Introspective Musings

(Warning: I’m sitting in my favorite Berkeley writing spot – a bench next to the campus bell tower in Memorial Grove – and it’s very peaceful so I always get introspective when I sit here. Bear with me.)

To start, I’ve been thinking a lot over the past two weeks about how I’m not lonely here. I’m actually pretty surprised that I’m not lonely, because I basically live alone (which I’ve never done before) and I don’t really have friends at work because there aren’t other people my age (but lots of great mentors!), and I only really get to see the few friends and family I have out here a few times a week. However, I’m really not lonely at all. I was a little at first, but now I’m much happier on my own than I thought I was capable of. Don’t get me wrong, I am still a highly social being and would prefer to be less alone more of the time, but I think it’s significant that I’m content and happy by myself for now. I’m definitely appreciative now of having “peace” so we’ll see what happens when I need to readjust to less peace.

One thing I appreciate about not having a lot of friends out here is that I can focus on myself. I don’t mean that in a self-absorbed way, but rather I can do whatever I want. I have very few obligations, whereas at Harvard and, to a lesser extent, at home I have so many social obligations that on one hand I love but on the other can get tiring and restricting. I also LOVE being able to eat whatever I want. Cooking for myself has given me so much dietary freedom and is so much more tasty and fulfilling than dining hall food. I am NOT looking forward to going back to that…

YUM!

San Francisco and the Bay Area are just so much less socially restricting than Boston/New England! Nowhere is this more evident than in fashion. Out here there are no expectations about what you should or shouldn’t wear. Most workplaces have very loose dress codes, and people are more adventurous dressers. Or rather, they aren’t adventurous in that they all dress totally crazy (although some do), but people just wear whatever they want and their wardrobes seem less dictated by society or trends.

In the spirit of adventurous fashion, I decided to go hat shopping after work today. (This was also inspired by our night on the town at Teatro ZinZanni, because it was so fun to dress up and not look so conventional.) I walked to Gorrin Brothers Hat Shop (which had a grand opening for its Newbury Street store that my roommate and I happened to stumble upon before exams this spring), and luckily the lady working there lent her stylist’s eye and consulted with me to pick a nice cloche. I had never even heard that word before today, but I like it! She had me trying on hats for the better part of half an hour, patiently walking me through which way the hat went and coaching my through my first excursion into the world of hats (not counting ball caps or ski hats).

What do you think? Take a look: