im back home!

So this is very delayed...but the program ended a couple weeks ago and I am currently home enjoying the SoCal sunshine and frantically trying to wrap up the summer homework that I seemed to forget about while I was in San Fran. I miss the ballet program and all of the new friends that I made, but I definitely don't miss the fog...

I absolutely fell in love with the San Francisco ballet school.  I feel that the intensive was the most enlightening and edifying dance experience of my life.  I really can see an improvement in both my dancing and the way I work in class.  The teachers were phenomenal- they were challenging and encouraging at the same time. I would recommend the program to anyone, just bring lots of pointe shoes and lots of sweaters!

That's the thing about San Francisco- it is SO COLD. My only complaints about the summer are the cold and commuting in the cold.  The dorms were pretty far outside the city, so the commute was a bit of a hassle. I didn't believe people that I would actually need to wear winter clothes in the middle of the summer, but every morning I donned my raincoat, jeans, and scarf to walk to the train station.  I am a complete wimp; Orange County doesn't have seasons, so 60 degrees and below is FREEZING.  But even my friends from the east coast complained about the cold! So if you're going to San Francisco, you should wear not only flowers in your hair, but a good jacket. :)

So, if anyone's been actually reading my blog this summer, thank you for your support! If you have any questions about the details of the ballet program, feel free to ask! I know I didn't really go into detail about the  classes.

Oh, and I will still be posting in my blog.  (Ya, we'll see how long that lasts after I go back to school).  Just the same kind of stuff.  I'm still working on the whole blogging thing, and I'm always open for suggestions.

ta ta for now
<3 serendipity

chinatown

sorry my phone was out of battery and i didnt take any pictures this is from the internet its the chinatown gate we saw

After ballet class last Saturday I got to go to chinatown! Asians are VERY good at taking advantage of tourists. Chinatowns are generally packed with cheap, touristy junk, but they have great food and you can usually find some interesting stuff.  The Chinatown in San Fran is definitely the largest and most picturesque that I've seen.  New York Chinatown/Canal street is great for finding knockoffs, and LA Chinatown has some fun shops , but its easy to see why the one is San Fran is so famous.  Sure it's a little run down and dusty looking (and not a great place to be at night) but for some reason it has this charm to it.  Something about the banners hanging over the busy streets and the carts of exotic vegetables mixed in with bins of plastic toys...it has a really interesting atmosphere.  There's actually a lot of cool buildings that imitate asian stye roofs.  Even though its all plaster and show, there's an ironically authentic feel to the San Fran Chinatown, just because it is so old. It's where so many Chinese immigrants made their home in the United States.  I loved it and since I'm going through a cut-up shirt phase, I bought a couple cool T-shirts.  I won't worry about ruining it if it only cost a couple bucks right?  It's so funny- I saw this really awesome vintage looking "Port of San Francisco" shirt on display under a bunch of newer shirts and I asked the lady if she still was selling it.  She kept telling me that it was not for sale and there was no more, so I asked her if I could just buy the display (it was taped on the edge of a table).  She thought I was crazy and tried to convince me that it was too dirty until I begged her to let me have it for 2 dollars.  I should have just asked for it for free.  She obviously didn't want it and look she got 2 dollars off of me for an old T-shirt no one else was going to buy.  Lesson learned- next time bid lower.

Haight-Ashbury

50s dress

I'm in San Francisco!! I got settled in the dorms and met my roommate.  She is so sweet; she is from Japan and still learning English.  I never realized just how poorly I speak English; I need to get rid of the "likes" and stop slurring words together so I can help her understand better!  I am amazed at how brave she is to spend a whole summer in a foreign country...

Before I checked into the dorms, I got to check one of my destinations of the list!  My mom took us to Haight-Ashbury, a location that was the heart of the 1960s hippie movement.  It's a district in San Fran that is considered the iconic center of American counterculture. 

strange i know....

It is actually a very picturesque neighborhood.  It has a bohemian feel, and there are a lot of interesting stores.  I went a vintage store that was categorized by time period and I found these amazing dresses that were supposedly '80s "valley girl".   Then we found this adorable dress shop that was filled with these sailor-style/ '50s clothes that looked like they came right out of Back to the Future! I wonder if the people who work at these stores just hated me; I had a blast trying on a million dresses but didn't buy anything.......

The best came last- we wandered into this outlet-style store called Crossroads Exchange and found a bunch of used name-brand stuff for super cheap! I bought an Andrew Marc coat for 27 dollars (actually I didn't know who he was before, but the coat is beautiful).  I thought it would be perfect for the summer...why a coat for the summer? Because it is freezing here! It was 50 degrees yesterday! I'm going to have to get used to this strange weather....