, being from a different country in America seems to be a blessing as almost everyone gets a childlike look of excitement across their face once they hear me talk. The amount of times since being here that i have been speaking with other 'Brits' and someone has just initiated a conversation with us purely on the fact that we have a non-American accent is uncountable, it happens almost every time i leave the house. If this were London, or somewhere similar, i would not be happy talking to strangers on the bus, but here the people are so friendly that its just the norm. I have come to realise that this city is famed for how friendly the people are here, and to be honest it makes for a welcome change to the aggression and hostility (myself included) on London Streets.

Another thing that i had to get used to here is that some things are very easy, like setting up a bank account or depositing money into the bank, whereas other things, like buying basic shopping is exceedingly frustrating. Setting up a bank account is literally as simple as going into the bank, with a passport and visa, and saying you want a bank account. They give you the card the same day and you can use it from the moment you set it up. Depositing money into the bank is easier still as you can do it at any bank atm, a principle that i think the UK should really think about adopting. Getting food, in a culture where eating out rules roost over cooking for yourself however, is actually quite difficult. There are very few places to buy things like meat and eggs, the only places near me being a Chinese supermarket and a Safeway, so shopping for ingredients to make your own dinner is more than just a little hastle. It also works out more expensive if you buy your own food so eating out every night is cheaper, a lifestyle easily embraced by any student!

Having been here for exactly 4 weeks now the honeymoon period has vanished and it has sunk in that i'm actually living here, i'm not on holiday anymore, this is my home for the next year. The feeling of knowing that i'm going to be here for the next year of my life is really weird yet exhilarating at the same time; its still unbelievable. But from what i have seen so far, its going to be a good year, a very good year.