Getting to know you

Man I had a blast yesterday.

I went downtown with some of the girls in my program and we spent the whole afternoon/evening walking around and enjoying this beautiful city. I learned the bus route and figured out that students can ride it for free and it takes about 20 min to get to the center of Santa Barbara, which isn't too bad. I also picked up a newspaper and found out that there's a French conversation group every Wednesday at a restaurant somewhere downtown! I'm totally going next week.

We went to this landmark called the courthouse that follows the building "dresscode" of white stucco and red tile roofs but it was soooo beautiful. There was a garden in the center of the courtyard and you could go up four stories and overlook the whole city. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and you could see 360 degrees. It was breathtaking.

Then to top it all, we went to go see Pirates in a movie theater called the Arlington. The cool thing about the theater is that it only shows one movie and it's in a hall like Memorial or Bloomenthal. In fact, the Santa Barbara Symphony plays there and it can hold thousands of people in the audience. It was so cool to go to a movie and have hundreds of people all there watching it too and to be in an amazing concert hall.

The possibilities of transporation are opening up and I'm getting to know the city better and I feel much more able to go out on my own and explore. I'm learning that people don't really go to the beach here except on the weekends. It just happens to be conveniently close when you do want to go.

Oh, and I'm getting together with a guy today for coffee. He's the son of a lady I met at church, but don't get too excited. He's in his 30's and no he will not be another Marc. But it'll be good to have someone to talk to that's seen the world, has grown up in Christian Science, and is feeling like a newcomer to this town. He's an ex-Marine and has lived in Russia and China I believe, so conversation should be interesting.

That's all for now. How come no one's posting on the other blog? It makes me sad...