Louise's thoughts

Missing California

There are several things I will miss about California. Besides the obvious 2 really good friends I have here and my favorite advisor, whose insight I will miss terribly, there are certain other things that I really like about America and I guess, specifically California. Boba tea, for example, is one of my favorite drinks, because of its chewy pearls and sweet taste. You cannot get boba tea in Denmark, so I will have to live without that until I come back. I will miss the nice, comfortable way that Americans always chat with you in the grocery store and in the coffee shops. The way the cashier casually says 'Oh, I love that salad too, I had the last one yesterday, it was SO good'. I once ended up in a long conversation about how much candy I had bought, because I started commenting it myself. The nice guy kept saying that it was okay, because it was good chocolate I had bought and that he sometimes did that too. I was just realizing that perhaps I shouldn't have gone hungry into Trader Joes a Thursday night just so I could get some chocolate ice cream for Friends night. But I think that in the end the guy had me convinced that some chocolate was good once in a while.

Americans are so talkative that you can't help getting in a good mood. Just today, an older man stumbled by me at Diedricks coffee house, saying: 'Oh I was told that this is the place all the young students go to study'. I just laughed and agreed. Study. That is such a nice comfortable word. I like that. I like to think that I was just studying and not frantically writing up my research results so I can finish my paper submission for next Friday in order to get another academic publication on my CV. No, I was just studying.

And of course I will miss the weather and the palm trees. Fact is that I am writing this entry by the pool, right outside my apartment. It is 80 degrees (that would be 25 in Celcius) and I have to sit in the shade not to get sunburned. The palm trees are swaying lightly and the sky is clear blue. I will miss the way the weather can affect not only your mood but also increase the possibilities for work space. I will miss the no need to think about wearing a jacket or having to check the weather to see if I should bring an umbrella.

Having said all this, I have to admit that there are just as many things I miss about Denmark when I am in California. Needless to say I miss my family and friends, but I also miss the ease of public transportation and I thought I would never say this: a bicycle. I miss the freedom of just hoping on my bike and go wherever I want. A car doesn't have the same ease to it and you don't get any physical activity out of it. I miss biking through the rain, getting home and take all my clothes off, before packing myself under a blanket with a cup of hot tea. I miss biking home, late night, kind of tipsy, from having partied with friends somewhere in Copenhagen. I also miss not having to chat friendly with store clerks the rare days where I am in a really bad mood, because overly friendly chatting people just make your mood worse and make me feel that I am generally bitchy.

I also miss weather were noisy, drying-out air-condition is not necessary and believe it or not, I actually miss the short winter days almost as much as I miss the long (never ending) summer days. Here the sun rises and sets pretty much the same time year round, making it sort of dull.

Well, I have chewed my last boba and should get back to my paper. No matter where I am I always have papers, studies and work. That I guess, I can never miss.

Posted by Louise at March 7, 2004 03:13 PM